Baby Universes born from the Void

Abstract

We propose a novel construction of a third quantised baby universe Hilbert space ${\mathcal{H}}_{BU}$ for the quantum gravity path integral. In contrast to the original description of $\alpha$-parameters, both the bulk and boundary microscopic parameters are fixed in our proposal. Wormholes and baby universes appear due to refined observables, of the boundary dual quantum field theories, that crucially involve the space of representations of the gauge group. Irreducible representations, on which the path integral factorises, give rise to field theoretic superselection sectors and replace the $\alpha$ states.

arXiv comment10 pages; Extended version of the essay that received an Honourable Mention in the Gravity Research Foundation 2022 Awards for Essays on Gravitation; v2 - Added reference and minor clarifications

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