Related papers: Spacetime foam
Path integrals are a ubiquitous tool in theoretical physics. However, their use is sometimes hindered by the lack of control on various manipulations -- such as performing a change of the integration path -- one would like to carry out in…
Understanding the large-scale physics is crucial for the spin foam approach to quantum gravity. We tackle this challenge from a statistical physics perspective using simplified, yet feature-rich models. In particular, this allows us to…
Making the Lorentzian path integral for quantum gravity well-defined and computable has been a long standing challenge. In this work we adopt the recently proposed effective spin foam models to the Lorentzian case. This defines a path…
The general boundary formulation of quantum field theory is applied to a massive scalar field in two dimensional Rindler space. The field is quantized according to both the Schr\"odinger-Feynman quantization prescription and the holomorphic…
A lattice quantum gravity model in 4 dimensional Riemannian spacetime is constructed based on the SU(2) Ashtekar formulation of general relativity. This model can be understood as one of the family of models sometimes called ``spin foam…
A fundamentally different approach to path integral quantum mechanics in curved space-time is presented, as compared to the standard approaches currently available in the literature. Within the context of scalar particle propagation in a…
Spin foam models, loop quantum gravity and group field theory are discussed as quantum gravity candidate theories and usually involve a continuous Lie group. We advocate here to consider quantum gravity inspired models with finite groups,…
Earlier work presented a spacetime path formalism for relativistic quantum mechanics arising naturally from the fundamental principles of the Born probability rule, superposition, and spacetime translation invariance. The resulting…
In the saddle point approximation, the Euclidean path integral for quantum gravity closely resembles a thermodynamic partition function, with the cosmological constant $\Lambda$ playing the role of temperature and the ``density of…
We model spacetime foam by a gas of virtual wormholes. For a free scalar field we derive the effective Lagrangian which accounts for the interaction with spacetime foam and contains two additional non-local terms. One term describes the…
The influence of spacetime foam on a broad class of bosonic fields with arbitrary numbers of particles in the low energy regime is investigated. Based on recently formulated general description of open quantum gravitational systems, we…
We study the path integral formulation of Friedmann universe filled with a massless scalar field in loop quantum cosmology. All the isotropic models of $k=0,+1,-1$ are considered. To construct the path integrals in the timeless framework, a…
Due to quantum fluctuations, probed at small scales, spacetime is very complicated -- something akin in complexity to a turbulent froth which the late John Wheeler dubbed quantum foam, aka spacetime foam. Our recent work suggests that (1)…
Quantum fluctuations endow spacetime with a foamy texture. The degree of foaminess is dictated by blackhole physics to be of the holographic type. Applied to cosmology, the holographic foam model predicts the existence of dark energy with…
We consider fuzzy spacetime, quanta of area and related concepts in the context of latest approaches to Quantum Gravity and show its interface with usual non-Abelian gauge theory. We also discuss in this context a cosmology which correctly…
We develop a novel framework for describing quantum fluctuations in field theory, with a focus on cosmological applications. Our method uniquely circumvents the use of operator/Hilbert-space formalism, instead relying on a systematic…
The conventional phase space of classical physics treats space and time differently, and this difference carries over to field theories and quantum mechanics (QM). In this paper, the phase space is enhanced through two main extensions.…
Postulates which lead to Minkowski spacetime are amended in a subtle way, and used to construct a consistent flat spacetime geometry with intrinsic quantum character. Events in the new quantum geometry are described by labels of the form…
In quantum field theory the path integral is usually formulated in the wave picture, i.e., as a sum over field evolutions. This path integral is difficult to define rigorously because of analytic problems whose resolution may ultimately…
The de~Broglie--Bohm (pilot wave) formulation of quantum theory appears to be free from the conceptual problems specific to quantum mechanics (problem of measurement) and to quantum cosmology (problem of time). We discuss the issue of…