Related papers: Classical Spacetime Structure
Classical geometry of de Sitter spacetime is reviewed in arbitrary dimensions. Topics include coordinate systems, geodesic motions, and Penrose diagrams with detailed calculations.
The newest model for space-time is based on sub-Riemannian geometry. In this paper, we use a combination of Lorentzian and sub-Riemannian geometry, the suggest a new model which likes to its ancestors, but with the most efficient in…
This survey paper is divided into two parts. In the first (section 2), I give a brief account of the structure of classical relativity theory. In the second (section 3), I discuss three special topics: (i) the status of the relative…
The following three geometrical structures on a manifold are studied in detail: (1) Leibnizian: a non-vanishing 1-form $\Omega$ plus a Riemannian metric $\h$ on its annhilator vector bundle. In particular, the possible dimensions of the…
We propose a parallel introduction to Galilean and Einsteinian relativity based on the causal structure and inertial motions. Galilean and Poincare transformations, as objects secondary to the geometrical structure, are left aside.
We provide five rearticulations of the thesis that the structure of spacetime is conventional, rather than empirically determined, based upon variation of the structures that are empirically underdetermined and modal contexts in which this…
Our purpose here is to introduce the idea of viewing the spacetime as a macroscopic complex system which, consequently, cannot be directly quantized. It should be thought of as a collection of more fundamental "microscopical" entities…
We present some modern theories on the structure of spacetime that can be classified as relational theories in the direction of Leibniz's ontology. In order to analyze the nature of spacetime we consider three levels of knowledge…
This review consists of two parts. The first part establishes certain astrophysical bounds on the smoothness of classical spacetime. Some of the best bounds to date are based on the absence of vacuum Cherenkov radiation in ultrahigh-energy…
This essay is a tour around many of the lesser known pregeometric models of physics, as well as the mainstream approaches to quantum gravity, in search of common themes which may provide a glimpse of the final theory which must lie behind…
This paper presents the authors' vision of the emerging field of spacetime metamaterials in a cohesive and pedagogical perspective. For this purpose, it systematically builds up the physics, modeling and applications of these media upon the…
I explain in what sense the structure of space and time is probably vague or indefinite, a notion I define. This leads to the mathematical representation of location in space and time by a vague interval. From this, a principle of…
We review some modern theories about the structure of space and time, in particular those related to discrete space and time. Following an epistemological method we start from theories which discuss discrete space and time as a mathematical…
We study the Hilbert space structure of classical spacetimes under the assumption that entanglement in holographic theories determines semiclassical geometry. We show that this simple assumption has profound implications; for example, a…
I examine the debate between substantivalists and relationalists about the ontological character of spacetime and conclude it is not well posed. I argue that the so-called Hole Argument does not bear on the debate, because it provides no…
This is a chapter for an upcoming book, "Space, Time, and the Limits of Human Understanding", edited by Shyam Wuppuluri and Giancarlo Ghirardi. I first present the classical picture of flat space and ever-flowing time, as generally accepted…
The aim of this short lecture series is to expose the students to the beautiful theory of lattices by, on one hand, demonstrating various basic ideas that appear in this theory and, on the other hand, formulating some of the celebrated…
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…
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…
Levi-Civita spacetimes have both classical and quantum singularities. The relationship between the two is used here to study and clarify the physical aspects of the enigmatic Levi-Civita spacetimes.