Bohmian Quantization of the Big Rip

Abstract

It is shown in this paper that minisuperspace quantization of homogeneous and isotropic geometries with phantom scalar fields, when examined in the light of the Bohm-de Broglie interpretation of quantum mechanics, does not eliminate, in general, the classical big rip singularity present in the classical model. For some values of the Hamilton-Jacobi separation constant present in a class of quantum state solutions of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation, the big rip can be either completely eliminated or may still constitute a future attractor for all expanding solutions. This is contrary to the conclusion presented in Ref.[1], using a different interpretation of the wave function, where the big rip singularity is completely eliminated ("smoothed out") through quantization, independently of such separation constant and for all members of the above mentioned class of solutions. This is an example of the very peculiar situation where different interpretations of the same quantum state of a system are predicting different physical facts, instead of just giving different descriptions of the same observable facts: in fact, there is nothing more observable than the fate of the whole Universe.