Theoretical study reveals singularity avoidance through unitary evolution in quantum cosmological spacetimes, indicating that anisotropic charges govern collapse survival.
Key Points
Investigate whether quantum mechanics can resolve classical spacetime singularities by formulating the wavefunction of the universe along an observer's worldline.
Incorporated observer proper time as a dynamical degree of freedom into the Wheeler-DeWitt equation to derive a Schrödinger equation along the worldline.
Applied a mini-superspace approximation near the singularity in line with the Belinski-Khalatnikov-Lifshitz approach by neglecting spatial gradients.
Mapped cosmic evolution onto the quantum scattering of a particle off a central potential to assess singularity avoidance via unitarity.
Standard matter fields like dust and radiation generate regular central potentials, ensuring unitary evolution and leading to a cosmological bounce.
Spatial anisotropy yields a conserved charge associated with a negative inverse-square potential analogous to inverted angular momentum.
Singularity avoidance is critical and non-universal, depending strictly on whether the numerical magnitude of the anisotropy charge permits unitary quantum evolution.