Observations in Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

In this review, we focus on whether a canonical quantization of general relativity can produce testable predictions for cosmology. In particular, we examine how this approach can be used to model the evolution of primordial perturbations. This program of quantum geometrodynamics, first advocated by John Wheeler and Bryce DeWitt, has a straightforward classical limit, and it describes the quantum dynamics of all fields, gravitational and matter. In this context, in which a classical background metric is absent, it is necessary to discuss what constitutes an observation. We first address this issue in the classical theory and then turn to the quantum theory. We argue that predictions are relational, that is, relative to physical clocks and rods, and that they can be straightforwardly obtained in a perturbative approach with respect to Newton's constant, which serves as a coupling parameter. This weak-coupling expansion leads to a perturbative Hilbert space for quantum cosmology, and to corrections to the dynamics of quantum fields on a classical, fixed background metric. These corrections imply modifications of primordial power spectra, which may lead to signatures in the anisotropy spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation, for which we discuss concrete results. We conclude that the subject of quantum geometrodynamics, the oldest and most conservative approach to canonical quantum gravity, not only illuminates conceptual issues in quantum gravitation, but may also lead to observational prospects in cosmology and elsewhere.