Related papers: Spacetime functionalism from a realist perspective
General relativity treats spacetime as dynamical and exhibits its breakdown at singularities. This failure is interpreted as evidence that quantum gravity is not a theory formulated within spacetime; instead, it must explain the very…
Quantum gravity, as a fundamental theory of space-time, is expected to reveal how the universe may have started, perhaps during or before an inflationary epoch. It may then leave a potentially observable (but probably minuscule) trace in…
The paper concerns the fictitious entanglement of the so-called ``singularities'' in problems, pertaining to quantum gravity, due, in point of fact, to the way we try to employ, in that context, differential geometry, the latter being…
We show how quantum mechanics can be understood as a space-time theory provided that its spatial continuum is modelled by a variable real number (qrumber) continuum. Such a continuum can be constructed using only standard Hilbert space…
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 introduce regular charts as physical reference frames in spacetime, and we show that general spacetimes can always be fully captured by regular charts. Effective quantum field theories (QFTs) can be conveniently defined in regular…
A fundamental length is introduced into physics in a way which respects the principles of relativity and quantum field theory. This improves the properties of quantum field theory: divergences are removed. How to quantize gravity is also…
In this paper, we address the nature of spacetime in quantum gravity in light of a new version of the holographic principle that has established a relationship between string theory and polymer holonomy structures similar to Loop Quantum…
One of the obstacles to reconciling quantum theory with general relativity, is constructing a theory which is both consistent with observation, and and gives finite answers at high energy, so that the theory holds at arbitrarily short…
Realism -- the idea that the concepts in physical theories refer to 'things' existing in the real world -- is introduced as a tool to analyze the status of the wave-function. Although the physical entities are recognized by the existence of…
When attempting to assess the strengths and weaknesses of various principles in their potential role of guiding the formulation of a theory of quantum gravity, it is crucial to distinguish between principles which are strongly supported by…
The physical world is quantum. However, our description of the quantum physics still relies much on concepts in classical physics and in some cases with `quantized' interpretations. The most important case example is that of spacetime. We…
The purpose of this contribution is to give an introduction to quantum geometry and loop quantum gravity for a wide audience of both physicists and mathematicians. From a physical point of view the emphasis will be on conceptual issues…
Quantum gravity places entirely new challenges on the formulation of a consistent theory as well as on an extraction of potentially observable effects. Quantum corrections due to the gravitational field are commonly expected to be tiny…
Observed physical phenomena can be described well by quantum mechanics or general relativity. People may try to find an unified fundamental theory which mainly aims to merge gravity with quantum theory. However, difficulty in merging those…
I would like to consider the Beginning of space-time in this paper. First of all, we do consideration historical thought. A lot of philosophers have considered the relation between this real phenomenal world and the basic world in which the…
Following recent assumptions to unify quantum mechanics and general relativity, the structure of spacetime is suppose to be a consequence of the relations among some fundamental objects, and its concept can be formulated without the…
A number of very different approaches to quantum gravity contain a common thread, a hint that spacetime at very short distances becomes effectively two dimensional. I review this evidence, starting with a discussion of the physical meaning…
In this essay based on 0907.2939, we argue that the emergence of classically connected spacetimes is intimately related to the quantum entanglement of degrees of freedom in a non-perturbative description of quantum gravity. Disentangling…
A possible way toward the quantization of a weak gravitational field inspired by the imaginary-time field theory is discussed. The analogies of the general relativity in the canonical formulation with the thermodynamic geometry and…