----BASICS OF LQC---
http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0505057
Elements of Loop Quantum Cosmology
Martin Bojowald
30 pages, 4 figures, Chapter contributed to "100 Years of Relativity - Space-time Structure: Einstein and Beyond", Ed. A. Ashtekar (World Scientific)
"The expansion of our universe, when followed backward in time, implies that it emerged from a phase of huge density, the big bang. These stages are so extreme that classical general relativity combined with matter theories is not able to describe them properly, and one has to refer to quantum gravity. A complete quantization of gravity has not yet been developed, but there are many results about key properties to be expected. When applied to cosmology, a consistent picture of the early universe arises which is free of the classical pathologies and has implications for the generation of structure which are potentially observable in the near future."
-----SURVEY ARTICLE WITH SECTION ON QC, discusses several types, not just LQC------
http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0508120
Quantum Gravity: General Introduction and Recent Developments
Claus Kiefer
21 pages, 6 figures, invited contribution for "Annalen der Physik"
"I briefly review the current status of quantum gravity. After giving some general motivations for the need of such a theory, I discuss the main approaches in quantizing general relativity: Covariant approaches (perturbation theory, effective theory, and path integrals) and canonical approaches (quantum geometrodynamics, loop quantum gravity). I then address quantum gravitational aspects of string theory. This is followed by a discussion of black holes and
quantum cosmology. I end with some remarks on the observational status of quantum gravity."
---------FOR BALANCE, ANOTHER SURVEY, critical of LQC---------
http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0412026
Quantum Cosmological Models
D.H. Coule
71 pages
Class.Quant.Grav. 22 (2005) R125-2308
"We contrast the initial condition requirements of various contemporary cosmological models, including inflationary and bouncing cosmologies. Various proposals such as Hartle-Hawking's no boundary, or Tunnelling boundary conditions are assessed on grounds of naturalness and fine tuning. Alternatively a quiescent or ``time machine'' state is considered. Extensions to brane models are also addressed. Further ideas about universe creation from a meta-universe are outlined.
We compare the recent loop quantum cosmology of Bojowald and coworkers with these earlier proposals. A number of possible difficulties and limitations are outlined."
-----DIFFERENT APPROACH, CDT, not discussed in the surveys-----
http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0411152
Semiclassical Universe from First Principles
J. Ambjorn, J. Jurkiewicz, R. Loll
15 pages, 4 figures
Phys.Lett. B607 (2005) 205-213
"Causal Dynamical Triangulations in four dimensions provide a background-independent definition of the sum over space-time geometries in nonperturbative 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."
---MY FAVORITE, which some people would not recognize as quantum cosmology---
http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0505154
Reconstructing the Universe
J. Ambjorn, J. Jurkiewicz, R. Loll
52 pages, 20 postscript figures
"We provide detailed evidence for the claim that nonperturbative quantum gravity, defined through state sums of causal triangulated geometries, possesses a large-scale limit in which the dimension of spacetime is four and the dynamics of the volume of the universe behaves semiclassically. This is a first step in reconstructing the universe from a dynamical principle at the Planck scale, and at the same time provides a nontrivial consistency check of the method of causal dynamical triangulations. A closer look at the quantum geometry reveals a number of highly nonclassical aspects, including a dynamical reduction of spacetime to two dimensions on short scales and a fractal structure of slices of constant time."