arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Daniele Colosi.
We study the quantum dynamics of a time reparametrization invariant system with a vanishing Hamiltonian. The evolution of the physical degrees of freedom of the system is described, both at the classical and at the quantum level, in relational terms by the construction of an internal time parameter. We use the Pegg-Barnett phase operator formalism in finite dimensional Hilbert space as an essential ingredient.
We study the quantum theory of a simple general relativistic quantum model of two coupled harmonic oscillators and compute the two-point function following a proposal first introduced in the context of loop quantum gravity.
We study how physical information can be extracted from a background independent quantum system. We use an extremely simple `minimalist' system that models a finite region of 3d euclidean quantum spacetime with a single equilateral tetrahedron. We show that the physical information can be expressed as a boundary amplitude. We illustrate how the notions of "evolution" in a boundary proper-time and "vacuum" can be extracted from the background independent dynamics.
We study formulation and probabilistic interpretation of a simple general-relativistic hamiltonian quantum system. The system has no unitary evolution in background time. The quantum theory yields transition probabilities between measurable quantities (partial observables). These converge to the classical predictions in the $\hbar\to 0$ limit. Our main tool is the kernel of the projector on the solutions of Wheeler-deWitt equation, which we analyze in detail. It is a real quantity, which can be seen as a propagator that propagates "forward" as well as "backward" in a local parameter time. Individual quantum states, on the other hand, may contain only "forward propagating" components. The analysis sheds some light on the interpretation of background independent transition amplitudes in quantum gravity.