De Sitter space with finitely many states: A toy story

Maulik Parikh; Erik Verlinde

doi:10.1142/9789812704030_0332

De Sitter space with finitely many states: A toy story

Maulik Parikh, Erik Verlinde

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The finite entropy of de Sitter space suggests that in a theory of quantum gravity there are only finitely many states. It has been argued that in this case there is no action of the de Sitter group consistent with unitarity. In this note we propose a way out of this if we give up the requirement of having a hermitian Hamiltonian. We argue that some of the generators of the de Sitter group act in a novel way, namely by mixing in- and out-states. In this way it is possible to have a unitary S-matrix that is finite-dimensional and, moreover, de Sitter-invariant.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	The Tenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting
Subtitle of host publication	On Recent Developments in Theoretical and Experimental General Relativity, Gravitation and Relativistic Field Theories
Publisher	World Scientific Publishing Co.
Pages	2346-2351
Number of pages	6
Volume	3
ISBN (Electronic)	9789812704030
ISBN (Print)	9789812566676
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1142/9789812704030_0332
State	Published - Jan 1 2006
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Physics and Astronomy

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10.1142/9789812704030_0332

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De Sitter space with finitely many states: A toy story. / Parikh, Maulik; Verlinde, Erik.
The Tenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting: On Recent Developments in Theoretical and Experimental General Relativity, Gravitation and Relativistic Field Theories. Vol. 3 World Scientific Publishing Co., 2006. p. 2346-2351.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

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AB - The finite entropy of de Sitter space suggests that in a theory of quantum gravity there are only finitely many states. It has been argued that in this case there is no action of the de Sitter group consistent with unitarity. In this note we propose a way out of this if we give up the requirement of having a hermitian Hamiltonian. We argue that some of the generators of the de Sitter group act in a novel way, namely by mixing in- and out-states. In this way it is possible to have a unitary S-matrix that is finite-dimensional and, moreover, de Sitter-invariant.

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De Sitter space with finitely many states: A toy story

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