Related papers: Out of Nowhere: Duality
The state-of-the-art physics consists of two irreconcilable branches, i.e., the quantum theory and the general relativity, which work well in their own territories, independently. However, what are quantum and spacetime after all? The key…
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…
We explain the need for a theory of quantum gravity and some general ideas about string theory, including the idea of the derivation of the Hawking Bekenstein entropy formula for extremal black holes. We then give a general description of…
This presentation is intended to give a flavour of the physics to be studied and discovered by exploiting the interface between string theory, M-theory and field theory provided by the dynamics of extended objects called `branes', and their…
We consider string theory in a time dependent orbifold with a null singularity. The singularity separates a contracting universe from an expanding universe, thus constituting a big crunch followed by a big bang. We quantize the theory both…
An overview is given of the way in which the unification program of particle physics has evolved into the proposal of superstring theory as a prime candidate for unifying quantum gravity with the other forces and particles of nature. A key…
Some shortcomings in regard to our lack of conceptual understanding of string theory are displayed and prescription to untangle them is proposed. String theory should be a fundamental dynamics of four dimensional symmetric space-times.…
The It from Qubit paradigm proposes that gravitational spacetimes emerge from quantum entanglement. So far, the main evidence for this involves holographic dualities, where the entangled qubits live in a dual nongravitational theory. In…
Ooguri, Vafa, and Verlinde have outlined an approach to two-dimensional accelerating string cosmology which is based on topological string theory, the ultimate objective being to develop a string-theoretic understanding of "creating the…
In this lecture we review some of the recent developments in string theory on an introductory and qualitative level. In particular we focus on S-T-U dualities of toroidally compactified ten-dimensional string theories and outline the…
Quantum gravity--the marriage of quantum physics with general relativity--is bound to contain deep and important lessons for the nature of physical time. Some of these lessons shall be canvassed here, particularly as they arise from quantum…
In general terms duality consists of two descriptions of one physical system by using degrees of freedom of different nature. There are different kinds of dualities and they have been extremely useful to uncover the underlying strong…
Besides the familiar D-branes, string theory contains a vast number of other non-perturbative objects. While a complete classification is lacking, many of these objects are related to each other through various dualities. Codimension two…
I review recent progress on the connection between string theory and quantum chromodynamics in the context of the gauge/gravity duality. Emphasis is placed on conciseness and conceptual aspects rather than on technical details. Topics…
We analyze the nature of space-time nonlocality in string theory. After giving a brief overview on the conjecture of the space-time uncertainty principle, a (semi-classical) reformulation of string quantum mechanics, in which the dynamics…
After reviewing briefly the classical examples of duality in four dimensional field theory we present a generalisation to arbitrary dimensions and to p-form fields. Then we explain how U-duality may become part of a larger non abelian…
This is a brief overview on the current status of string theory for non-specialists. The purpose is to give an aspect on the nature of string theory as a unified theory of all interactions including quantum gravity and to discuss future…
T-duality of string theory suggests nonlocality manifested as the shortest possible distance. As an alternative, we suggest a nonlocal formulation of string theory that breaks T-duality at the fundamental level and does not require the…
I review the present theoretical attempts to understand the quantum properties of spacetime. In particular, I illustrate the main achievements and the main difficulties in: string theory, loop quantum gravity, discrete quantum gravity…
String theory is arguably the best candidate for a theory of quantum gravity and unified interactions. Reconciling Einstein's theory of General Relativity with Quantum Mechanics. The theory however is best understood on Minkowski and…