Recently, an alternative Hamiltonian constraint for loop quantum cosmology has been put forward by Dapor and Liegener, inspired by previous work on regularization due to Thiemann. Here, we quantize this Hamiltonian following a prescription for cosmology proposed by Martín-Benito, Mena Marugán, and Olmedo. To this effect, we first regularize the Euclidean and Lorentzian parts of the Hamiltonian constraint separately in the case of a Bianchi I cosmology. This allows us to identify a natural symmetrization of the Hamiltonian which is apparent in anisotropic scenarios. Preserving this symmetrization in isotropic regimes, we then determine the Hamiltonian constraint corresponding to a Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker cosmology, which we proceed to quantize. We compute the action of this Hamiltonian operator in the volume eigenbasis and show that it takes the form of a fourth-order difference equation, unlike in standard loop quantum cosmology, where it is known to be of second order. We investigate the superselection sectors of our constraint operator, proving that they are semilattices supported only on either the positive or the negative semiaxis, depending on the triad orientation. Remarkably, the decoupling between semiaxes allows us to write a closed expression for the generalized eigenfunctions of the geometric part of the constraint. This expression is totally determined by the values at the two points of the semilattice that are closest to the origin, namely the two contributions with smallest eigenvolume. This is in clear contrast with the situation found for the standard Hamiltonian of loop quantum cosmology, where only the smallest value is free. This result indicates that the degeneracy of the new geometric Hamiltonian operator is equal to two, doubling the possible number of solutions with respect to the conventional quantization considered until now.

In this article, we reexamine the derivation of the dynamical equations of the Ashtekar-Olmedo-Singh black hole model in order to determine whether it is possible to construct a Hamiltonian formalism where the parameters that regulate the introduction of quantum geometry effects are treated as true constants of motion. After arguing that these parameters should capture contributions from two distinct sectors of the phase space that had been considered independent in previous analyses in the literature, we proceed to obtain the corresponding equations of motion and analyze the consequences of this more general choice. We restrict our discussion exclusively to these dynamical issues. We also investigate whether the proposed procedure can be reconciled with the results of Ashtekar, Olmedo, and Singh, at least in some appropriate limit.

In this work, we compute the time-dependent masses that govern the dynamics of scalar and tensor perturbations propagating on an effective flat, homogeneous, and isotropic background within the framework of loop quantum cosmology (LQC), regularized according to the procedure put forward by Dapor and Liegener. To do so, we follow the two main approaches that, in the field of LQC, lead to hyperbolic equations for the perturbations in the ultraviolet sector: the hybrid and dressed metric formalisms. This allows us to compare the masses resulting from both proposals and analyze their positivity in regimes of physical interest: the big bounce and the contracting de Sitter phase in the asymptotic past that is a defining feature of the model under consideration.

We investigate the viability of a recently proposed generalization of the Ashtekar-Olmedo-Singh spacetime for the effective description of the interior region of a Schwarzschild black hole within the framework of loop quantum cosmology. The approach is based on a choice of polymerization parameters that is more general than the ones previously considered in the literature and that results in the natural appearance of two times to describe the solutions. If one is interested in examining the physics derived from this model, it is fundamental to ensure that one can attain a well-defined effective geometry in the whole region under consideration, in particular as regards the redundancy of the two times, which one needs to express in terms of a single time coordinate. In order to determine whether this requirement is met, we analyze the definition of these times and their relation. We show that one can reach an acceptable interior spacetime geometry by exploiting the freedom to define the origins of the two times independently.

We discuss the quantization of vacuum Bianchi I spacetimes in the modified formalism of loop quantum cosmology recently proposed by Dapor and Liegener. This modification is based on a regularization procedure where both the Euclidean and Lorentzian terms of the Hamiltonian are treated independently. Whereas the Euclidean part has already been dealt with in the literature for Bianchi I spacetimes, the Lorentzian one has not yet been represented quantum mechanically. After a brief review of the quantum kinematics and the quantization of the Euclidean sector, we represent the Lorentzian part of the Hamiltonian constraint by an operator according to the factor ordering rules of the Martín-Benito-Mena Marugán-Olmedo prescription. We study the general properties of this quantum operator and the superselection rules derived therefrom, resulting in an action similar to that of the Euclidean operator except that the orientation of the densitized triad is not preserved, a fact which leads to a generic enlargement of the superselection sectors. We conclude with an explanation of the mechanism that prevents this enlargement in the isotropic case and a comment on the effect of alternative prescriptions for the implementation of the improved dynamics.