Semiclassical universe from first principles

Causal dynamical triangulations in four dimensions provide a background-independent definition of the sum over space-time geometries in non-perturbative quantum gravity. We show that the macroscopic four-dimensional world which emerges in the Euclidean sector of this theory is a bounce which satisfies a semiclassical equation. After integrating out all degrees of freedom except for a global scale factor, we obtain the ground state wave function of the universe as a function of this scale factor. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.