Related papers: The mathematics of causal sets
The idea that events obey a definite causal order is deeply rooted in our understanding of the world and at the basis of the very notion of time. But where does causal order come from, and is it a necessary property of nature? We address…
General relativity is a background-independent theory of a dynamical classical spacetime geometry. Quantum theory is formulated in a classical spacetime, as an intrinsically probabilistic, contextual theory of non-classical, interfering…
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…
Indefinite causal structure is generically present in theories of quantum gravity admitting a path integral formulation. We show that summing over causal structures eliminates ultraviolet divergences of matter QFT and resolves spacetime…
One of approaches to quantum gravity is different models of a discrete pregeometry. An example of a discrete pregeometry on a microscopic scale is introduced. This is the particular case of a causal set. The causal set is a locally finite…
A theory governing the metric and matter fields in spacetime is {\it locally causal} if the probability distribution for the fields in any region is determined solely by physical data in the region's past, i.e. it is independent of events…
We propose a structure called a causal site to use as a setting for quantum geometry, replacing the underlying point set. The structure has an interesting categorical form, and a natural "tangent 2-bundle," analogous to the tangent bundle…
In this thesis we investigate the importance of causality in non-perturbative approaches to quantum gravity. Firstly, causal sets are introduced as a simple kinematical model for causal geometry. It is shown how causal sets could account…
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…
Causal set theory provides a model of discrete spacetime in which spacetime events are represented by elements of a causal set---a locally finite, partially ordered set in which the partial order represents the causal relationships between…
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…
This paper offers suggested improvements to the causal sets program in discrete gravity, which treats spacetime geometry as an emergent manifestation of causal structure at the fundamental scale. This viewpoint, which I refer to as the…
In this paper we introduce a new general framework for the study of phenomenological quantum gravity theories (PQG). The key idea is the introduction of two different types of spacetime, an observer-independent spacetime (modeled by a…
In this short review, we explain how and in which sense the causal action principle for causal fermion systems gives rise to classical gravity and the Einstein equations. Moreover, methods are presented for going beyond classical gravity,…
I develop Rafael D. Sorkin's proposal that a partially ordered process of the birth of spacetime atoms in causal set quantum gravity provides an objective physical correlate of our perception of time passing. I argue that one cannot have a…
We describe an algebraic way to code the causal information of a discrete spacetime. The causal set C is transformed to a description in terms of the causal pasts of the events in C. This is done by an evolving set, a functor which to each…
General Relativity traces the evolution of our Universe back to a Big Bang singularity. To probe physics before the singularity -- if indeed there is a ``before'' -- we must turn to quantum gravity. The Causal Set approach to quantum…
We shall present here the causal interpretation of canonical quantum gravity in terms of new variables. Then we shall apply it to the minisuperspace of cosmology. A vacuum solution of quantum cosmology is obtained and the Bohmian trajectory…
We study a collection of discrete Markov chains related to the causal set approach to modeling discrete theories of quantum gravity. The transition probabilities of these chains satisfy a general covariance principle, a causality principle,…
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…