Related papers: Observer dependent geometries
We discuss the distinction between the notion of partial observable and the notion of complete observable. Mixing up the two is frequently a source of confusion. The distinction bears on several issues related to observability, such as (i)…
Space-Time in general relativity is a dynamical entity because it is subject to the Einstein field equations. The space-time metric provides different geometrical structures: conformal, volume, projective and linear connection. A deep…
Besides two fundamental postulates, (i) the principle of relativity and (ii) the constancy of the one-way speed of light in all inertial frames of reference, the special theory of relativity uses the assumption about the Euclidean structure…
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…
The notion of observers' and their measurements is closely tied to the Lorentzian metric geometry of spacetime, which in turn has its roots in the symmetries of Maxwell's theory of electrodynamics. Modifying either the one, the other, or…
We investigate the fate of diffeomorphisms when the radial gauge is imposed in canonical general relativity. As shown elsewhere, the radial gauge is closely related to the observer's observables. These observables are invariant under a…
One of the main technical obstacles in constructing a consistent theory of quantum gravity is that the metric itself defines the causal structure required for quantization. This motivates implementing quantum aspects of gravity through an…
I propose a general geometric framework in which to discuss the existence of time observables. This frameworks allows one to describe a local sense in which time observables always exist, and a global sense in which they can sometimes exist…
We consider the conformal group of a space of dim n=p+q, with SO(p,q) metric. The quotient of this group by its homogeneous Weyl subgroup gives a principal fiber bundle with 2n-dim base manifold and Weyl fibers. The Cartan generalization to…
Diffeomorphisms and an internal symmetry (e.g., local Lorentz invariance) are typically regarded as the symmetries of any geometrical gravity theory, including general relativity. In the first-order formalism, diffeomorphisms can be thought…
This paper elaborates on an intrinsically quantum approach to gravity, which begins with a general framework for quantum mechanics and then seeks to identify additional mathematical structure on Hilbert space that is responsible for gravity…
We address the problem of observables in generally invariant spacetime theories such as Einstein's general relativity. Using the refined notion of an event as a ``point-coincidence'' between scalar fields that completely characterise a…
We present a generalization of the spinor and twistor geometry for on (pseudo) Riemannian manifolds enabled with nonholonomic distributions or for Finsler-Cartan spaces modelled on tangent Lorentz bundles. Nonholonomic (Finsler) twistors…
It is commonly accepted that the study of 2+1 dimensional quantum gravity could teach us something about the 3+1 dimensional case. The non-perturbative methods developed in this case share, as basic ingredient, a reformulation of gravity as…
We introduce a geometrical framework for double field theory in which generalized Riemann and torsion tensors are defined without reference to a particular basis. This invariant geometry provides a unifying framework for the frame-like and…
We show that relativistic rotation transformations represent transfer maps between the laboratory system and a local observer on an observer manifold, rather than an event manifold, in the spirit of C-equivalence. Rotation is, therefore,…
Viewing frames of reference as physical systems, subject to the same laws as the systems they describe, is central to the relational approach in physics. Under the assumption that quantum mechanics universally governs all physical entities,…
Traditional derivations of general relativity from the graviton degrees of freedom assume space-time Lorentz covariance as an axiom. In this essay, we survey recent evidence that general relativity is the unique spatially-covariant…
Each approach to the quantum-gravity problem originates from expertise in one or another area of theoretical physics. The particle-physics perspective encourages one to attempt to reproduce in quantum gravity as much as possible of the…
We consider a triality between the Zermelo navigation problem, the geodesic flow on a Finslerian geometry of Randers type, and spacetimes in one dimension higher admitting a timelike conformal Killing vector field. From the latter…