Related papers: Quantum Physics and Fluctuating Topologies: Survey

One of the obstacles to reconciling quantum theory with general relativity, is constructing a theory which is both consistent with observation, and and gives finite answers at high energy, so that the theory holds at arbitrarily short…

The quantum description of time evolution in non-linear gravitational systems such as cosmological space-times is not well understood. We show, in the simplified setting of mini-superspace, that time evolution of this system can be obtained…

Loop quantum gravity has provided us with a canonical framework especially devised for background independent and diffeomorphism invariant gauge field theories. In this quantization the fundamental excitations are called spin network…

A semiclassical description of quantum systems is applied to probe the dynamics of the cosmological model of an inflationary universe with quadratic inflaton potential, described in a quantum framework of geometrodynamics. The systematic…

The incompatibility between GR and QM is generally seen as a sufficient motivation for the development of a theory of Quantum Gravity. If - so a typical argumentation - QM gives a universally valid basis for the description of all natural…

Of indisputable relevance for non-equilibrium thermodynamics, fluctuations theorems have been generalized to the framework of quantum thermodynamics, with the notion of work playing a key role in such contexts. The typical approach consists…

Classical thermodynamics is unrivalled in its range of applications and relevance to everyday life. It enables a description of complex systems, made up of microscopic particles, in terms of a small number of macroscopic quantities, such as…

Within the framework of loop quantum cosmology, there exists a semi-classical regime where spacetime may be approximated in terms of a continuous manifold, but where the standard Friedmann equations of classical Einstein gravity receive…

The behavior of a stationary inverted point mass pendulum pivoted at its lower end in a gravitational potential is studied under the influence of statistical fluctuations. It is shown using purely classical equations that the pendulum…

The task of quantizing gravity is compared with Einstein's relativization of gravity. The philosophical and physical foundations of general relativity are briefly reviewed. The Ehlers-Pirani-Schild scheme of operationally determining the…

In a recent paper (arXiv:1412.6000) a general mechanism for emergence of cosmological space-time geometry from a quantum gravity setting was devised and departure from standard dispersion relations for elementary particle were predicted. We…

Topology change in quantum gravity is considered. An exact wave function of the Universe is calculated for topological Chern-Simons 2+1 dimensional gravity. This wave function occurs as the effect of a quantum anomaly which leads to the…

Understanding the quantum nature of the gravitational field is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges in theoretical physics. Despite significant progress, a complete and consistent theory remains elusive. However, in the weak field…

Inspired by recent breakthroughs with topological quantum materials, which pave the way to novel, high-efficiency, low-energy magnetoelectric devices and fault-tolerant quantum information processing, inter alia, topological quantum walks…

We investigate the thermodynamical properties of quantum fields in curved spacetime. Our approach is to consider quantum fields in curved spacetime as a quantum system undergoing an out-of-equilibrium transformation. The non-equilibrium…

Motivated by the goal to give the simplest possible microscopic foundation for a broad class of topological phases, we study quantum mechanical lattice models where the topology of the lattice is one of the dynamical variables. However, a…

In quantum cosmology, one applies quantum physics to the whole universe. While no unique version and no completely well-defined theory is available yet, the framework gives rise to interesting conceptual, mathematical and physical…

The effort to discover a quantum theory of gravity is motivated by the need to reconcile the incompatibility between quantum theory and general relativity. Here, we present an alternative approach by constructing a consistent theory of…

Usual quantum mechanics requires a fixed, background, spacetime geometry and its associated causal structure. A generalization of the usual theory may therefore be needed at the Planck scale for quantum theories of gravity in which…

We give a short update of our research program on nonequilibrium statistical field theory applied to quantum processes in the early universe and black holes, as well as the development of stochastic gravity theory as an extension of…