On the cosmological constant in quantum cosmology

TL;DR

This paper explores quantum cosmology with a positive cosmological constant, revealing quantum effects like finite universe lifetime and barrier penetration, using DeWitt's quantization method on a dust-like closed isotropic model.

Contribution

It applies DeWitt's quantization to a dust-like closed isotropic universe with a positive cosmological constant, uncovering novel quantum phenomena such as finite lifetime and barrier penetration.

Findings

Finite lifetime of the quantum universe.

Universe appears as a barrier penetration phenomenon.

Quantum effects occur specifically for positive cosmological constant.

Abstract

Quantization of a dust-like closed isotropic cosmological model with a cosmological constant is realized by the method of B. DeWitt \cite{1}. It is shown that such quantization leads to interesting results, in particular, to a finite lifetime of the system, and appearance of the Universe in our world as penetration via the barrier. These purely quantum effects appear when $\Lambda>0$.