Related papers: Gravity as an emergent phenomenon: experimental si…
The phenomenologically observed flatness - or near flatness - of spacetime cannot be understood as emerging from continuum Planck (or sub-Planck) scales using known physics. Using dimensional arguments it is demonstrated that any…
I discuss some theoretical ideas concerning the representation of quantum gravity as a Lorentz-symmetry-violating `medium' with non-trivial optical properties, which include a refractive index in `vacuo' and stochastic effects associated…
Emergent gravity views spacetime as an entity emergent from a more complete theory of interacting fundamental constituents valid at much finer resolution or higher energies, usually assumed to be above the Planck energy. In this view…
Quantum gravity is known to be mostly a kind of metaphysical speculation. In this brief essay, we try to argue that, although still extremely difficult to reach, observational signatures can in fact be expected. The early universe is an…
In recent years, a growing momentum has been gained by the emergent gravity framework. Within the latter, the very concepts of geometry and gravitational interaction are not seen as elementary aspects of Nature but rather as collective…
General relativity describes the gravitational field geometrically and in a self-interacting way because it couples to all forms of energy, including its own. Both features make finding a quantum theory difficult, yet it is important in the…
An increasingly popular approach to quantum gravity rests on the idea that gravity (and maybe electromagnetism and the other gauge fields) might be an 'emergent phenomenon', in the sense of representing a collective behaviour resulting from…
The remarkable connections between gravity and thermodynamics seem to imply that gravity is not fundamental but emergent, and in particular, as Verlinde suggested, gravity is probably an entropic force. In this paper, we will argue that the…
The two surprising features of gravity are (a) the principle of equivalence and (b) the connection between gravity and thermodynamics. Using principle of equivalence and special relativity in the {\it local inertial frame}, one could obtain…
The condensation of elementary quanta and their macroscopic occupation of the same quantum state, say k=0 in some reference frame Sigma, is the essential ingredient of the degenerate vacuum of present-day elementary particle physics. This…
The phenomenon of emergent physics in condensed-matter many-body systems has become the paradigm of modern physics, and can probably also be applied to high-energy physics and cosmology. This encouraging fact comes from the universal…
We re-consider the idea that quantum fluctuations might reflect the existence of an 'objective randomness', i.e. a basic property of the vacuum state which is independent of any experimental accuracy of the observations or limited knowledge…
Gravity stands apart from other fundamental interactions in that it is locally equivalent to an accelerated frame and can be transformed away. Again it is indistinguishable from the geometry of space-time (which is an arena for all other…
We give a critical overview of various attempts to describe gravity as an emergent phenomenon, starting from examples of condensed matter physics, to arrive to more sophisticated pregeometric models. The common line of thought is to view…
It is easy to reason that gravity might be the effect of a fluid in disguise, as it will naturally arise in emergent gravity models where gravity is due to the effect of some fundamental particles, with the latter expected to behave…
In recent years several ideas for experimental searches of effects induced by quantum properties of space-time have been discussed. Some of these ideas concern the role in quantum spacetime of the ordinary Lorentz symmetry of classical flat…
Gravity is a macroscopic manifestation of a microscopic quantum theory of space-time, just as the theories of elasticity and hydrodynamics are the macroscopic manifestation of the underlying quantum theory of atoms. The connection of…
We address issues on the origin of gravity and the cosmological constant problem based on a recent understanding about the correspondence between noncommutative field theory and gravity. We suggest that the cosmological constant problem can…
Gravitation might make a preferred frame appear, and with it a clear space/time separation--the latter being, a priori, needed by quantum mechanics (QM) in curved space-time. Several models of gravitation with an ether are discussed: they…
In contrast to the phenomenon of nullification of the cosmological constant in the equilibrium vacuum, which is the general property of any quantum vacuum, there are many options in modifying the Einstein equation to allow the cosmological…