Related papers: Lorentzian Manifolds and Causal Sets as Partially …
The Connes formula giving the dual description for the distance between points of a Riemannian manifold is extended to the Lorentzian case. It resulted that its validity essentially depends on the global structure of spacetime. The duality…
The standard formulation of quantum theory relies on a fixed space-time metric determining the localisation and causal order of events. In general relativity, the metric is influenced by matter, and is expected to become indefinite when…
We consider Lie groups equipped with a left-invariant cyclic Lorentzian metric. As in the Riemannian case, in terms of homogeneous structures, such metrics can be considered as different as possible from bi-invariant metrics. We show that…
Suppose the usual description of spacetime as a 4-dimensional manifold with a Lorentzian metric breaks down at Planck energies. Can we still construct sensible theoretical models of the universe? Are they testable? Do they lead to a…
I investigate a discrete model of quantum gravity on a causal null-lattice with \SLC structure group. The description is geometric and foliates in a causal and physically transparent manner. The general observables of this model are…
Recent developments in the formalisation of quantum causal structures have made it possible to test and compare hypotheses about causal structure empirically, rather than being a-priori assumptions. Such differences in causal structure may…
A crucial step in the history of General Relativity was Einstein's adoption of the principle of general covariance which demands a coordinate independent formulation for our spacetime theories. General covariance helps us to disentangle a…
In the causal set approach to discrete quantum gravity the universe grows one element at a time in discrete steps. At each step the process has the form of a causal set (causet) and the "completed" universe is given by a path through a…
Order of magnitude reasoning - reasoning by rough comparisons of the sizes of quantities - is often called 'back of the envelope calculation', with the implication that the calculations are quick though approximate. This paper exhibits an…
A locally finite, causal and quantal substitute for a locally Minkowskian principal fiber bundle $\cal{P}$ of modules of Cartan differential forms $\omg$ over a bounded region $X$ of a curved $C^{\infty}$-smooth differential manifold…
We prove that the topology, smooth structure, and metric of a compact Lorentzian manifold with boundary is uniquely determined by data at the boundary. The data consists of the lengths and directions of future-directed once-broken geodesics…
Plausibility measures are structures for reasoning in the face of uncertainty that generalize probabilities, unifying them with weaker structures like possibility measures and comparative probability relations. So far, the theory of…
This talk discusses various aspects of the structure of space-time presenting mechanisms leading to the explanation of the "rigidity" of the manifold and to the emergence of time, i.e. of the Lorentzian signature. The proposed ingredient is…
Causal set theory offers a simple and elegant picture of discrete physics. But the vast majority of causal sets look nothing at all like continuum spacetimes, and must be excluded in some way to obtain a realistic theory. I describe recent…
We give a summary of recent results on the explicit local form of the second-order symmetric Lorentzian manifolds in arbitrary dimension, and its global version. These spacetimes turn out to be essentially a specific subclass of plane…
It is shown that every regular electromagnetic field in vacuum identically satisfy Maxwell equations in a new manifold where the roles of space and time have been exchanged. The new metric is Lorentzian, depends on the particular solution…
In this note, the idea of finite dimensional $L^p$ spaces is transferred to Lorentzian length spaces to provide an example that is locally nowhere Minkowskian. Looking at the sectional curvature bounds of this example leads to the more…
We study the Lorentzian metric independent of the time variable in the cylinder $\mathbb{R}\times\Omega$ where $x_0\in\mathbb{R}$ is the time variable and $\Omega$ is a bounded smooth domain in $\mathbb{R}^n$. We consider forward…
We revisit the old question of what distinguishes the formulation of spacetime geometry in terms of a Lorentzian metric physically from more general geometric structures. Our approach to this question is operational and leads us to also…
More often than not, recently popular structuralist interpretations of physical theories leave the central concept of a structure insufficiently precisified. The incipient causal sets approach to quantum gravity offers a paradigmatic case…