Related papers: On Background Independence
The Lie claw digraph has recently been shown to control Background Independence and thus both the Problem of Time and the nature of Physical Law. This is established for Flat and Differential Geometry with varying amounts of extra…
We show that a class of topological field theories are quantum duals of the harmonic oscillator. This is demonstrated by establishing a correspondence between the creation and annihilation operators and non-local gauge invariant observables…
We propose a definition for background (in)/dependence in dynamical theories of the evolution of configurations that have a continuous symmetry and test this definition on particle models and on gravity. Our definition draws from Barbour's…
We consider two concepts often discussed as significant features of general relativity (particularly when contrasted with the other forces of the Standard Model): background independence and diffeomorphism invariance. We remind the reader…
Diffeomorphism invariance is sometimes taken to be a criterion of background independence. This claim is commonly accompanied by a second, that the genuine physical magnitudes (the "observables") of background-independent theories and those…
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…
We review quantum causal histories starting with their interpretations as a quantum field theory on a causal set and a quantum geometry. We discuss the difficulties that background independent theories based on quantum geometry encounter in…
We introduce nine further local facets of the classical Problem of Time, and underlying Background Independence aspects, the previous two Articles having covered one further facet-and-aspect each for a total of eleven. I.e. 1) Constraint…
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…
Work in progress is described which aims to construct a background independent formulation of M theory by extending results about background independent states and observables from quantum general relativity and supergravity to string…
In this note, we describe how the study of backgrounds for general quantum systems can be formulated in terms of the representation theory of abstract $C^*$ algebras. We illustrate our general framework through two example systems:…
The goal of this article is to present an introduction to loop quantum gravity -a background independent, non-perturbative approach to the problem of unification of general relativity and quantum physics, based on a quantum theory of…
The paper presents an inquiry into the question regarding the compatibility of Bohmian mechanics, intended as a non-local theory of moving point-like particles, with background independence. This issue is worth being investigated because,…
I argue that background freedom in quantum gravity automatically leads to a dissociation of the quantum state into states having a classical space. That is, interference is not completely well-defined for states with different space…
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…
Classical field theory is insensitive to the split of the field into a background configuration and a dynamical perturbation. In gauge theories, the situation is complicated by the fact that a covariant (w.r.t. the background field) gauge…
In a major advance and simplification of this field, we show that A Local Resolution of the Problem of Time - also viewable as A Local Theory of Background Independence - can at the classical level be described solely by of Lie's…
I discuss various aspects of background independence in the context of string theory, for which so far we have no manifestly background independent formulation. After reviewing the role of background independence in classical Einstein…
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,…
We apply the new quantization scheme outlined in Phys. Rev. D102 (2020) 125001 to explore the influence which quantum vacuum fluctuations of the spacetime metric exert on the universes of Quantum Einstein Gravity, which is regarded an…