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Title: Towards the quantization of Eddington-inspired-Born-Infeld theory

Journal Article · · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
 [1];  [2]
  1. Departamento de Física, Universidade da Beira Interior, Rua Marquês D'Ávila e Bolama, 6201-001 Covilhã (Portugal)
  2. Department of Physics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617 Taiwan (China)

The quantum effects close to the classical big rip singularity within the Eddington-inspired-Born-Infeld theory (EiBI) are investigated through quantum geometrodynamics. It is the first time that this approach is applied to a modified theory constructed upon Palatini formalism. The Wheeler-DeWitt (WDW) equation is obtained and solved based on an alternative action proposed in ref. [1], under two different factor ordering choices. This action is dynamically equivalent to the original EiBI action while it is free of square root of the spacetime curvature. We consider a homogeneous, isotropic and spatially flat universe, which is assumed to be dominated by a phantom perfect fluid whose equation of state is a constant. We obtain exact solutions of the WDW equation based on some specific conditions. In more general cases, we propose a qualitative argument with the help of a Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approximation to get further solutions. Besides, we also construct an effective WDW equation by simply promoting the classical Friedmann equations. We find that for all the approaches considered, the DeWitt condition hinting singularity avoidance is satisfied. Therefore the big rip singularity is expected to be avoided through the quantum approach within the EiBI theory.

OSTI ID:
22679404
Journal Information:
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2016, Issue 11; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English