Noether symmetric minisuperspace model of f(R) cosmology

We study the metric f(R) cosmology using Noether symmetry approach by utilizing the behavior of the corresponding Lagrangian under infinitesimal generators of the desired symmetry. The existence of Noether symmetry of the cosmological f(R) minisuperspace helps us to find out the form of f(R) function for which such symmetry exist. It is shown that the resulting form for f(R) yields a power law expansion for the cosmic scale factor. We also show that in the corresponding Noether symmetric quantum model, the solutions to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation can be expressed as a superposition of states of the form e(iS). It is shown that in terms of such wavefunctions the classical trajectories can be recovered. (C) 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim