Selection rules in minisuperspace quantum cosmology

The existence of a Noether symmetry for a given minisuperspace cosmological model is a sort of selection rule to recover classical behaviours in cosmic evolution since oscillatory regimes for the wave function of the universe come out. The so-called Hartle criterion to select correlated regions in the configuration space of dynamical variables can be directly connected to the presence of a Noether symmetry and we show that such a statement works for generic extended theories of gravity in the framework of minisuperspace approximation. Examples and exact cosmological solutions are given for nonminimally coupled and higher-order theories.