Dark energy and inflation in a gravitational wave dominated universe

Abstract

The empty space (with no matter fields) is not really empty because of natural metric fluctuations, quantum (gravitons) and classical (gravitational waves). We show that gravitons as well as classical gravitational waves of super-horizon wavelengths are able to form a de Sitter state of the empty homogeneous isotropic Universe. This state is an exact solution to the self-consistent equations of finite one-loop quantum gravity for gravitons in the empty FLRW space. It is also an exact solution to the selfconsistent equations of back-reaction for classical gravitational waves in the same space. Technically, to get this de Sitter solution in both quantum and classical cases, it is necessary to carry out a transition to imaginary time and then to return to real time, which is possible because this de Sitter state is invariant with respect to Wick rotation. Such a procedure means that time was used as a complex variable, and this fact has a deep but still not understood significance. The de Sitter accelerated expansion of the empty Universe naturally explains the origin of dark energy and inflation because the Universe is empty at the start (inflation) and by the end (dark energy) of its evolution. This theory is consistent with the existing observational data. The CMB anisotropy of the order of 10⁻⁵ is produced by fluctuations in the number of gravitons. The existence of a threshold and a unique coincidence of topologically impenetrable barriers for tunneling takes place for the matter-dominated epoch and de Sitter State only. These facts provide a solution to the coincidence problem. The theoretical prediction that the equation-of-state parameter should be w > −1 for inflation and w < −1 for dark energy is consistentwith the observational data. To provide the reader with a complete picture, this paper gather together new and some published results of the graviton theory of the origin of inflation and dark energy.