Related papers: Born's prophecy leaves no space for quantum gravit…
"It is utterly beyond our power to measure the changes of things by time. Quite the contrary, time is an abstraction at which we arrive through the changes of things." Ernst Mach [1]. What change? Three answers to this are `any change'…
This essay presents an accessible introduction to the basic motivations to seek a quantum theory of gravity. It focuses on one approach- loop quantum gravity - as an example of the rich philosophical issues that arise when we try to combine…
The possibility that a classical space-time and quantum matter cohabit at the deepest level, i.e. the possibility of having a fundamental and not phenomenological semiclassical gravity, is often disregarded for lack of a good candidate…
It is congruous with the quantum nature of the world to view the space-time geometry as an emergent structure that shows classical features only at some observational level. One can thus conceive the space-time manifold as a purely…
The null-surface formulation of general relativity -- recently introduced -- provides novel tools for describing the gravitational field, as well as a fresh physical way of viewing it. The new formulation provides ``local'' observables…
We summarize the arguments that space and time are likely to be emergent notions; i.e. they are not present in the fundamental formulation of the theory, but appear as approximate macroscopic concepts. Along the way we briefly review…
It is univocally anticipated that in a theory of quantum gravity, there exist quantum superpositions of semiclassical states of spacetime geometry. Such states could arise for example, from a source mass in a superposition of spatial…
We explain how quantum gravity can be defined by quantizing spacetime itself. A pinpoint is that the gravitational constant G = L_P^2 whose physical dimension is of (length)^2 in natural unit introduces a symplectic structure of spacetime…
We start from classical Hamiltonian constraint of general relativity to obtain the Einstein-Hamiltonian-Jacobi equation. We obtain a time parameter prescription demanding that geometry itself determines the time, not the matter field, such…
The operational meaning of spacetime fluctuations is discussed. Classical spacetime geometry can be viewed as encoding the relations between the motions of test particles in the geometry. By analogy, quantum fluctuations of spacetime…
Theories of emergent gravity have established a deep connection between entropy and the geometry of spacetime by looking at the latter through a thermodynamic lens. In this framework, the macroscopic properties of gravity arise in a…
The spacetime singularities in classical general relativity are inevitable, which are also predicated by the celebrated singularity theorems. However, it is general belief that singularities do not exist in the nature and they are the…
We explore the possibility of a Bohmian approach to the problem of finding a quantum theory incorporating gravitational phenomena. The major conceptual problems of canonical quantum gravity are the problem of time and the problem of…
It is shown that, with some reasonable assumptions, the theory of general relativity can be made compatible with quantum mechanics by using the field equations of general relativity to construct a Robertson-Walker metric for a quantum…
Our purpose here is to introduce the idea of viewing the spacetime as a macroscopic complex system which, consequently, cannot be directly quantized. It should be thought of as a collection of more fundamental "microscopical" entities…
Theorists are often told to express things in the "observational plane". One can do this for space-time geometry, considering "visual" observations of matter in our universe by a single observer over time, with no assumptions about…
I will discuss how the concept of basho, introduced by Nishida Kitaro nearly a century ago, can give an interesting insight to understand the concept of a point in modern quantum gravity. A quantum spacetime, necessary for the quantization…
This paper aims to discuss two issues that can have a significant impact on the foundations of the theory of gravitation: (1). The existence of relativity of space-time geometry with respect to the properties of used reference frame, which…
We consider Hilbert's problem of the axioms of Physics at a qualitative or conceptual level. This issue is more pressing than ever as we seek to understand how both General Relativity and quantum theory could emerge from some deeper theory…
One of the main goals of contemporary theoretical physics is to find the quantum theory of gravity. There are various working hypotheses, mostly operating in the regime of high-energy physics well above the reach of particle accelerators.…