Gravitational Collapse via Wheeler-DeWitt Equation

Abstract

We analyze the Wheeler-DeWitt (WDW) equation in the context of a gravitational collapse. The physics of an expanding/collapsing universe and many details of a collapsing star can classically be described by the Roberston-Walker metric in which the WDW equation takes the form of a times-less Schr\"odinger equation. We set up the corresponding WDW potential for the collapse and study the solutions of the wave function. The results show that the central singularity appearing in classical general relativity is avoided, the density is quantized in terms of the Planck density and the expectation value of the scale factor exhibits a discrete behavior.