A new regularization scheme for the wave function of the Universe in the Lorentzian path integral

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new regularization method for the Lorentzian path integral in quantum cosmology, ensuring convergence and suppressing perturbations, and connects different wave function proposals through contour choices.

Contribution

It proposes a simple regulator for the lapse integral in minisuperspace, providing a physically motivated way to achieve convergence and suppress perturbations in the wave function of the Universe.

Findings

The regulator ensures absolute convergence of the lapse integral for fixed Gaussian width.

Perturbations are appropriately suppressed in the Lorentzian path integral formalism.

The Hartle-Hawking wave function can be obtained by a specific contour choice.

Abstract

The Lorentzian path integral for the wave function of the Universe is only conditionally convergent and thus requires a well-defined prescription. The Picard-Lefschetz approach ensures convergence through contour deformation, but it has been argued that this leads to unsuppressed perturbations due to relevant saddle points residing in the region ${\rm Im}N>0$. As an alternative, we propose a simple regulator for the lapse integral in minisuperspace. Specifically, we impose the vanishing initial size of the Universe via a delta function, represented as a narrow Gaussian of width $\sigma$, and take the limit $\sigma \to 0$ only after performing the functional integrations. This regulator has a clear physical interpretation: it corresponds to a vanishingly small quantum uncertainty in the initial size of the Universe. For any fixed $\sigma > 0$, the lapse integral is absolutely convergent along (or slightly below) the real axis, and no excursion into the region ${\rm Im}N>0$ is required. We further argue that the initial wave function for scalar and tensor perturbations should be incorporated in the Lorentzian path integral formalism, and we show that these perturbations are then appropriately suppressed. A purely Lorentzian path integral thus yields the tunneling wave function with suppressed perturbations. We also demonstrate that the Hartle-Hawking wave function can be reproduced by choosing a contour for the lapse integral extending from $-\infty$ to $+\infty$ that passes below the singularity near the origin.