Quantization of minisuperspaces as ordinary gauge systems

Abstract

Simple cosmological models are used to show that gravitation can be quantized as an ordinary gauge system if the Hamilton-Jacobi equation for the model under consideration is separable. In this situation, a canonical transformation can be performed such that in terms of the new variables the model has a linear and homogeneous constraint, and therefore canonical gauges are admissible in the path integral. This has the additional practical advantage that gauge conditions that do not generate Gribov copies are then easy to choose.