Related papers: Spacetime functionalism from a realist perspective
We describe a theory amalgamating quantum theory and general relativity through the identification of a continuous 4-dimensional spacetime arena constructed from the substructures of a generalised multi-dimensional form for proper time. In…
In general relativity (GR), spacetime geometry is no longer just a background arena but a physical and dynamical entity with its own degrees of freedom. We present an overview of approaches to quantum gravity in which this central feature…
Based on a clear ontology of material individuals, we analyze in detail the factual semantics of quantum theory, and argue that the basic mathematical formalism of quantum theory is just okay with (a certain form of ) realism and that it is…
We discuss some conceptual issues that any approach to quantum gravity has to confront. In particular, it is argued that one has to find a theory that can be interpreted in a realist manner, because theories with an instrumentalist…
On one popular view, the general covariance of gravity implies that change is relational in a strong sense, such that all it is for a physical degree of freedom to change is for it to vary with regard to a second physical degree of freedom.…
Conventional approaches to quantum gravity regard quantum principles, such as nonlocality and superposition, as fundamental properties of nature and therefore argue that gravity must also be quantized. In contrast, this work introduces a…
A discursive, non-technical, analysis is made of some of the basic issues that arise in almost any approach to quantum gravity, and of how these issues stand in relation to recent developments in the field. Specific topics include the…
In general relativity, the description of spacetime relies on idealised rods and clocks, which identify a reference frame. In any concrete scenario, reference frames are associated to physical systems, which are ultimately quantum in…
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…
Recent developments in holographic gravity suggest that spacetime structure may be deeply related to quantum mechanics. In this work, from a different perspective, we demonstrate that wave-particle duality can be interpreted as the…
The problem of time in quantum gravity occurs because `time' is taken to have a different meaning in each of general relativity and ordinary quantum theory. This incompatibility creates serious problems with trying to replace these two…
In a natural extension of the relativity principle we argue that a quantum theory of gravity involves two fundamental scales associated with both dynamical space-time as well as dynamical momentum space. This view of quantum gravity is…
We propose a formulation of quantum mechanics in an extended Fock space in which a tensor product structure is applied to time. Subspaces of histories consistent with the dynamics of a particular theory are defined by a direct quantum…
The problem of time in the quantization of gravity arises from the fact that time in Schroedinger's equation is a parameter. This sets time apart from the spatial coordinates, represented by operators in quantum mechanics (QM). Thus "time"…
A deformation of special relativistic kinematics (possible signal of a theory of quantum gravity at low energies) leads to a modification of the notion of spacetime. At the classical level, this modification is required when one considers a…
On the base of years of experience of working on the problem of the physical foundation of quantum mechanics the author offers principles of solving it. Under certain pressure of mathematical formalism there has raised a hypothesis of…
Is there an approach to quantum gravity which is conceptually simple, relies on very few fundamental physical principles and ingredients, emphasizes geometric (as opposed to algebraic) properties, comes with a definite numerical…
We propose a mathematically concrete way of modelling the suggestion that in quantum gravity the spacetime disappears, replacing it with a discrete approximation to the causal path space described as an object in a model category. One of…
Familiar textbook quantum mechanics assumes a fixed background spacetime to define states on spacelike surfaces and their unitary evolution between them. Quantum theory has changed as our conceptions of space and time have evolved. But…
We discuss the relational strategy to solve the problem of time in quantum gravity and different ways in which it could be implemented, pointing out in particular the fundamentally new dimension that the problem takes in a quantum gravity…