22–28 Jul 2010
Palais des Congrès de Paris
Europe/Paris timezone

Loop quantum gravity and the early universe

22 Jul 2010, 12:06
18m
Salle 252A

Salle 252A

Parallel Session Talk 12 - Beyond Quantum Field Theory Approaches (including String Theories) 12 - Beyond Quantum Field Theory Approaches (including String Theories)

Speaker

Dr Aurelien Barrau (LPSC Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie (LPSC))

Description

Loop quantum gravity is, together with string theory, one on the major candidate approach to quantize gravity. It provides a framework which allows for a non-perturbative and background-independant canonical quantization of general relativity. In this talk, I will briefly go through the basic conceptual groundings of the theory and switch to the latests developments associated with its implementation in the cosmological context. I will show that the Big Bang is replaced by a Big Bounce (therefore solving the initial singularity problem) and that inflation unavoidably occurs. Furthermore, the primordial tensor power spectrum should exhibit some characteristic features that could lead to experimental tests of this "Planck-scale" physics.

Primary author

Dr Aurelien Barrau (LPSC Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie (LPSC))

Presentation materials