Related papers: The Emergence of Spacetime: Transactions and Causa…

We consider the manner in which the spacetime manifold emerges from a quantum substratum through the transactional process, in which spacetime events and their connections are established. In this account, there is no background spacetime…

Research in quantum gravity strongly suggests that our world in not fundamentally spatiotemporal, but that spacetime may only emerge in some sense from a non-spatiotemporal structure, as this paper illustrates in the case of causal set…

There are several indications (from different approaches) that Spacetime at the Plank Scale could be discrete. One approach to Quantum Gravity that takes this most seriously is the Causal Sets Approach. In this approach spacetime is…

In order to construct a quantum theory of gravity, we may have to abandon certain assumptions we were making. In particular, the concept of spacetime as a continuum substratum is questioned. Causal Sets is an attempt to construct a quantum…

We describe a new class of models of quantum space-time based on energetic causal sets and show that under natural conditions space-time emerges from them. These are causal sets whose causal links are labelled by energy and momentum and…

We argue that space and space-time emerge as a consequence of dynamical collapse of the wave function of macroscopic objects. Locality and separability are properties of our approximate, emergent universe. At the fundamental level,…

Spacetime emergence refers to the notion that classical spacetime "emerges" as an approximate macroscopic entity from a non-spatio-temporal structure present in a more complete theory of interacting fundamental constituents. In this…

Although time is one of our most intuitive physical concepts, its understanding at the fundamental level is still an open question in physics. For instance, time in quantum mechanics and general relativity are two distinct and incompatible…

Theories of quantum gravity generically presuppose or predict that the reality underlying relativistic spacetimes they are describing is significantly non-spatiotemporal. On pain of empirical incoherence, approaches to quantum gravity must…

A mathematical definition of classical causality over discrete spacetime dynamics is formulated. The approach is background free and permits a definition of causality in a precise way whenever the spacetime dynamics permits. It gives a…

Space and time are central concepts for understanding our World. They are important ingredients at the core of every scientific theory and subject of intense debate in philosophy. Albert Einstein's Special and General theories of Relativity…

The Causal Set approach to quantum gravity asserts that spacetime, at its smallest length scale, has a discrete structure. This discrete structure takes the form of a locally finite order relation, where the order, corresponding with the…

I present a discussion of some issues in the ontology of spacetime. After a characterisation of the controversies among relationists, substantivalists, eternalists, and presentists, I offer a new argument for rejecting presentism, the…

The view that the passage of time is physical finds expression in the classical sequential growth models of Rideout and Sorkin in which a discrete spacetime grows by the partially ordered accretion of new spacetime atoms.

We summarize the arguments that space and time are likely to be emergent notions; i.e. they are not present in the fundamental formulation of the theory, but appear as approximate macroscopic concepts. Along the way we briefly review…

This is a chapter of the planned monograph "Out of Nowhere: The Emergence of Spacetime in Quantum Theories of Gravity", co-authored by Nick Huggett and Christian W\"uthrich and under contract with Oxford University Press. (More information…

A recently proposed algebraic representation of the causal set model of the small-scale structure of space-time of Sorkin et al. is briefly reviewed and expanded. The algebraic model suggested, called quantum causal set, is physically…

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…

The Causal Set hypothesis asserts that spacetime, ultimately, is discrete and its underlying structure is that of a locally finite partial ordered set, and macroscopic causality reflects a deeper notion of order in terms of which all the…

This article presents the most interesting philosophical issues as they arise in causal set theory. The first concerns the apparent disappearance of spacetime at the fundamental level. It shows how the looming empirical incoherence is…