Related papers: Local covariance and background independence
The principle of local covariance which was recently introduced admits a generally covariant formulation of quantum field theory. It allows a discussion of structural properties of quantum field theory as well as the perturbative…
We argue that the demand of background independence in a quantum theory of gravity calls for an extension of standard geometric quantum mechanics. We discuss a possible kinematical and dynamical generalization of the latter by way of a…
The recent formulation of locally covariant quantum field theory may open the way towards a background independent perturbative formulation of Quantum Gravity.
The history of general relativity suggests that in absence of experimental data, constructing a theory on philosophical first principles can lead to a very useful theory as well as to ground-breaking insights about physical reality. The two…
Background independence is often emphasized as an important property of a quantum theory of gravity that takes seriously the geometrical nature of general relativity. In a background-independent formulation, quantum gravity should determine…
It is generally believed that a full-fledged theory of quantum gravity should exhibit background independence and diffeomorphism invariance. In its most general form, the latter comprises field redefinitions, which are diffeomorphisms in…
We introduce the notion of background independent quantum field theory. The distinguishing feature of this theory is that the dynamics can be formulated without recourse to a background metric structure. We show in a simple model how the…
We discuss the meaning of background independence in quantum theories of gravity where geometry and gravity are emergent and illustrate the possibilities using the framework of quantum causal histories.
The aim of this paper is to explain carefully the arguments behind the assertion that the correct quantum theory of gravity must be background independent. We begin by recounting how the debate over whether quantum gravity must be…
We construct perturbative quantum gravity in a generally covariant way. In particular our construction is background independent. It is based on the locally covariant approach to quantum field theory and the renormalized Batalin-Vilkovisky…
This paper concerns what Background Independence itself is (as opposed to some particular physical theory that is background independent). The notions presented mostly arose from a layer-by-layer analysis of the facets of the Problem of…
It is shown that polymer quantization leads to a modified uncertainty principle similar to that obtained from string theory and non-commutative geometry. When applied to quantum field theory on general background spacetimes, corrections to…
A new approach to the model-independent description of quantum field theories will be introduced in the present work. The main feature of this new approach is to incorporate in a local sense the principle of general covariance of general…
Any canonical quantum theory can be understood to arise from the compatibility of the statistical geometry of distinguishable observations with the canonical Poisson structure of Hamiltonian dynamics. This geometric perspective offers a…
Loop quantum gravity, a non-perturbative and manifestly background free, quantum theory of gravity implies that at the kinematical level the spatial geometry is discrete in a specific sense. The spirit of background independence also…
One of the biggest challenges to theoretical physics of our time is to find a background-independent quantum theory of gravity. Today one encounters a profusion of different attempts at quantization, but no fully accepted - or acceptable,…
A complete basis of nonlocal invariants in quantum gravity theory is built to third order in spacetime curvature and matter-field strengths. The nonlocal identities are obtained which reduce this basis for manifolds with dimensionality…
The framework of locally covariant quantum field theory is discussed, motivated in part using "ignorance principles". It is shown how theories can be represented by suitable functors, so that physical equivalence of theories may be…
The application of quantum theory to gravity is beset with many technical and conceptual problems. After a short tour d'horizon of recent attempts to master those problems by the introduction of new approaches, we show that the aim, a…
Over the past five years, there has been significant progress on the problem of quantization of diffeomorphism covariant field theories with {\it local} degrees of freedom. The absence of a background space-time metric in these theories…