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arXiv · hep-th/9807148

Lorentzian Condition in Quantum Gravity

Raphael Bousso·Stephen Hawking
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Abstract

The wave function of the universe is usually taken to be a functional of the three-metric on a spacelike section, Sigma, which is measured. It is sometimes better, however, to work in the conjugate representation, where the wave function depends on a quantity related to the second fundamental form of Sigma. This makes it possible to ensure that Sigma is part of a Lorentzian universe by requiring that the argument of the wave function be purely imaginary. We demonstrate the advantages of this formalism first in the well-known examples of the nucleation of a de Sitter or a Nariai universe. We then use it to calculate the pair creation rate for sub-maximal black holes in de Sitter space, which had been thought to vanish semi-classically.

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Raphael Bousso, Stephen Hawking. 1998-07-20. Lorentzian Condition in Quantum Gravity. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.59.103501%2010.1103%2Fphysrevd.60.109903

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