Open inflation from quantum cosmology with a strong non-minimal coupling

We propose a mechanism of quantum creation of the open Universe in the obse rvable range of values of Omega. This mechanism is based on the no-boundary quantum state with the Hawking-Turok instanton applied to the model with a strong non-minimal coupling of the inflaton field. We develop the slow rol l perturbation expansion for the instanton solution and obtain a non-trivia l contribution to the classical instanton action. The interplay of this cla ssical contribution with the loop effects due to quantum effective action g enerates the probability distribution peak with necessary parameters of the inflation stage without invoking any anthropic considerations. In contrast with a similar mechanism for closed models, existing only for the tunnelin g quantum state of the Universe, the observationally justified open inflati on originates from the no-boundary cosmological wavefunction. (C) 1999 Else vier Science B.V. All rights reserved.