Title: Semiclassical path integrals and the initial conditions for inflation

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Abstract:
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In this talk, I will review recent progress in semi-classical gravity within the path integral approach. In this framework it is possible to go one step beyond the usual treatment of primordial fluctuations according to QFT in curved spacetime as the background universe can be given quantum mechanical properties too. I will discuss the implications for inflation and the Hartle-Hawking wavefunction of the universe.