QUANCY (QUANtum CosmologY)
Description
The cosmology of the primordial universe is a research field that puts to the test within one context our understanding of the space-time dynamics. Thanks to technological advances that were unthinkable just a quarter of a century ago, today we can compare the theoretical models' predictions with extremely accurate observations.
In this framework, the QUANCY (QUANtum CosmologY) research group is interested in studying the formation of baby/child universes, a process that requires a consistent description for the quantum tunnelling of space-time, when it produces black holes and wormholes, too. This problem is studied from two complementary points of view.
- By taking into account the technical and conceptual details that are needed to describe these processes with mathematical exactness: within this context it is worth mentioning, for instance, the need to overcome the semiclassical description and to take into account other effects, such as the production of particles, within the non-standard framework mentioned above.
- By studying the consequences of the space-time quantum tunnelling process with the production of black holes and wormholes on the observables and on cosmological parameters, so as to be able to compare the theoretical expectations with the results of (present and future) observations.
The group's research interests are connected with a research line that was established since the 1990s, thanks to the studies about the vacuum decay and on the phase transitions associate with it. Studying the still open problems within this scope is made even more fundamental, from a conceptual point of view, in the presence of non-standard background space-time structures, and in relation with issues of quantum gravity (for example the AdS/CFT correspondence).
The research group has active collaborations both on a national level, for instance within the scope of the FLAG Project (National Institute of Nuclear Physics), and on the international level, in particular with the Universities of Kyoto (Prof. Takahiro Tanaka), of Osaka-City (Prof. Hideki Ishihara) and of Ben-Gurion (Prof. Eduardo I. Guendelman).
Research subjects
- Study of the nature of vacuum and of its decay in curved backgrounds
- Analysis of the quantum tunnelling process with production of black holes and wormholes, overcoming the semiclassical approximation
- Phenomenology of the vacuum decay
ERC panels
- PE2_13 Quantum optics and quantum information
- PE2_1 Theory of fundamental interactions
Tags
- gravità semiclassica; cosmologia quantistica; baby/child universes; vuoto; decadimento del vuoto
- transizioni di fase nell’universo primordiale; condizioni di giunzione
- modelli di minisuperspazio; inflazione; gravità quantistica