Related papers: Struggles with the Continuum
The tension, if not outright inconsistency, between quantum physics and general relativity is one of the great problems facing physics at the turn of the millennium. Most often, the problems arising in merging Einstein gravity and quantum…
An odd look at "standard" physics (Galileo, Newton, Einstein, Dirac) leading to a radical change of our concept of inertial motion and to new heuristic approaches of gravitation and the cosmological constant.
It is very likely that the quantum description of spacetime is quite different from what we perceive at large scales, $l\gg (G\hbar/c^3)^{1/2}$. The long wave length description of spacetime, based on Einstein's equations, is similar to the…
We emphasize that noncommutative (NC) spacetime necessarily implies emergent spacetime if spacetime at microscopic scales should be viewed as NC. In order to understand NC spacetime correctly, we need to deactivate the thought patterns that…
In a class of generalized Einstein's gravity theories we derive the equations and general asymptotic solutions describing the evolution of the perturbed universe in unified forms. Our gravity theory considers general couplings between the…
The Einstein equations, apart from being the classical field equations of General Relativity, are also the classical field equations of two other theories of gravity. As the experimental tests of General Relativity are done using the…
Matter collapsing to a singularity in a gravitational field is still an intriguing question. Similar situation arises when discussing the very early universe or a universe recollapsing to a singularity. It is suggested that inclusion of…
The occurrence of a spacetime singularity indicates the breakdown of Einstein gravitation theory in these extreme regimes. We consider here the singularity issue and various black hole paradoxes at classical and quantum levels. It is…
The strong proper time dilation and radial contraction in the gravitational field of compact sources leads to a frozen state of matter. It is shown that the falling particles and photons can not cross the gravitational radius due to the…
Loop quantum gravity is a mature theory. To proceed to explicit calculations in cosmology, it is necessary to make assumptions and simplifications based on the symmetries of the cosmological setting. Symmetry reduction is especially…
I investigate spacetime singularities from the point of view of the wavefunction of the universe. In order to extend the classical notion of geodesic incompleteness one has to include the proper time of an observer as a degree of freedom in…
I argue that there are no physical singularities in space-time. Singular space-time models do not belong to the ontology of the world, because of a simple reason: they are concepts, defective solutions of Einstein's field equations. I…
After a brief review of current scenarios for the resolution and/or avoidance of the Big Bang, an alternative hypothesis is put forward implying an infinite increase in complexity towards the initial singularity. This may result in an…
A novel theory of Quantum Gravity is presented in which the real gravitons manifest themselves as holes in space. In general, these holes propagate at the speed of light through an expanding universe with boundary denoted by U, which is…
General relativity predicts a singularity in the beginning of the universe being called big bang. Recent developments in loop quantum cosmology avoid the singularity and the big bang is replaced by a big bounce. A classical theory of…
Any acceptable quantum gravity theory must allow us to recover the classical spacetime in the appropriate limit. Moreover, the spacetime geometrical notions should be intrinsically tied to the behavior of the matter that probes them. We…
While the idea of gravity as an emergent phenomenon is an intriguing one, little is known about concrete implementations that could lead to viable phenomenology, most of the obstructions being related to the intrinsic difficulties of…
General Relativity resembles a very elegant crystal glass: If we touch its principles, that is, its Lagrangian, there is a risk of breaking everything. Or, if we will, it is like a short blanket: Curing some problems creates new problems.…
Although the standard viewpoint in theoretical physics is that the unification of quantum theory and general relativity requires the quantization of gravity and spacetime, there is not consensus about whether spacetime must fundamentally…
As quantum theory celebrates its 100th birthday, spectacular successes are mixed with outstanding puzzles and promises of new technologies. This article reviews both the successes of quantum theory and the ongoing debate about its…