Related papers: Foamy structure of spacetime
Quantum cosmology has traditionally been studied at the level of symmetry-reduced minisuperspace models, analyzing the behavior of wave functions. However, in the absence of a complete full setting of quantum gravity and detailed knowledge…
A satisfactory theory of quantum gravity may necessitate a drastic modification of our perception of space-time, by giving it a foamy structure at distances comparable to the Planck length. It is argued in this essay that the experimental…
An algebraic scheme is suggested in which discretized spacetime turns out to be a quantum observable. As an example, a toy model producing spacetimes of four points with different topologies is presented. The possibility of incorporating…
The expectation that it should not be possible to gain experimental insight on the structure of space-time at Planckian distance scales has been recently challenged by several studies. With respect to space-time fluctuations, one of the…
We examine the dependence of quantization on global properties of a classical system. Quantization based on local properties may lead to ambiguities and inconsistency between local and global symmetries of a quantum system. Our quantization…
A diverse set of observations now compellingly suggest that Universe possesses a nonzero cosmological constant. In the context of quantum-field theory a cosmological constant corresponds to the energy density of the vacuum, and the wanted…
A rich variety of non-equilibrium dynamical phenomena and processes unambiguously calls for the development of general numerical techniques to probe and estimate a complex interplay between spatial and temporal degrees of freedom in…
We use general arguments to examine the energy scales for which a quantum coherent description of gravitating quantum energy units is necessary. The cosmological dark energy density is expected to decouple from the Friedman-Lemaitre energy…
A simple model of spacetime foam, made by spherically symmetric wormholes, with or without a cosmological term is proposed. The black hole area quantization and its consequences are examined in this context. We open the possibility of…
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…
The black hole as the thermodynamical system in equilibrium possesses the periodicity of motion in imaginary time, that allows us to formulate the quasi-classical rule of quantization. The rule yields the equidistant spectrum for the…
In Loop Quantum Gravity, the quantum action of the volume operator is crucial in understanding quantum dynamics. In this work, we implement a generalized numerical algorithm that can compute the quantum action of the volume operator on a…
Collective operators that describe interaction of generic quantum system with discrete spectrum with a quantum field are investigated. These operators, considered as operators in the entangled Fock space (space generated by action of…
We explore the notion of spatial extent and structure, already alluded to in earlier literature, within the formulation of quantum mechanics on the noncommutative plane. Introducing the notion of average position and its measurement, we…
We study the spectral properties of the anisotropic part of Hamiltonian entering the quantum dynamics of the Mixmaster universe. We derive the explicit asymptotic expressions for the energy spectrum in the limit of large and small volumes…
Loop quantum cosmology is an application of recent developments for a non-perturbative and background independent quantization of gravity to a cosmological setting. Characteristic properties of the quantization such as discreteness of…
We consider spacetime to be a 4-dimensional differentiable manifold that can be split locally into time and space. No metric, no linear connection are assumed. Matter is described by classical fields/fluids. We distinguish electrically…
After a short history of the $\Lambda$-term it is explained why the (effective) cosmological constant is expected to obtain contributions from short-distance physics, corresponding to an energy at least as large as the Fermi scale. The…
Quantum cosmology in the presence of a fundamental minimal length is analyzed in the context of the flat isotropic and the Taub cosmological models. Such minimal scale comes out from a generalized uncertainty principle and the quantization…
At Planck-scale, spacetime is "foamy" due to quantum fluctuations predicted by quantum gravity. Here we consider the possibility of using spacetime foam-induced phase incoherence of light from distant galaxies and gamma-ray bursters to…