A Cosmological Sector in Loop Quantum Gravity

Abstract

We use the method of embedding a subsystem (i.e. its observable algebra) into a larger quantum system to extract a cosmological sector from full Loop Quantum Gravity. The application of this method provides a setting for a systematic study of the interplay between diffeomorphism invariance and symmetry reduction. The non-triviality of this relation is shown by extracting a cosmological system that has configurations variables that are very similar to the ones of a super-selection sector of standard Loop Quantum Cosmology. The full operator algebra however turns out to be different from standard Loop Quantum Cosmology. The homogeneous isotropic sector of pure gravity turns out to be quantum mechanics on a circle. The dynamics of our system seems pathological at first sight, and we give both mathematical and physical reasons for this behavior and we explain a strategy to cure these pathologies.