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A scenario of an emergent universe is constructed in the background of an inhomogeneous space-time model which is asymptotically (at spatial infinity) FRW space-time. The cosmic substratum consists of non-interacting two components, namely…
Various diagnostics of the emergence of an arrow of time in the bulk description of a holographic theory have been proposed, including the decay of some real time correlation functions and the appearance of type III$_1$ von Neumann algebras…
We explore the possibility of emergent cosmology using the effective potential formalism. We discover new models of emergent cosmology which satisfy the constraints posed by the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We demonstrate that, within…
Spacetime emergence from entanglement proposes an alternative to quantizing gravity and typically derives a notion of distance based on the amount of mutual information shared across sub-systems. Albeit promising, this program still faces…
Many systems involve numerous interacting parts and the whole system can have properties that the individual parts do not. I take this novelty as the defining characteristic of an emergent property. Other characteristics associated with…
We present a toy model where spacetime is emergent from a more fundamental microscopic system, and investigate the gray area interpolating between the collective and free-particle regimes. For a period of rapid exponential growth in the…
Since the advent of quantum mechanics we have mainly been concerned with its predictions from the perspective of an external observer. This is in strong contrast to the theory of general relativity, where the physics is governed by the…
This thesis is situated within the context of quantum gravity, broadly understood as any effort to explore the interplay between gravitation and the quantum realm, without necessarily requiring the quantization of the gravitational field…
We develop a comprehensive cosmological framework based on the principle that our universe originated as a three-dimensional spatial configuration governed purely by energy functionals, with time emerging dynamically through quantum loop…
Popular wisdom amongst theoretical physicists says that the continuum structure of spacetime is probably not elementary, but rather emergent. While many arguments to support that view arise from speculative ideas, the argument can also be…
We argue that space and space-time emerge as a consequence of dynamical collapse of the wave function of macroscopic objects. Locality and separability are properties of our approximate, emergent universe. At the fundamental level,…
I give a review of the conceptual issues that arise in theories of quantum cosmology. I start by emphasising some features of ordinary quantum theory that also play a crucial role in understanding quantum cosmology. I then give motivations…
Physicists and philosophers are increasingly prone to regarding our current physical theories as providing 'effective descriptions' of real-world systems. In the context of quantum gravity research, this fuels a common view that the…
This essay examines our fundamental conceptions of time, spacetime, the asymmetry of time, and the motion of a quantum mechanical particle. The concept of time has multiple meanings and these are often confused in the literature and must be…
Emergence is a profound subject that straddles many scientific disciplines, including the formation of galaxies and how consciousness arises from the collective activity of neurons. Despite the broad interest that exists on this concept,…
Spacetime emergence from entanglement has long been presumed to be holographic, with emergence from quantum interactions in a boundary theory. Since that setup is difficult to extend to general spacetimes, it is imperative to understand the…
Dualities offer new possibilities for relating fundamentality and emergence. In particular, as is the aim of this chapter to show, it may happen that the relations of fundamentality and emergence between dual theories are inverted. In other…
Quantum gravity has become a fertile interface between gravitational physics and quantum many-body physics, with its double goal of identifying the microscopic constituents of the universe and their fundamental dynamics, and of…
We identify emergence with the existence of states of potentiality related to relevant physical quantities. We introduce the concept of 'potentiality state' operationally and show how it reduces to 'superposition state' when standard…
Recollapsing homogeneous and isotropic models present one of the key ingredients for cyclic scenarios. This is considered here within a quantum cosmological framework in presence of a free scalar field with, in turn, a negative cosmological…