Wave Packet in Quantum Cosmology and Definition of Semiclassical Time

Abstract

We consider a quantum cosmology with a massless background scalar field ϕB and adopt a wave packet as the wave function. This wave packet is a superposition of the WKB form wave functions, each of which has a definite momentum of the scalar field ϕB. In this model it is shown that to trace the formalism of the WKB time is seriously difficult without introducing a complex value for a time. We define a semiclassical real time variable TP from the phase of the wave packet and calculate it explicitly. We find that, when a quantum matter field ϕQ is coupled to the system, an approximate Schrödinger equation for ϕQ holds with respect to TP in a region where the size a of the universe is large and |ϕB| is small.