NUTs, Bolts and Stokes Phenomena in the No-Boundary Wave Function

Abstract

In this note, we revisit and extend the analysis of the no-boundary wave function for the minisuperspace model in which the universe is described by a biaxial Bianchi IX metric. As matter content, we simply assume a positive cosmological constant. We find that two Stokes phenomena occur, at large squashing parameters of the spatial section of the universe. These Stokes phenomena eliminate potentially dominant Taub-Bolt-de Sitter saddle point geometries and are crucial for the consistency of the model. They also imply that phase transitions occur at certain levels of squashing, where NUT and Bolt saddle points exchange dominance.