Related papers: The physical observer II: Gauge and diff anomalies
We informally review the construction of spacetime geometries with multifractal and, more generally, multiscale properties. Based on fractional calculus, these continuous spacetimes have their dimension changing with the scale; they display…
Theoretical descriptions of observable quantities in cosmological perturbation theory should be independent of coordinate systems. This statement is often referred to as gauge-invariance of observable quantities, and the sanity of their…
One could begin a study like the present one by simply postulating that our universe is four-dimensional. There are ample reasons for doing this. Experience, observation and experiment all point to the fact that we inhabit a…
In this paper we discuss on the phenomenological footprints of gauge invariant theories of gravity where the gravitational effects are due not only to spacetime curvature, but also to vectorial nonmetricity. We explore the possibility that…
It is widely thought that the quantum theory of de Sitter space requires the existence of a physical observer in the static patch. What exactly is meant by an observer is unclear; it could be anything from a few photons with energy just…
Our conventional system of physical units is based on local or microscopic {\it dimensional} quantities which are {\it defined}, for convenience or otherwise aesthetic reasons, to be spacetime-independent. A more general choice of units may…
We argue that (1) our perception of time through change and (2) the gap between reality and our observation of it are at the heart of both quantum mechanics and the dynamical mechanism of physical systems. We suggest that the origin of…
The quantum theory of the spherically symmetric gravity in 3+1 dimensions is investigated. The functional measures are explicitly evaluated and the physical state conditions are derived by using the technique developed in two dimensional…
Rovelli's relational interpretation of quantum mechanics tells us that the description of a system in the formalism of quantum mechanics is not an absolute, but it is relative to the observer itself. The interpretation goes further and…
It is argued that the gauge anomalies are only the artefacts of quantum field theory when certain subtleties are not taken into account. With the Berry's phase needed to satisfy certain boundary conditions of the generating path integral,…
The second-order moment quantum fluctuations or uncertainties are mass-dependent, and the incompatibility between the quantum uncertainty principle and the equivalence principle is at the second-order moment (variation) level, but not the…
When four-dimensional general relativity is embedded in an unconstrained man-ner in a fifth dimension, the physical quantities of spacetime can be interpreted as geometrical properties related to the extra dimension. It has become…
New phenomenological models of Quantum Gravity have suggested that a Lorentz-Invariant discrete spacetime structure may become manifest through a nonstandard coupling of matter fields and spacetime curvature. On the other hand, there is…
The principle of relativity is extended to accommodate finite-mass observers with quantum properties by introducing two operational requirements: (i) equivalence of observers at the level of transition amplitudes, and (ii) the impossibility…
Quantum theory is extremely successful in explaining most physical phenomena, and is not contradicted by any experiment. Yet, the theory has many puzzling features : the occurrence of probabilities, the unclear distinction between the…
In 1929 Szilard pointed out that the physics of the observer may play a role in the analysis of experiments. The same year, Bohr pointed out that complementarity appears to arise naturally in psychology where both the objects of perception…
Fundamental constants are a cornerstone of our physical laws. Any constant varying in space and/or time would reflect the existence of an almost massless field that couples to matter. This will induce a violation of the universality of free…
In both quantum mechanics and relativity theory, the concept of the observer plays a critical role. However, there is no consensus on the definition of observer in these theories. Following Einstein's thought experiments, one could ask:…
Light scalar fields very naturally appear in modern cosmological models, affecting such parameters of Standard Model as electromagnetic fine structure constant $\alpha$, dimensionless ratios of electron or quark mass to the QCD scale,…
A recently conjectured relashionship between UV and IR cutoffs in an effective field theory without quantum gravity is generalized in the presence of large extra dimensions. Estimates for the corrections to the usual calculation of…