Related papers: Back to Parmenides
It is a widespread belief that results like G\"odel's incompleteness theorems or the intrinsic randomness of quantum mechanics represent fundamental limitations to humanity's strive for scientific knowledge. As the argument goes, there are…
We challenge the view that there is a basic conflict between the fundamental principles of Quantum Theory and General Relativity, and in particular the fact that a superposition of massive bodies would lead to a violation of the Equivalence…
I present a formal ontological theory where the basic building blocks of the world can be either things or events. In any case, the result is a Parmenidean worldview where change is not a global property. What we understand by change…
The problem of understanding quantum mechanics is in large measure the problem of finding appropriate ways of thinking about the spatial and temporal aspects of the physical world. The standard, substantival, set-theoretic conception of…
A conventional wisdom often perpetuated in the literature states that: (i) a 3+1 decomposition of space-time into space and time is synonymous with the canonical treatment and this decomposition is essential for any Hamiltonian formulation…
Decoherence may not solve all of the measurement problems of quantum mechanics. It is proposed that a solution to these problems may be to allow that superpositions describe physically real systems in the following sense. Each quantum…
In this paper, we study implications of the geometrical nature of space- time for some of the basic tenets of quantum mechanics. That is, we study two different implications of the principle of general covariance; first we quantize a…
The inherent difficulty in talking about quantum decoherence in the context of quantum cosmology is that decoherence requires subsystems, and cosmology is the study of the whole Universe. Consistent histories gave a possible answer to this…
Gravitation, according to General Relativity, is an attribute of space-time's geometry and hence not a force in the Newtonian sense. This is a consequence of Einstein's equivalence principle, which so far passed all experimental tests with…
We describe a class of modified gravity theories that deform general relativity in a way that breaks time reversal invariance and, very mildly, locality. The algebra of constraints, local physical degrees of freedom, and their linearized…
Dennis Dieks advanced the view that the idea of flow of time is implemented in the theory of relativity. The 'flow' results from the successive happening/becoming of events along the time-like worldline of a material system. This leads to a…
It is well known that in quantum gravity, the very geometry of space and time is subject to continual fluctuation. The mathematical formulation for this old theory is still lacking. This article formulates this more than forty-year-old…
We present a theory of gravity based on Einstein's general relativity that is motivated by the paradoxes associated with time in relativistic rotating frames and certain exact solutions of Einstein's equations. We show that we can resolve…
Canonical quantization applied to closed systems leads to static equations, the Wheeler-deWitt equation in Quantum Gravity and the time independent Schr\"odinger equation in Quantum Mechanics. How to restore time is the Problem of Time(s).…
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…
We combine the "evolving constants" approach to the construction of observables in canonical quantum gravity with the Page--Wootters formulation of quantum mechanics with a relational time for generally covariant systems. This overcomes the…
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 geometrodynamics is canonical quantum gravity with the three-metric as the configuration variable. Its central equation is the Wheeler--DeWitt equation. Here I give an overview of the status of this approach. The issues discussed…
In this work we present a discussion of the existing links between the procedures of endowing the quantum gravity with a real time and of including in the theory a physical reference frame. More precisely, as first step, we develop the…
The covariance of loop quantum gravity studies of spherically symmetric space-times has recently been questioned. This is a reasonable worry, given that they are formulated in terms of slicing-dependent variables. We show explicitly that…