Related papers: Time functions as utilities
Theories of quantum gravity generically presuppose or predict that the reality underlying relativistic spacetimes they are describing is significantly non-spatiotemporal. On pain of empirical incoherence, approaches to quantum gravity must…
As an inverse problem, we recover the topology of the effective spacetime that a system lies in, in an operational way. This means that from a series of experiments we get a set of points corresponding to events. This continues the previous…
The causal spacetimes admitting a covariantly constant null vector provide a connection between relativistic and non-relativistic physics. We explore this relationship in several directions. We start proving a formula which relates the…
Treating the time of an event as a quantum variable, we derive a scheme in which superpositions in time are used to perform operations in an indefinite causal order. We use some aspects of a recently developed space-time-symmetric formalism…
We show that the random adjacency matrices induced by the chronological relations and i.i.d. samples of two spacetimes coincide in law if and only if the spacetimes in question are smoothly isometric. A similar result holds for weighted…
I explain a simple definition of causality in widespread use, and indicate how it links to the Kramers Kronig relations. The specification of causality in terms of temporal differential eqations then shows us the way to write down dynamical…
Field theories whose full action is Lorentz invariant (or diffeomorphism invariant) can exhibit superluminal behaviors through the breaking of local Lorentz invariance. Quantum induced superluminal velocities are well-known examples of this…
Timelike sectional curvature bounds play an important role in spacetime geometry, both for the understanding of classical smooth spacetimes and for the study of Lorentzian (pre-)length spaces introduced in \cite{kunzinger2018lorentzian}. In…
Causality is one of the fundamental structures of spacetimes, determining the possible behaviour and propagation of physical information. Causal structure can be analysed through the various modal logics it induces. The modal logics for the…
We discuss the usual account of causal structure that relies on the temporal precedence constraint between cause-effect pairs. In particular, we consider the subtle interplay between local and global characters of time and causality encoded…
This paper argues against the proposal to draw from current research into a physical theory of quantum gravity the ontological conclusion that spacetime or spatiotemporal relations are not fundamental. As things stand, the status of this…
Strategies intended to resolve the problem of time in quantum gravity by means of emergent or hidden timefunctions are considered in the arena of relational particle toy models. In situations with `heavy' and `light' degrees of freedom, two…
Time-reversal symmetry is a prevalent feature of microscopic physics, including operational quantum theory and classical general relativity. Previous works have studied indefinite causal structure using the language of operational quantum…
The absolute/relative debate on the nature of space and time is ongoing for thousands of years. Here we attempt to investigate space and time from the information theoretic point of view to understand spatial and temporal correlations under…
A reflexive relation on a set can be a starting point in defining the causal structure of a spacetime in General Relativity and other relativistic theories of gravity. If we identify this relation as the relation between lightlike separated…
The topology of the causal boundary for standard static spacetimes--spacetimes time-invariantly conformal to a metric product of the Lorentz line and a Riemannian manifold--is studied in depth. As this is given in terms of a set of…
Time continues to be an intriguing physical property in the modern era. On the one hand, we have the Classical and Relativistic notion of time, where space and time have the same hierarchy, which is essential in describing events in…
In prior work, we have argued that spacetime functionalism provides tools for clarifying the conceptual difficulties specifically linked to the emergence of spacetime in certain approaches to quantum gravity. We argue in this article that…
The idea that events obey a definite causal order is deeply rooted in our understanding of the world and at the basis of the very notion of time. But where does causal order come from, and is it a necessary property of nature? We address…
Causality is a non-obvious concept that is often considered to be related to temporality. In this paper we present a number of past and present approaches to the definition of temporality and causality from philosophical, physical, and…