Related papers: Universal quantum mechanics
Motivated by hints of the effective emergent nature of spacetime structure, we formulate a spacetime-free algebraic framework for quantum theory, in which no a priori background geometric structure is required. Such a framework is necessary…
This paper reviews the histories approach to quantum mechanics. This discussion is then applied to theories of quantum gravity. It is argued that some of the quantum histories must approximate (in a suitable sense) to classical histories,…
Although time is one of our most intuitive physical concepts, its understanding at the fundamental level is still an open question in physics. For instance, time in quantum mechanics and general relativity are two distinct and incompatible…
I describe several conceptual aspects of a particular paradigm which treats the field equations of gravity as emergent. These aspects are related to the features of classical gravitational theories which defy explanation within the…
The usual quantization of a classical space-time field does not touch the non-geometrical character of quantum mechanics. We believe that the deep problems of unification of general relativity and quantum mechanics are rooted in this poor…
Recent developments in holographic gravity suggest that spacetime structure may be deeply related to quantum mechanics. In this work, from a different perspective, we demonstrate that wave-particle duality can be interpreted as the…
Time in quantum gravity is not a well-defined notion, despite its central role in the very definition of dynamics. Using the formalism of quantum geometrodynamics, we shortly review the problem and illustrate it with two proposed solutions.…
The goal of this paper is to employ a "preclusion principle" originally suggested by Rafael Sorkin in order to come up with a relativistically covariant model of quantum mechanics and gravity. Space-time is viewed as geometry as opposed to…
This study introduces the quantum force wave equation (QFWE) as a general theory of quantum forces, a novel framework that redefines quantum forces as emergent phenomena arising from the interaction between quantum particles and curved…
A new approach to the dynamics of the universe based on work by O Murchadha, Foster, Anderson and the author is presented. The only kinematics presupposed is the spatial geometry needed to define configuration spaces in purely relational…
The aim of this paper is to explain carefully the arguments behind the assertion that the correct quantum theory of gravity must be background independent. We begin by recounting how the debate over whether quantum gravity must be…
The literature on quantum-gravity-inspired scenarios for the quantization of spacetime has so far focused on particle-physics-like studies. This is partly justified by the present limitations of our understanding of quantum-gravity…
We present the arguments suggesting that time is emergent in quantum gravity and discuss extensively, but without any technical detail, the many aspects that can be involved in such emergence. We refer to both the physical issues that need…
We present a new model of quantum gravity as a theory of random geometries given explicitly in terms of a multitrace matrix model. This is a generalization of the usual discretized random surfaces of 2D quantum gravity which works away from…
It is argued that (a) In the quantum realm test-particle masses have non-trivial observability which induces a non-geometric element in gravity, (b) Any theory of quantum gravity, on fundamental grounds, must contain an element of…
Assuming the validity of the equivalence principle in the quantum regime, we argue that one of the assumptions of the usual definition of quantum mechanics, namely separation between the ``classical'' detector and the ``quantum'' system,…
We have previously presented a version of the Weak Equivalence Principle for a quantum particle as an exact analog of the classical case, based on the Heisenberg picture analysis of free particle motion. Here, we take that to a full…
We discuss the hints for the disappearance of continuum space and time at microscopic scale. These include arguments for a discrete nature of them or for a fundamental non-locality, in a quantum theory of gravity. We discuss how these ideas…
On a scientific meta-level, it is discussed how an overall understanding of the physical universe can be built on the basis of well-proven theories, observations, and recent experiments. In the light of almost a century of struggle to make…
We present the case for a fundamentally discrete quantum spacetime and for Group Field Theories as a candidate consistent description of it, briefly reviewing the key properties of the GFT formalism. We then argue that the outstanding…