Related papers: Living with Infinities
We begin by discussing ``What exists?'', i.e. ontology, in Classical Physics which provided a description of physical phenomena at the macroscopic level. The microworld however necessitates a introduction of Quantum ideas for its…
This article provides an overview of the history, theoretical basis, and different implementations of quantum computers. In Fall 2018, four MIT faculty -- Isaac Chuang, Dirk Englund, Aram Harrow, and William Oliver -- at the forefront of…
I discuss the general principles underlying quantum field theory, and attempt to identify its most profound consequences. The deepest of these consequences result from the infinite number of degrees of freedom invoked to implement locality.…
A new approach is suggested which allows to describe phenomenologically arbitrary topologies of the Universe. It consists in a generalizaton of third quantization. This quantization is carried out for the case of asymptotic closeness to a…
The paper puts together some loosely connected observations, old and new, on the concept of a quantum field and on the properties of Feynman amplitudes. We recall, in particular, the role of (exceptional) elementary induced representations…
Over the last three years, a number of fundamental physical issues were addressed in loop quantum gravity. These include: A statistical mechanical derivation of the horizon entropy, encompassing astrophysically interesting black holes as…
The idea that quantum gravity manifestations would be associated with a violation of Lorentz invariance is very strongly bounded and faces serious theoretical challenges. This leads us to consider an alternative line of thought for such…
During the conference on the methods of differential geometry in physics in Warsaw in June 1976, Professor Wheeler gave an interview for the Czechoslovak Journal of Physics A. After Professor Wheeler authorized the English version in…
We review recent progress in taking the large dimension limit of Einstein's equations. Most of our analysis is classical in nature and concerns situations where there is a black hole horizon although we briefly discuss various extensions…
I describe parts of my joint work with S. Deser [March 19, 1931 - April 21, 2023] which started when I was working as a post-doc at Brandeis University in 2001. Our work was mostly, but not exclusively, on conserved charges of higher…
Our knowledge and ignorance concerning the geometry of quantum states are discussed.
We discuss some general properties of quantum gravity in De Sitter space. It has been argued that the Hilbert space is of finite dimension. This suggests a macroscopic argument that General Relativity cannot be quantized -- unless it is…
This article is an extended version of the minicourse given by the second author at the summer school of the conference "Interactions of quantum affine algebras with cluster algebras, current algebras and categorification", held in June…
I give a compact, pedagogical review of our present understanding of the universe as based on general relativity. This includes the uniform models, with special reference to the cosmological 'constant'; and the equations for…
The concept of a "space of quantum field theories" or "theory space" was set out in the 1970's in work of Wilson, Friedan and others. This structure should play an important role in organizing and classifying QFTs, and in the study of the…
Actual infinity in its various forms is discussed, searched and not found.
It is advisable to avoid and, even better, demystify such grandiose terms as "infinity" or "singularity" in the description of the cosmos. Its proliferation does not positively contribute to the understanding of key concepts that are…
A quantum field theory formalism is reviewed that leads to a self-consistent, finite quantum gravity, Yang-Mills and Higgs theory, which is unitary and gauge invariant to all orders of perturbation theory. The gauge hierarchy problem is…
In the last years a general consensus has emerged that, contrary to intuition, quantum-gravity effects may have relevant consequences for the propagation and interaction of high energy particles. This has given birth to the field of…
In this contribution we use the model of discrete spaces that we have put forward in former articles to give an interpretation to the phenomena of quantum entanglement and quantum states reduction that rests upon a new way of considering…