Critique of the Wheeler-DeWitt Equation

Abstract

The Wheeler-DeWitt equation is based on the use of canonical quantization rules that may be inconsistent for constrained dynamical systems, such as minisuperspaces subject to Einstein's equations. The resulting quantum dynamics has no classical limit and it suffers from the infamous ``problem of time.'' In this article, it is shown how a dynamical time (an internal clock) can be constructed by means of a Hamilton-Jacobi formalism, and then used for a consistent canonical quantization, with the correct classical limit.