English

Theory and Phenomenology of Spacetime Defects

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2014-03-24 v1 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

Whether or not space-time is fundamentally discrete is of central importance for the development of the theory of quantum gravity. If the fundamental description of space-time is discrete, typically represented in terms of a graph or network, then the apparent smoothness of geometry on large scales should be imperfect -- it should have defects. Here, we review a model for space-time defects and summarize the constraints on the prevalence of these defects that can be derived from observation.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1401.0276,
  title  = {Theory and Phenomenology of Spacetime Defects},
  author = {Sabine Hossenfelder},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1401.0276},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

Summary of arXiv:1309.0311 and arXiv:1309.0314. Prepared for the AHEP Special Issue on "Experimental Tests of Quantum Gravity and Exotic Quantum Field Theory Effects"