Related papers: Causally neutral quantum physics
Most of the approaches to the construction of a theory of quantum gravity share some principles which do not have specific experimental support up to date. Two of these principles are relevant for our discussion: (i) the gravitational field…
Entropy is a concept that has traditionally been reliant on a definite notion of causality. However, without a definite notion of causality, the concept of entropy is not all lost. Indefinite causal structure results from combining…
A modular quantum architecture is given for the space-time, particles, and fields of the Standard Model and General Relativity. It assumes a right-handed neutrino, so that based on their multiplet structure all fundamental fermions have…
We investigate the causal structure of spacetimes $(M, g)$ for which the metric $g$ is singular on a set of points.
Causal variational principles, which are the analytic core of the physical theory of causal fermion systems, are found to have an underlying Hamiltonian structure, giving a formulation of the dynamics in terms of physical fields in…
Realist interpretations of quantum mechanics presuppose the existence of elements of reality that are independent of the actions used to reveal them. Such a view is challenged by several no-go theorems that show quantum correlations cannot…
A general theory is presented of quantum mechanics of singular, non-autonomous, higher derivative systems. Within that general theory, $n$-th order and $m$-th order Lagrangians are shown to be quantum mechanically equivalent if their…
The concept of a random Lagrangian is proposed. It is considered as a basis for a new view of the old problems such as renormalization, nonzero vacuum energy and the anthropic principle. It gives rise to nontrivial consequences both in…
Motivated by the invariance of current representations of quantum gravity under diffeomorphisms much more general than isometries, the Haag-Kastler setting is extended to manifolds without metric background structure. First, the causal…
The physics of quantum gravity is discussed within the framework of topological quantum field theory. Some of the principles are illustrated with examples taken from theories in which space-time is three dimensional.
A brief overview of some open questions in general relativity with important consequences for causality theory is presented, aiming to a better understanding of the causal structure of the spacetime. Special attention is accorded to the…
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…
This article aims to explain some of the basic facts about the questions raised in the title, without the technical details that are available in the literature. We provide a gentle introduction to some rather classical results about…
Background independence is often emphasized as an important property of a quantum theory of gravity that takes seriously the geometrical nature of general relativity. In a background-independent formulation, quantum gravity should determine…
We study the notion of causal orders for the cases of (classical and quantum) circuits and spacetime events. We show that every circuit can be immersed into a classical spacetime, preserving the compatibility between the two causal…
General relativity is a deterministic theory with non-fixed causal structure. Quantum theory is a probabilistic theory with fixed causal structure. In this paper we build a framework for probabilistic theories with non-fixed causal…
We study caustics in classical and quantum mechanics for systems with quadratic Lagrangians. We derive a closed form of the transition amplitude on caustics and discuss their physical implications in the Gaussian slit (gedanken-)experiment.…
We study a class of perturbative scalar quantum field theories where dynamics is characterized by Lorentz-invariant or Lorentz-breaking non-local operators of fractional order and the underlying spacetime has a varying spectral dimension.…
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…
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…