Vacuum Topology and Incoherence in Quantum Gravity
- 14 May 1984
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 52 (20) , 1733-1736
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.52.1733
Abstract
An explicit expression is derived for the quantum gravitational vacuum state by use of the saddle-point approximation and a conformally invariant action. It consists of a superposition of zero-energy classical vacua that differ in the topology both of the local Lorentz frames (leading to nonconservation) and of space itself. Space is found to have Planck-size wormholes and spinorial knots, and is surrounded by a vapor of disconnected submanifolds. The scattering matrix constructed on this vacuum is not unitary but the superscattering matrix conserves probability.
Keywords
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