Polymer quantization of the Einstein-Rosen wormhole throat

Journal Article · Fri Jan 15 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.81.024034· OSTI ID:21409094

Kunstatter, Gabor; Peltola, Ari ^[1]; Louko, Jorma ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics, University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B 2E9 (Canada)
2. School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD (United Kingdom)

We present a polymer quantization of spherically symmetric Einstein gravity in which the polymerized variable is the area of the Einstein-Rosen wormhole throat. In the classical polymer theory, the singularity is replaced by a bounce at a radius that depends on the polymerization scale. In the polymer quantum theory, we show numerically that the area spectrum is evenly spaced and in agreement with a Bohr-Sommerfeld semiclassical estimate, and this spectrum is not qualitatively sensitive to issues of factor ordering or boundary conditions except in the lowest few eigenvalues. In the limit of small polymerization scale we recover, within the numerical accuracy, the area spectrum obtained from a Schroedinger quantization of the wormhole throat dynamics. The prospects of recovering from the polymer throat theory a full quantum-corrected spacetime are discussed.

• OSTI ID: 21409094
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 81, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.81.024034; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ACCURACY
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
EIGENVALUES
GRAVITATION
POLYMERIZATION
POLYMERS
QUANTIZATION
SEMICLASSICAL APPROXIMATION
SINGULARITY
SPACE-TIME
SPECTRA
SYMMETRY
APPROXIMATIONS
CALCULATION METHODS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS