Wavepacket of the Universe and its Spreading

Abstract

Wavepackets in quantum mechanics spread and the Universe in cosmology expands. We discuss a formalism where the two effects can be unified. The basic assumption is that the Universe is determined by a unitarily evolving wavepacket defined on space-time. Space-time is static but the Universe is dynamic. Spreading analogous to expansion known from observational cosmology is obtained if one regards time evolution as a dynamical process determined by a variational principle employing Kolmogorov-Nagumo-Rényi averages. The formalism automatically leads to two types of “time” parameters: τ, with dimension of x0, and dimensionless ε = lnετ, related to the form of diffeomorphism that defines the dynamics. There is no preferred time foliation, but effectively the dynamics leads to asymptotic concentration of the Universe on spacelike surfaces which propagate in space-time. The analysis is performed explicitly in 1 + 1 dimensions, but the unitary evolution operator is brought to a form that makes generalizations to other dimensions and other fields quite natural.