Extended Inflation - a quantum cosmological survey

Abstract

This paper considers Einstein-Brans-Dicke action being coupled with a Higgs sector. It is shown that classically graceful exit from inflation is not possible in principle, rejecting the claim of La and Steinhardt. Further, wormhole solutions with and without conserved charges are explored. Finally, the wavefunction of the universe in this model is constructed with the boundary condition, as proposed by Vilenkin. The interesting feature of the wavefunction is that it has been constructed for an arbitrary factor-ordering index.