text:
# Introduction

## Introduction

We prove the following

Theorem. Let $`f`$ be a continuous function in the strip $`|\mathrm{Im}z|1`$. Suppose for every $`r𝐑`$ the restriction of $`f`$ to the circle $`|zr|=1`$ extends holomorphically inside the circle. Then $`f`$ is holomorphic in the strip $`|\mathrm{Im}z|<1`$.

The result can be regarded as a Morera type theorem because the holomorphic extendibility is equivalent to the moment condition. For various versions of the Morera theorem, see e. g. \[ABC\], \[BZ\].

The question answered by the above theorem has been known for over a decade. A general natural question is whether the analyticity of a function can be tested by restricting the function on (usually one parameter) families of Jordan curves.

Agranovsky and Val’sky \[AV\] proved the result for any family of curves invariant under Euclidean motions of the plane.

Globevnik \[G\] proved tests of analyticity in an annulus for any rotation invariant family of Jordan curves. Apparently, the compactness of the group of rotations played an important role, because for the family obtained by translating a given curve parallel to the real line, the problem has since been open even for the circle.

Agranovsky \[A\] proved Theorem under additional growth assumptions on $`f`$. He also proved the result in case $`f`$ is real analytic in the disc $`|z|<1+ϵ`$.

Agranovsky and Globevnik \[AG\] have recently solved the problem for arbitrary one parameter families of circles for rational functions of two real variables and for real analytic functions. In particular, they found families on which the analyticity cannot be tested.

Ehrenpreis \[E\] has also proved Theorem for real analytic $`f`$, but his results hold for PDE more general than the Cauchy–Riemann equation.

Despite the one variable nature of the problem, we use the analysis of several complex variables, specifically, the extendibility of CR functions. The proof goes through for a finite strip and some curves other than the circle, but for a general curve the question remains open.

The author thanks Mark Agranovsky for useful discussions.

## 1. Proof of the main result

We prove the theorem stated in the introduction.

Step 1. We introduce a CR function $`F`$ on a hypersurface $`M𝐂^2`$.

Denote by $`f_r(z)`$ the holomorphic extension of $`f`$ to the disc $`|zr|<1`$. Define $`F(z,w)=f_r(z)`$ for $`w=zr`$. The function $`F`$ is defined on the real hyperplane $`\mathrm{Im}z=\mathrm{Im}w`$ for $`|w|1`$ and holomorphic on every disc $`z=w+r`$, $`|w|<1`$, where $`r𝐑`$ is constant. Hence $`F`$ is a CR function. (For a reference on CR functions, see e. g. \[BER\].)

On the boundary $`E=\{(z,w):\mathrm{Im}z=\mathrm{Im}w,|w|=1\}`$ of the region on the hyperplane where $`F`$ is defined, we have $`F(z,w)=f(z)`$. Note that $`G(w)=w^1`$ reflects the circle $`|w|=1`$ about the imaginary axis. Then $`F(z,G(w))=f(z)`$, too. Hence $`F`$ satisfies $`F(z,w)=F(z,G(w))`$ on $`E`$.

Define the hypersurface $`M=\{(z,w):\mathrm{Im}z=h(w),w𝐂\}`$, where $`h(w)=\mathrm{Im}w`$ for $`|w|1`$ and $`h(w)=h(G(w))=\mathrm{Im}(w^1)`$ for $`|w|1`$. Then $`h`$ is continuous and it is smooth except for $`|w|=1`$.

Extend $`F`$ to the rest of $`M`$ by $`F(z,w)=F(z,G(w))`$. Then $`F`$ is a continuous CR function on $`M`$.

We will ultimately prove that $`F`$ extends holomorphically to a neighborhood of $`(0,0)`$ and that actually $`F(z,w)`$ is independent of $`w`$. This will mean that $`f_r(z)`$ is independent of $`r`$, whence $`f`$ is holomorphic.

Step 2. We prove that $`F`$ extends holomorphically to a one-sided neighborhood of each point of $`E`$ except the points $`(z,w)E`$, $`w=\pm 1`$.

Indeed, $`M`$ consists of two smooth hypersurfaces that meet transversally at the totally real edge $`E`$ except the points where $`w=\pm 1`$ in which $`E`$ has complex tangencies. By the “edge of the wedge” theorem by Ayrapetian and Henkin \[AH\], in a neighborhood of every point $`(z_0,w_0)E`$ such that $`\pm \mathrm{Im}w_0>0`$, $`F`$ extends holomorphically to the side $`\pm (\mathrm{Im}zh(w))<0`$ respectively, which completes this step.

Step 3. We prove that $`F`$ extends to a (full) neighborhood of every point $`(z,w)E`$ with $`w=\pm 1`$.

This is done by extending $`F`$ into small analytic discs. Let $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ be the standard unit disc in complex plane. Recall an analytic disc in $`𝐂^2`$ is a map $`g:\mathrm{\Delta }𝐂^2`$, $`gC(\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }})𝒪(\mathrm{\Delta })`$. We say the disc $`g`$ is attached to $`M`$ if $`g(b\mathrm{\Delta })M`$. By the Baouendi-Treves \[BT\] approximation theorem, the CR function $`F`$ is locally a uniform limit of holomorphic polynomials. Hence $`F`$ extends holomorphically to every open set covered by (the images of) small analytic discs attached to $`M`$. (See e. g. \[BER\].)

Small analytic discs attached to $`M`$ of the form $`\mathrm{Im}z=h(w)`$ are constructed explicitly as follows. Let $`\zeta g(\zeta )=(z(\zeta )=x(\zeta )+iy(\zeta ),w(\zeta ))`$, $`\zeta \mathrm{\Delta }`$, be an analytic disc attached to $`M`$. Given the w-component $`\zeta w(\zeta )`$ and $`x(0)=x_0`$, we have $`y(\zeta )=h(w(\zeta ))`$ for $`|\zeta |=1`$, hence the z-component $`\zeta z(\zeta )`$ is defined as the unique holomorphic function in $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ with given imaginary part on the circle and given $`x(0)`$. The “center” $`g(0)=(x_0+iy_0,w(0))`$ is found by

$$y_0=\frac{1}{2\pi i}_{|\zeta |=1}h(w(\zeta ))\frac{d\zeta }{\zeta }.$$
$`(1)`$
We construct the family of discs $`\zeta g(\zeta )=g(\zeta ,x_0,w_0,t)`$ for which $`w(\zeta )=w_0+a\zeta +t\varphi (\zeta )`$, where $`a>0`$ is fixed and small enough to make the discs small, and $`\varphi `$ is a fixed holomorphic function with $`\varphi (0)=0`$, which we will choose later. The discs depend on the parameters $`x_0𝐑`$, $`w_0𝐂`$ close to $`\pm 1`$, and $`t𝐑`$ close to 0.

Consider the evaluation map $`\mathrm{\Phi }:(x_0,w_0,t)g(0,x_0,w_0,t)`$. Note $`\mathrm{\Phi }(x_0,\pm 1,0)=(x_0,\pm 1)`$. We will prove that $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is a diffeomorphism in a neighborhood of $`(x_0,\pm 1,0)`$, so the discs cover a neighborhood of $`(x_0,\pm 1)`$, which will complete Step 3.

By the implicit function theorem, it suffices to show that $`\dot{y}(0)=\frac{d}{dt}|_{t=0}y(0)0`$ for $`w_0=\pm 1`$. Note that $`h(w)=\mathrm{Im}H(w)`$, where $`H(w)=w`$ for $`|w|1`$ and $`H(w)=G(w)`$ for $`|w|>1`$. Then (1) turns into

$$y(0)=\mathrm{Im}\left(\frac{1}{2\pi i}_{|\zeta |=1}H(\pm 1+a\zeta +t\varphi (\zeta ))\frac{d\zeta }{\zeta }\right).$$
$`(2)`$
Differentiating (2) yields

$$\dot{y}(0)=\mathrm{Im}\left(\frac{1}{2\pi i}_{|\zeta |=1}H^{}(\pm 1+a\zeta )\varphi (\zeta )\frac{d\zeta }{\zeta }\right).$$

If the above expression vanished for all polynomials $`\varphi `$, then by the moment conditions, $`\zeta H^{}(\pm 1+a\zeta )`$ would extend holomorphically from $`b\mathrm{\Delta }`$ to $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, which is not the case. Hence $`\dot{y}(0)0`$ for some $`\varphi `$, which completes Step 3.

Step 4. We prove that $`F`$ extends holomorphically to a neighborhood of $`ME`$.

Indeed, $`ME`$ is a union of complex curves, each of which contains a boundary point of the form $`(x_0,1)`$, where $`x_0𝐑`$. By Step 3, $`F`$ is holomorphic at that point, and the conclusion follows by propagation of analyticity along complex curves (Hanges and Treves \[HT\]).

Step 5. We prove that $`F(z,w)`$ is independent of $`w`$.

We extend $`F`$ to “big” discs attached to $`M`$. Extendibility to big discs does not follow from the approximation theorem. It follows by the continuity principle because $`F`$ is holomorphic in a (one-sided near $`E`$) neighborhood of $`M`$ and because discs attached to $`M`$ can be contracted into a point. We don’t have to pay attention to the fact that the neighborhood in which $`F`$ is holomorphic is one-sided near $`E`$, because $`M`$ can be slightly pushed inside the neighborhood.

Consider the following one parameter family of discs $`D(a)`$, $`a>0`$, with centers at $`(x_0,0)`$, $`x_0𝐑`$:

$$|w|<a,z=\{\begin{array}{cc}x_0+w,& a1\\ x_0+a^2w,& a>1\end{array}$$

We now regard the discs $`D(a)`$ as subsets in $`𝐂^2`$ rather than mappings of the standard disc. The discs are attached to $`M`$; they contract to $`(x_0,0)`$ as $`a0`$. The analytic continuations of $`F`$ along all $`D(a)`$ match because the discs have the same center.

We claim that $`F|_{D(a)}`$ is bounded uniformly in $`a`$. Indeed, by the construction in Step 1, $`F|_{bD(a)}`$ for $`a>1`$ is defined using $`f_r(z)`$ with $`r=zG(w)`$, where $`|w|=a`$, $`z=x_0+a^2w`$. Hence $`r=x_0+a^2w+w^1=x_0+a^2(w+\overline{w})`$,

$$|r||x_0|+2a^1,$$
$`(3)`$
so $`r`$ whence $`f_r`$ is uniformly bounded in $`a`$.

Now for small $`x_0`$ and $`ϵ>0`$, $`\varphi (w)=F(x_0,w)`$ is a uniform limit of $`\varphi _a(w)=F(x_0+a^2w,w)`$ in $`|w|<ϵ`$ as $`a\mathrm{}`$. The function $`\varphi _a`$ is holomorphic in $`|w|<a`$ and is bounded uniformly in $`a`$. Hence $`\varphi `$ is constant. This completes the last step in the proof of the theorem.

Remark. Theorem also holds in a finite strip. Indeed, for Steps 1–4 it suffices to assume the hypothesis of the theorem for $`|r|<1+ϵ`$ with arbitrarily small $`ϵ>0`$. This seems to be a natural range for $`r`$ in the theorem. However, the contraction of the discs $`D(a)`$ in Step 5 as it follows from (3), requires the range $`|r|<2+ϵ`$. One may try to reduce this range by using a different contraction.

## 2. Proof for other curves

Our method applies to some curves other than the circle.

Theorem’ Let $`a>0,b>0`$. Let $`f`$ be a continuous function in the strip $`|\mathrm{Im}z|b`$. Suppose for every $`r𝐑`$ the restriction of $`f`$ to the ellipse $`a^2(xr)^2+b^2y^2=1`$, where $`z=x+iy`$, extends holomorphically inside the ellipse. Then $`f`$ is holomorphic in the strip $`|\mathrm{Im}z|<b`$.

Proof. The proof consists of the same five steps. We give a proof in the case $`a<b`$, the other case being similar, even simpler. We normalize $`a`$ and $`b`$ so that $`b^2a^2=1`$, then we fix a number $`p>0`$, such that $`a=\mathrm{sinh}p`$, $`b=\mathrm{cosh}p`$. Denote by $`E_q`$ the ellipse with half-axes $`(\mathrm{sinh}q,\mathrm{cosh}q)`$ centered at the origin and by $`D_q`$ the domain bounded by $`E_q`$.

Following Step 1, we introduce $`F(z,w)=f_r(z)`$ for $`w=zr`$, where $`f_r(z)`$ is the extension of $`f`$ into $`D_p+r`$, $`r𝐑`$. Then $`F`$ is a CR function on the hyperplane $`\mathrm{Im}z=\mathrm{Im}w`$, $`wD_p`$.

For $`q𝐑`$, we introduce the function

$$G_q(w)=(\mathrm{cosh}q)w+(\mathrm{sinh}q)\sqrt{w^2+1}$$

holomorphic in the exterior of the line segment $`[i,i]`$, where we choose the branch of the square root such that $`\sqrt{w^2+1}>0`$ for $`w>0`$. Note $`G_q`$ is an odd function.

For $`q,r,t𝐑`$, $`w=\mathrm{sinh}(q+it)=\mathrm{sinh}q\mathrm{cos}t+i\mathrm{cosh}q\mathrm{sin}tE_q`$, we have $`G_r(w)=\mathrm{sinh}(\pm r+q+it)`$ if $`\pm q>0`$ respectively. Hence $`G_r(E_q)=E_{|r+q|}`$ for $`q>0`$.

From the above properties it follows that $`G_{2p}`$ gives a conformal mapping of $`D_{2p}[i,i]`$ to itself, and reflects $`E_p`$ about the imaginary axis.

We define $`M`$ by the equation $`\mathrm{Im}z=h(w)`$, where $`h(w)=\mathrm{Im}w`$ for $`wD_p`$, and extends to the whole plane applying the relation $`h(w)=h(G_{2p}(w))`$ infinitely many times. We extend $`F`$ to the rest of $`M`$ so that $`F(z,w)=F(z,G_{2p}(w))`$ is also applied infinitely many times.

This completes Step 1 of the proof. Steps 2–4 go through along the same lines.

In Step 5 we consider the discs $`D(n)`$ given by $`z=x_0+\frac{w}{\mathrm{cosh}(2np)}`$, $`wD_{2p}`$, where $`n`$ is a positive integer. Then for small $`w`$, the function $`\varphi (w)=F(x_0,w)`$ is approximated by $`\varphi _n(w)=F(x_0+\frac{w}{\mathrm{cosh}(2np)},w)`$ as $`n\mathrm{}`$. The function $`\varphi _n`$ is defined in $`D_{2np}`$ and uniformly bounded in $`n`$. Hence, $`\varphi `$ is constant, and the proof is complete.

We consider one more example of a curve for which our method works. This may be of interest because the curve meets the boundaries of the horizontal strip at a nonzero angle. Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\mathrm{\Gamma }_+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{}`$, where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\pm `$ are the circular arcs defined as follows

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_\pm =\{z:|z\mathrm{sin}\alpha \pm \mathrm{cos}\alpha |=1,\pm \mathrm{Re}z0\}.$$

The arcs intersect at the angle $`2\alpha `$, where we choose $`\alpha =\pi /n`$, $`n3`$ is integer. The proof is similar. The defining function $`h`$ of the hypersurface $`M`$ is constructed using the relation $`h(w)=h(G(w))`$, where $`G(w)=(w+\mathrm{tan}\alpha )(w\mathrm{tan}\alpha +1)^1`$ maps $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{}`$ to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_+`$.

## References

\[A\] M. Agranovsky, Private communication.

\[AG\] M. Agranovsky and J. Globevnik, Analyticity on circles for rational and real analytic functions of two real variables, Preprint series, Institute of Math., Phys., and Mech., University of Ljubljana, vol. 39 (2001), 756, 1-43.

\[ABC\] M. Agranovsky, C. Berenstein,and D.-C. Chang, Morera theorem for holomorphic $`H^p`$ spaces in the Heisenberg group, J. Reine und Angew. Math. 443 (1993), 49–89.

\[AV\] M. Agranovsky and R. Val’sky, Maximality of invariant algebras of functions, Siberian Math. J. 12 (1971), 1–7.

\[AH\] R. A. Ayrapetian and G. M. Henkin, Analytic continuation of CR functions through the “edge of the wedge”. Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 259 (1981), 777–781.

\[BER\] M. S. Baouendi, P. Ebenfelt, and L. P. Rothschild, Real Submanifolds in Complex Space and their Mappings, Princeton Math. Series 47, Princeton Univ. Press, 1999.

\[BT\] M. S. Baouendi and F. Treves, A property of the functions and distributions annihilated by a locally integrable system of complex vector fields, Ann. of Math. 114 (1981), 387–421.

\[BZ\] C. Berenstein and L. Zalcman, Pompeiu’s problem on symmetric spaces, Comm. Math. Helv. 55 (1980), 593-621.

\[E\] L. Ehrenpreis, Three problems at Mount Holyoke, Contemp. Math., 278, Providence, RI, 2001.

\[G\] J. Globevnik, Testing analyticity on rotation invariant families of curves, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 306 (1988), 401-410.

\[HT\] N. Hanges and F. Treves, Propagation of holomorphic extendibility of CR function, Math. Ann. 263 (1983), 157–177.

Alexander Tumanov, Department of Mathematics, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801. E-mail: tumanov@math.uiuc.edu


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# The Interpretation of Quantum Cosmology and the Problem of Time

## 1 Introduction

It is a truly great pleasure to be part of Stephen Hawking’s 60th birthday celebrations. It is now almost twenty years since I commenced my PhD studies with Stephen, and I recall that exciting time very fondly. Numerous researchers were just beginning to address the conceptual and technical difficulties of quantum cosmology, and the confusion and controversy at that time led to some very lively debates in which Stephen played a very central role. The atmosphere of this conference has reminded me very pleasantly of those early days.

The work described here concerns some generally interesting issues in quantum cosmology. This is the area I started working on with Stephen, and its intriguing problems and difficulties have been the inspiration for much else I have pursued in physics. Quantum cosmology was born in the 1960’s with the work of Bryce DeWitt, Charles Misner, John Wheeler and others , but it really took off in the early 1980’s with Hartle and Hawking’s seminal paper, The Wave Function of the Universe . This development was very pertinent since the appearance of the inflationary universe scenario at about that time underscored the urgency to acquire an understanding of cosmological initial conditions. The new ingredients of quantum cosmology, compared to its older 1960s version, were two-fold. First, there was the use of Euclidean path integral methods which had grown out of their very successful application to black holes physics. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, there was the Hartle-Hawking “no-boundary” proposal. This gave, perhaps for the first time, a genuinely quantum gravitational proposal which implied cosmological initial conditions. In this proposal, wave functions satisfying the Wheeler-DeWitt equation

$$\mathrm{\Psi }[h_{ij}]=0$$
(1)
are given by a sum over histories expression of the form

$$\mathrm{\Psi }[h_{ij}]=_C𝒟g_{\mu \nu }\mathrm{exp}\left(I[g_{\mu \nu }]\right)$$
(2)
where the sum is over closed four-geometries whose only boundary is the three-surface on which the three-metric $`h_{ij}`$ is specified. (Note also that the functional integral is taken to be over a complex contour $`C`$ ).

There were two questions of particular interest in these early days. Firstly, what sort of picture can quantum gravity give about the initial singularity? And secondly, what initial conditions does the theory imply for classical cosmological solutions? In simple, somewhat heuristic models, the answer to the first question is that the initial singularity is replaced by some kind of quantum tunneling situation. That is, the classical singularity can (at least in some models) become a classically forbidden region. The second question can be answered by showing how quantum cosmology produces, in a quasiclassical limit, an approximate probability distribution on the space of classical cosmological solutions.

The most pressing questions in those days were to do with cosmological issues: Does the no-boundary proposal predict initial conditions which produce inflationary solutions and subsequent structure formation ? The interpretation associated with these models was heuristic . For example, one considered the Klein-Gordon flux

$$J=i\left(\mathrm{\Psi }^{}\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }^{}\right)$$
(3)
associated with the wave functions of the WKB type,

$$\mathrm{\Psi }=Ce^{iS}$$
(4)
These heuristic methods appeared to be adequate for the questions considered at the time.

Now, however, in 2002, far more is known about the foundations and interpretation of quantum theory. Moreover, there has also been a considerable amount of activity in the experimental tests of foundational ideas. As a result of this, the foundations of quantum theory is now more in the mainstream of physics, when previously it was regarded as the domain of the philosophers. Perhaps as a result of this, there has been a secondary wave of much slower activity in quantum cosmology, that aims to look more deeply into a whole variety of mathematical and conceptual issues related to the application of quantum theory to the universe as a whole. In particular, it is now reasonable to ask, how can the heuristic ideas used earlier be derived or reconciled with a properly defined interpretational structure for quantum theory of models described by a Wheeler-DeWitt equation? For example, in standard quantum theory, probabilities generally have the form

$$P=\mathrm{Tr}\left(P\rho \right)$$
(5)
where $`\rho `$ is the density operator, $`P`$ is a projection operator and the trace is over a complete set of states (and so assumes a Hilbert space of states with a suitably defined inner product). How can the predictions of quantum cosmology be reconciled with a formula of this type?

Related to these issues is the notorious problem of time . The Wheeler-DeWitt equation, in simple minisuperspace models, has the form,

$$H\mathrm{\Psi }=\left(^2+U\right)\mathrm{\Psi }=0$$
(6)
where $`^2`$ is a d’Alembertian type operator. The equation is of the form of a Klein-Gordon equation in a general curved spacetime background with a space-time dependent mass term. There is no single variable to play the role of time, nor is there the possibility of splitting the solutions into positive and negative frequency. In the usual Klein-Gordon equation one then resorts to second quantization, but the Wheeler-DeWitt equation is in some sense already the second quantized theory, so one has to face the issue of the lack of a time coordinate more squarely.

In this contribution to the conference, I will describe how the decoherent histories approach may be used to provide a quantization of simple minisuperspace models, perhaps avoiding some of the serious difficulties outlined above, and agreeing with the heuristic methods used earlier on.

I begin by making two simple observations about the Wheeler-DeWitt equation that are generally relevant to the discussion. The first is that, at least classical speaking, the constraint equation,

$$H=f^{ab}p_ap_b+V=0$$
(7)
is related to reparametrization invariance. (This is the leftover of four-dimensional diffeomorphism invariance after the restriction to minisuperspace). In keeping with Dirac’s general ideas about quantizing constrained systems, we therefore look for observables– quantities which commute with the constraint. There has been a certain amount of debate about this issue in the context of general relativity, but this will not affect us here .

Second, as observed by Barbour , by analogy with Mott’s 1929 calculation of tracks in a cloud chamber , there is a natural association between the Wheeler-DeWitt equation and the emergence of classical trajectories. Mott asked why the outgoing spherical wave associated with alpha decay produced a straight line track in a cloud chamber. By considering the Hamiltonian of the decaying atom interacting with ionizing particles in the cloud chamber he showed that the ionized particles with high probability lie along a straight line. Interestingly, and as Barbour observed, Mott actually solved the time-independent Schrödinger equation,

$$H\mathrm{\Psi }=E\mathrm{\Psi }$$
(8)
rather than the time-dependent one, to obtain the tracks. This is therefore an interesting analogy for the Wheeler-DeWitt equation where, in the quasiclassical limit one expects to obtain emergent classical trajectories. (In fact, a model of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation including explicit detectors, and exhibiting these features has been constructed . Some related approaches to timeless models are Refs..)

With these preliminaries out of the way, we now focus on the following simple question: Suppose we have an $`n`$ dimensional configuration space with coordinates $`𝐱=(x_1,x_2,\mathrm{}x_n)`$, and suppose the wave function of the system is in an eigenstate of the Hamiltonian,

$$H\mathrm{\Psi }(x_1,x_2,\mathrm{}x_n)=E\mathrm{\Psi }(x_1,x_2,\mathrm{}x_n)$$
(9)
What is the probability of finding the system in a series of regions of configuration space $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1,\mathrm{\Delta }_2,\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Delta }_N`$ without reference to time?

This question will form the main focus of the rest of this paper. We first consider the classical case, and then the decoherent histories analysis.

## 2 The Classical Case

We begin by considering the classical case which contains many almost all the key features of the problem. (We follow the treatment of Ref. quite closely). For simplicity we will concentrate on the case of a single region of configuration space $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$.

We will consider a classical system described by a $`2n`$-dimensional phase space, with coordinates and momenta $`(𝐱,𝐩)=(x_k,p_k)`$, and Hamiltonian

$$H=\frac{𝐩^2}{2M}+V(𝐱)$$
(10)
More generally, we are interested in a system for which the kinetic part of the Hamiltonian has the form $`g^{kj}(𝐱)p_kp_j`$, where $`g^{kj}(𝐱)`$ is an inverse metric of hyperbolic signature. Most minisuperspace models in quantum cosmology have a Hamiltonian of this form. However, the focus of this paper is the timelessness of the system, and the form of the configuration space metric turns out to be unimportant. So for simplicity, we will concentrate on the form Eq.(10).

We assume that there is a classical phase space distribution function $`w(𝐩,𝐱)`$, which is normalized according to

$$d^npd^nxw(𝐩,𝐱)=1$$
(11)
and obeys the evolution equation

$$\frac{w}{t}=\underset{k}{}\left(\frac{p_k}{M}\frac{w}{x_k}+\frac{V}{x_k}\frac{w}{p_k}\right)=\{H,w\}$$
(12)
where $`\{,\}`$ denotes the Poisson bracket. The interesting case is that in which $`w`$ is the classical analogue of an energy eigenstate, in which case $`w/t=0`$, so the evolution equation is simply

$$\{H,w\}=0$$
(13)
It follows that

$$w(𝐩^{cl}(t),𝐱^{cl}(t))=w(𝐩(0),𝐱(0))$$
(14)
where $`𝐩^{cl}(t),𝐱^{cl}(t)`$ are the classical solutions with initial data $`𝐩(0),𝐱(0)`$, so $`w`$ is constant along the classical orbits. (The normalization of $`w`$ then becomes an issue if the classical orbits are infinite, but we will return to this in the quantum case discussed below).

Given a set of classical solutions $`(𝐩^{cl}(t),𝐱^{cl}(t))`$, and a phase space distribution function $`w`$, we are interested in the probability that a classical solution will pass through a region $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ of configuration space. We construct this as follows. First of all we introduce the characteristic function of the region $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$,

$$f_\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐱)=\{\begin{array}{cc}1,\hfill & \text{if }𝐱\mathrm{\Delta }\text{;}\hfill \\ 0\hfill & \text{otherwise.}\hfill \end{array}$$
(15)
To see whether the classical trajectory $`𝐱^{cl}(t)`$ intersects this region, consider the phase space function

$$A(𝐱,𝐩_0,𝐱_0)=_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑t\delta ^{(n)}(𝐱𝐱^{cl}(t))$$
(16)
(In the case of periodic classical orbits, the range of $`t`$ is taken to be equal to the period). This function is positive for points $`𝐱`$ on the classical trajectory labeled by $`𝐩_0,𝐱_0`$ and zero otherwise. Hence intersection of the classical trajectory with the region $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ means,

$$d^n𝐱f_\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐱)_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑t\delta ^{(n)}(𝐱𝐱^{cl}(t))>0$$
(17)
Or equivalently, that

$$_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑tf_\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐱^{cl}(t))>0$$
(18)
This quantity is essentially the amount of parameter time the trajectory spends in the region $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. We may now write down the probability for a classical trajectory entering the region $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. It is,

$$p_\mathrm{\Delta }=d^np_0d^nx_0w(𝐩_0,𝐱_0)\theta \left(_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑tf_\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐱^{cl}(t))ϵ\right)$$
(19)
In this construction, $`ϵ`$ is a small positive number that is eventually sent to zero, and is included to avoid possible ambiguities in the $`\theta `$-function at zero argument. The $`\theta `$-function ensures that the phase space integral is over all initial data whose corresponding classical trajectories spend a time greater than $`ϵ`$ in the region $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$.

The classical solution $`𝐱^{cl}(t)`$ depends on some fiducial initial coordinates and momenta, $`𝐱_0`$ and $`𝐩_0`$, say. In the case of a free particle, for example,

$$𝐱^{cl}(t)=𝐱_0+\frac{𝐩_0t}{M}$$
(20)
The construction is independent of the choice of fiducial initial points. If we shift $`𝐱_0`$, $`𝐩_0`$ along the classical trajectories, the measure, phase space distribution function $`w`$ and the $`\theta `$-function are all invariant. Hence the integral over $`𝐱_0`$, $`𝐩_0`$ is effectively a sum over classical trajectories. The shift along the classical trajectories may also be thought of as a reparametrization, and the quantity (19) is in fact a reparametrization-invariant expression of the notion of a classical trajectory. This means that the probability (19) has the form of a phase space overlap of the “state” with a reparametrization-invariant operator.

It is useful also to write this result in a different form, which will be more relevant to the results we get in the quantum theory case. In the quantum theory, we generally deal with propagation between fixed points in configuration space, rather than with phase space point. Therefore, in the free particle case, consider the change of variables from $`𝐱_0,𝐩_0`$ to $`𝐱_0,𝐱_f`$, where

$$𝐱_f=𝐱_0+\frac{𝐩_0}{M}\tau $$
(21)
Hence $`𝐱_f`$ is the position after evolution for starting from $`𝐱_0`$ for parameter time $`\tau `$. The probability then becomes

$$p_\mathrm{\Delta }=\frac{M}{\tau }d^nx_fd^nx_0w(𝐩_0,𝐱_0)\theta \left(_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑tf_\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐱_0^f(t))ϵ\right)$$
(22)
where $`𝐩_0=M(𝐱_f𝐱_0)/\tau `$ and

$$𝐱_0^f(t)=𝐱_0+\frac{(𝐱_f𝐱_0)}{\tau }t$$
(23)
The parameter $`\tau `$ may in fact be scaled out of the whole expression, hence the probability is independent of it.

Figure 1

The rewritten classical probability (22) in terms of a sum over initial and final points $`𝐱_0`$ and $`𝐱_f`$. The probability for not entering $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is a sum over paths as in case (a). The probability for entering $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ includes a sum over classical paths in which $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ lies between the initial and final points, as in case (b). But, to agree with the phase space form of the result (19), it must also include a sum over initial and final points for which $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ does not lie between them, as in case (c). This figure also applies to the semiclassical propagator in the quantum case.

The result now has the form of an integral over “initial” and “final” points, analogous to similar results in quantum theory. The result is again essentially a sum over classical trajectories with the trajectories now labeled by any pair of points $`𝐱_0`$, $`𝐱_f`$ along the trajectories, and is invariant under shifting $`𝐱_0`$ or $`𝐱_f`$ along those trajectories. Naively, one might have thought that the restriction to paths that pass through $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is imposed by summing over all finite length classical paths which intersect $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ as they go from the “initial” point $`𝐱_0`$ to “final” point $`𝐱_f`$, that is, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ lies between the initial and final points. This is also what one might naively expect in the quantum theory version. However, one can see from the above construction that the correct answer is in fact to sum over all classical paths (which can be of infinite length) passing through $`𝐱_0`$ and $`𝐱_f`$ that intersect $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ at any point along the entire trajectory, even if $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ does not lie between the two points (see Fig.1). This feature is related to the reparametrization invariance of the system.

The above point turns out to be quite crucial to what follows in the rest of this paper, so it is worth saying it in an alternative form. Loosely speaking, the statement is that only the entire classical path respects the reparametrization invariance associated with the constraint equation. A section of the classical path does not. This may be expressed more precisely in terms of the function $`A(𝐱,𝐩_0,𝐱_0)`$ introduced in Eq.(16). This function is concentrated on the entire classical trajectory, and is zero when $`𝐱`$ is not on the trajectory. It is easy to see that it has vanishing Poisson bracket with the Hamiltonian $`H=H(𝐩_0,𝐱_0)`$, since we have

$`\{H,A(𝐱,𝐩_0,𝐱_0)\}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑t\{H,\delta ^{(n)}(𝐱𝐱^{cl}(t))\}`$ (24)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑t{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}}\delta ^{(n)}(𝐱𝐱^{cl}(t))`$
$`=`$ $`0`$
This is the precise sense in which the entire trajectory is reparametrization invariant, and the phase space function $`A`$ may be regarded as an observable – a quantity which commutes with the constraint $`H`$ . By way of comparison, consider a second phase space function similarly defined, but on only a finite section of trajectory,

$$B(𝐱,𝐩_0,𝐱_0)=_0^\tau 𝑑t\delta ^{(n)}(𝐱𝐱^{cl}(t))$$
(25)
It is easily seen that

$$\{H,B(𝐱,𝐩_0,𝐱_0)\}=\delta (𝐱𝐱^{cl}(\tau ))+\delta (𝐱𝐱^{cl}(0))$$
(26)
Hence $`B`$ “almost” commutes with $`H`$, failing only at the end points, and it is in this sense that a finite section of trajectory does not fully respect reparametrization invariance.

A third version of the classical result is also useful. It is of interest to obtain an expression for the probability for intersecting an $`(n1)`$-dimensional surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. Since the result (19) involves the parameter time spent in a finite volume region $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ it does not apply immediately. However, suppose that the set of trajectories contained in the probability distribution $`w`$ intersect the $`(n1)`$-dimensional surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ only once. Then we may consider a finite volume region $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ obtained by thickening $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ along the direction of the classical flow. If this thickening is by a small (positive) parameter time $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$, then the quantity appearing in the $`\theta `$-function in (19) is

$`{\displaystyle 𝑑t_\mathrm{\Delta }d^nx\delta ^{(n)}(𝐱𝐱^{cl}(t))}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Delta }t{\displaystyle 𝑑t_\mathrm{\Sigma }d^{n1}x𝐧\frac{d𝐱^{cl}(t)}{dt}}`$ (27)
$`\times \delta ^{(n)}(𝐱𝐱^{cl}(t))`$
$`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Delta }tI[\mathrm{\Sigma },𝐱^{cl}(t)]`$
where $`𝐧`$ is the normal to $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, and we suppose that the normal is chosen so that $`𝐧d𝐱^{cl}/dt`$ is positive. The quantity $`I[\mathrm{\Sigma },𝐱^{cl}(t)]`$, in a more general context, is the intersection number of the curve $`𝐱^{cl}(t)`$ with the surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, and takes the value $`0`$ for no intersections, or $`\pm 1`$ (depending on whether there is an even or odd number of intersections). In this case we have assumed that the trajectories intersect at most once, hence $`I=0`$ or $`1`$. We then have

$$\theta (\mathrm{\Delta }tIϵ)=\theta (Iϵ^{})=I$$
(28)
(where $`ϵ=\mathrm{\Delta }tϵ^{}`$) and the probability for intersecting $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ may be written

$$p_\mathrm{\Sigma }=𝑑td^np_0d^nx_0w(𝐩_0,𝐱_0)_\mathrm{\Sigma }d^{n1}x𝐧\frac{d𝐱^{cl}(t)}{dt}\delta ^{(n)}(𝐱𝐱^{cl}(t))$$
(29)
At each $`t`$, we may perform a change of variables from $`𝐩,𝐱`$ to new variables $`𝐩^{}=𝐩^{cl}(t)`$, $`𝐱^{}=𝐱^{cl}(t)`$, and using Eq.(14), we obtain the result

$$p_\mathrm{\Sigma }=\frac{1}{M}𝑑t_\mathrm{\Sigma }d^np^{}d^{n1}x^{}𝐧𝐩^{}w(𝐩^{},𝐱^{})$$
(30)
Finally, the integrand is now in fact independent of $`t`$, so the $`t`$ integral leads to an overall factor. (This might be infinite but is regularized as discussed below). We therefore drop the $`t`$ integral.

This result is relevant for the following reason. In the heuristic “WKB interpretation” of quantum cosmology, one considers WKB solutions to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation of the form

$$\mathrm{\Psi }=Ce^{iS}$$
(31)
It is usually asserted that this corresponds to a set of classical trajectories with momentum $`𝐩=S`$, and with a probability of intersecting a surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ given in terms of the flux of the wave function across the surface . As we shall show, from the decoherent histories analysis, the quantum theory gives a probability for crossing a surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ proportional to Eq.(30) with $`w`$ replaced by the Wigner function of the quantum theory. The Wigner function of the WKB wave function is, approximately ,

$$W(𝐩,𝐱)=\left|C(𝐱)\right|^2\delta (𝐩S)$$
(32)
Inserting in Eq.(30), we therefore obtain, up to overall factors, the probability distribution,

$$p_\mathrm{\Sigma }=_\mathrm{\Sigma }d^{n1}x𝐧S\left|C(𝐱)\right|^2$$
(33)
We therefore have agreement with the usual heuristic analysis.

## 3 The Decoherent Histories Approach to Quantum Theory

Our aim is to analyze the quantum case using the decoherent histories approach to quantum theory . We first give a very brief review of the formalism.

In non-relativistic quantum mechanics, quantum histories are represented by so-called class operators $`C_{\underset{¯}{\alpha }}`$, which are given by time-ordered sequences of projection operators

$$C_{\underset{¯}{\alpha }}=P_{\alpha _n}(t_n)\mathrm{}P_{\alpha _1}(t_1)$$
(34)
(or more generally, by sums of terms of this form), where $`\underset{¯}{\alpha }`$ denotes the string of alternatives $`\alpha _1,\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _n`$, and $`P_{\alpha _k}(t)`$ are projection operators in the Heisenberg picture. The central object of interest is then the decoherence functional,

$$D(\underset{¯}{\alpha },\underset{¯}{\alpha }^{})=\mathrm{Tr}\left(C_{\underset{¯}{\alpha }}\rho C_{\underset{¯}{\alpha }^{}}^{}\right)$$
(35)
Intuitively, the decoherence functional is a measure of the interference between pairs of histories $`\underset{¯}{\alpha }`$, $`\underset{¯}{\alpha }^{}`$. When its real part is zero for $`\underset{¯}{\alpha }\underset{¯}{\alpha }^{}`$, we say that the histories are consistent and probabilities

$$p(\underset{¯}{\alpha })=D(\underset{¯}{\alpha },\underset{¯}{\alpha })$$
(36)
obeying the usual probability sum rules may be assigned to them. Typical physical mechanisms which produce this situation usually cause both the real and imaginary part of $`D(\underset{¯}{\alpha },\underset{¯}{\alpha }^{})`$ to vanish. This condition is usually called decoherence of histories, and is related to the existence of so-called generalized records.

In the non-relativistic case, for histories characterized by projections onto configuration space, a path integral version of the decoherence functional is available, and can be very useful. It has the form,

$$D(\underset{¯}{\alpha },\underset{¯}{\alpha }^{})=_{\underset{¯}{\alpha }}𝒟x_{\underset{¯}{\alpha }^{}}𝒟y\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}S[x(t)]\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}S[y(t)]\right)\rho (x_0,y_0)$$
(37)
where the sum is over pairs of paths $`x(t)`$, $`y(t)`$ passing through the pairs of regions $`\underset{¯}{\alpha }`$, $`\underset{¯}{\alpha }^{}`$. This is equivalent to the form (34), (35), when the histories are strings of projections onto ranges of positions. Eq.(37) is a useful starting point for the generalization to timeless theories.

The power of the decoherent histories approach is that it readily generalizes to a variety of different situations in which time plays a non-trivial role . In particular, it may be generalized to the question of interest here, in which the system is in an energy eigenstate and we would like to answer questions that do no refer to time in any way. This generalization requires, however, specification of the inner product used to construct the decoherence functional, and a prescription for the construction of the class operators. We consider each in turn.

## 4 The Induced Inner Product

For many situations, and especially for the analogous situation in quantum cosmology, the Hamiltonian has a continuous spectrum so the energy eigenstates are not normalizable in the usual inner product,

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_1|\mathrm{\Psi }_2=d^nx\mathrm{\Psi }_1^{}(𝐱)\mathrm{\Psi }_2(𝐱)$$
(38)
A way to deal with this has been developed, and goes by the name of the induced inner product, or Rieffel induction . Consider the eigenvalue equation

$$H|\mathrm{\Psi }_{E\lambda }=E|\mathrm{\Psi }_{E\lambda }$$
(39)
where $`\lambda `$ denotes the degeneracy. These eigenstates will typically satisfy

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_{E^{}\lambda ^{}}|\mathrm{\Psi }_{E\lambda }=\delta (EE^{})\delta _{\lambda \lambda ^{}}$$
(40)
from which it is clear that the inner product diverges when $`E=E^{}`$. The induced inner product on a set of eigenstates of fixed $`E`$ is defined, loosely speaking, by discarding the $`\delta `$-function $`\delta (EE^{})`$. That is, the induced or physical inner product is then defined by

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_{E\lambda ^{}}|\mathrm{\Psi }_{E\lambda }_{phys}=\delta _{\lambda \lambda ^{}}$$
(41)
This procedure can be defined quite rigorously, and has been discussed at some length in Refs.. We will use it here to construct the decoherence functional. A simple prescription for using it in the decoherence functional is to regularize each propagator and energy eigenstate by using a different energy for each. The final answer will then involve a number of $`\delta `$-functions in energy, as in (40), which are simply dropped.

Applied to the Klein-Gordon equation in flat space, where solutions may be split into positive and negative frequency parts, $`\varphi =\varphi ^++\varphi ^{}`$, the induced inner product may be expressed in terms of the Klein-Gordon inner product (which is negative on the negative frequency solutions):

$$(\varphi ,\varphi )_I=(\varphi ^+,\varphi ^+)_{KG}(\varphi ^{},\varphi ^{})_{KG}$$
(42)
This is clearly positive definite. That is, the induced inner product effectively changes the sign of the negative frequency solutions to make the overall expression positive definite. Importantly, the induced inner product does not require a split into positive and negative frequency solutions, and so is generally applicable in quantum cosmological models.

Although the induced inner product has been around for a long time (in the Klein-Gordon case it was noted by Henneaux and Teitelboim ), it is only comparatively recently that it made an appearance in quantum cosmology.

## 5 The Class Operators

The most important part of the construction of the decoherence functional for our timeless model is the construction of the class operators. On the face of it, a natural prescription for constructing these is the following expression:

$`C_\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐱_f,𝐱_0)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑\tau e^{iE\tau }{\displaystyle 𝒟𝐱(t)\mathrm{exp}\left(iS[𝐱(t)]\right)}`$ (43)
$`\times `$ $`\theta \left({\displaystyle _0^\tau }𝑑tf_\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐱(t))ϵ\right)`$
This expression consists of a functional integral between the initial and final points in fixed parameter time $`\tau `$ over paths constrained to enter the region $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ (enforced by the $`\theta `$-function as in the classical case), followed by a sum over all possible parameter times $`\tau `$ . In keeping with the general ideas of Dirac quantization, we expect that, in order that the reparametrization invariance of the theory is fully respected, a properly constructed class operator should be annihilated by the constraint,

$$HC_\mathrm{\Delta }=0$$
(44)
It is straightforward to show that this is indeed the case in the limit that $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ becomes the entire configuration space. However, as shown in Ref., this is not in fact the case when the region $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is finite: one obtains $`\delta `$-functions on the boundary of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ on the right-hand side of Eq.(44).

This is a serious difficulty since it means that reparametrization invariance is in some sense violated. It is due to the fact that, as the end-points move from inside $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ to outside, the class operator changes discontinuously. This in turn is related to the fact that a projection operator onto the region $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ does not commute with the constraint equation.

Because of this difficulty, it is necessary to replace the class operator $`C_\mathrm{\Delta }`$ with a modified class operator $`C_\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$ which is as much as possible, defined by a sum over paths passing through $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ but satisfies the constraint equation everywhere . At present, there does not appear to be a universally agreed way to do this, but some suggestions and discussion of this point were given in Refs..

Fortunately, in the semiclassical approximation, it seems clear how to construct the modified propagator. It is

$$C_\mathrm{\Delta }^{}(𝐱_f,𝐱_0)=\theta \left(_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑tf_\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐱_0^f(t))ϵ\right)P(𝐱_f,𝐱_0)e^{iA(𝐱_f,𝐱_0)}$$
(45)
Here $`Pe^{iA}`$ is the usual unrestricted semiclassical propagator, so $`A(𝐱_f,𝐱_0)`$ is the classical action between initial and final points, and $`P`$ is a prefactor. The $`\theta `$-function here is the same as in the (rewritten) classical case Eq.(22) in terms of “initial” and “final” points, where $`𝐱_0^f(t)`$ denotes that classical path from $`𝐱_0`$ to $`𝐱_f`$. (This is exactly as in the classical case depicted in Fig.1). Note also that

$$A\theta \left(_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑tf_\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐱_0^f(t))ϵ\right)=0$$
(46)
as may be shown by shifting the $`t`$ integration. It follows that the modified class operator is a semiclassical solution to the constraint equation, as required.

It is important that $`t`$ is integrated over an infinite range in the quantity inside the $`\theta `$-function, otherwise the modified class operator would not in fact satisfy the constraint. Recall that the originally defined class operator Eq.(43) contained a similar $`\theta `$-function, with a finite range of time integration, which one might have been tempted to use in the semiclassical approximation, but this class operator does not in fact satisfy the constraint.

Hence we see that the difference between the modified and original class operators in the semiclassical approximation is the difference between using the entire classical trajectory or using finite segments of it in the $`\theta `$-functions. We also see that these modified class operators are the correct ones to use in order to be consistent with the discussion of the classical case and Eq.(22). There, we saw that it is appropriate to sum over classical paths intersecting $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ even if $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ does not lie on the segment of classical trajectory between $`𝐱_0`$ and $`𝐱_f`$. This feature therefore appears to be necessary for the particular type of reparametrization invariance used here. Only the entire trajectory is reparametrization-invariant notion. A finite section of trajectory is not. (See Ref. for a further discussion of reparametrizations in this sort of context).

## 6 Decoherence and the Decoherence Functional

In terms of the class operators $`C_\alpha `$ and an “initial” state $`\mathrm{\Psi }(𝐱)`$ (an eigenstate of $`H`$), the decoherence functional is

$$D(\alpha ,\alpha ^{})=d^nx_fd^nx_0d^ny_0C_\alpha (𝐱_f,𝐱_0)C_\alpha ^{}(𝐱_f,𝐲_0)\mathrm{\Psi }(𝐱_0)\mathrm{\Psi }^{}(𝐲_0)$$
(47)
Here, $`\alpha `$ denotes the two sets of histories that either pass through $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ or not. The decoherence functional will generally not be diagonal except for special initial states, so a decoherence mechanism is necessary.

The details of the decoherence mechanism are somewhat lengthy and may be found in Ref.. Briefly, one may couple the system to a generic environment consisting of large number of degrees of freedom, and then trace out the environmental coordinates. We do not address the more physical question of what the environment actually is for minisuperspace models, but it is sufficient to observe that there are very many fields that are unobserved in cosmological models, and so may serve as an environment. The overall result is that, in the semiclassical approximation, the decoherence functional Eq.(47) becomes

$`D(\alpha ,\alpha ^{})`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle d^nx_fd^nx_0d^ny_0C_\alpha (𝐱_f,𝐱_0)C_\alpha ^{}(𝐱_f,𝐲_0)}`$
$`\times `$ $`F(𝐱_f,𝐱_0,𝐲_0)\mathrm{\Psi }(𝐱_0)\mathrm{\Psi }^{}(𝐲_0)`$ (48)
where $`F(𝐱_f,𝐱_0,𝐲_0)`$ is the influence functional in the semiclassical approximation. As shown in Ref., it typically has the form,

$$F=\mathrm{exp}\left(iv^a\mathrm{\Gamma }_a\frac{1}{2}v^av^b\sigma _{ab}\right)$$
(49)
where $`𝐯=𝐱𝐲`$, and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_a`$ and $`\sigma _{ab}`$ are real coefficients (and depend only on $`𝐱+𝐲`$, and $`\sigma _{ab}`$ is a non-negative matrix. The form of the influence functional broadly indicates that interference between different values of $`𝐱`$ (or more generally, different semiclassical trajectories) is suppressed, as expected. (The matrix $`\sigma _{ab}`$ may develop a zero eigenvalue, but this corresponds to the fact that interference between points along the same trajectory is not suppressed, i.e., that the influence functional is sensitive only to different trajectories, reflecting the underlying reparametrization invariance).

Given decoherence, we may therefore compute the probability for passing through the region $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. Introducing the variable $`𝐗_0=\frac{1}{2}(𝐱+𝐲)`$, and introducing the Wigner function,

$$W(𝐩,𝐗)=\frac{1}{(2\pi )^n}d^nve^{i𝐩𝐯}\rho (𝐗+\frac{1}{2}𝐯,𝐗\frac{1}{2}𝐯)$$
(50)
it is readily shown that the probability is

$$p_\mathrm{\Delta }=d^np_0d^nX_0\theta \left(_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑tf_\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐗^{cl}(t))ϵ\right)\stackrel{~}{W}(𝐩_0,𝐗_0)$$
(51)
Here, $`𝐗^{cl}(t)`$ is the classical path with initial data $`𝐗_0,𝐩_0`$, and we have defined the smeared Wigner function

$`\stackrel{~}{W}(𝐩_0,𝐗_0)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle d^np\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{1}{2}(𝐩_0𝐩\mathrm{\Gamma })^a\sigma _{ab}^1(𝐩_0𝐩\mathrm{\Gamma })^b\right)}`$ (52)
$`\times W(𝐩,𝐗_0)`$
Eq.(51) is the main result. It shows that the decoherent histories analysis very nearly produces the classical result Eq.(19), except that instead of a classical phase space probability distribution, we get a smeared Wigner function. We also see that the coefficient $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_a`$ from the influence functional produces a small modification in the classical equations of motion, and that there are fluctuations about the classical motion governed by $`\sigma _{ab}^1`$. (A possible zero eigenvalue for $`\sigma _{ab}^1`$ simply means that the exponential in Eq.(52) becomes a $`\delta `$-function in one particular direction, so there are no fluctuations in that direction).

## 7 Summary and Discussion

The present work shows that it is possible to carry out a decoherent histories quantization of simple quantum cosmological models. This quantization method reproduces, approximately, heuristic methods based on essentially classical ideas. These models have the key property of not possessing a time parameter, but this does not appear to present an insurmountable obstruction to the application of the approach.

Central to both the classical and quantum problems is the notion of an entire trajectory. At the classical level it appears to be the appropriate reparametrization-invariant notion for the construction of interesting probabilities. At the quantum level, the decoherent histories approach appears to handle the problem in a natural way, perhaps because it readily incorporates the notion of trajectory.

This approach to quantizing cosmological models in this way is certainly only a first bite at the problem, and a list of further topics and related issues is described at some length in Ref.. Whilst it is gratifying that quantum cosmological models may be successfully quantized using the decoherent histories approach, what has been particularly interesting for me is the observation that this area appears to be a point of confluence for a number of different fields. As indicated at the beginning of this article, for example, quantum cosmology puts severe pressure on the foundations of standard quantum theory. There has also been an interesting interplay going on between quantum cosmology and the question of time in standard, non-relativistic quantum mechanics , and this is likely to prove fruitful for quantum cosmology. In the long run, quantum cosmology may or may not be able to provide useful, testable cosmological predictions. But what is pretty certain is that work in this area is likely to remain a source of stimulus for a long time to come.

## 8 Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to Gary Gibbons, Paul Shellard and Stuart Rankin for organizing such a wonderful meeting. Particular gratitude goes to Stephen Hawking for giving us something to have a meeting about