Related papers: Diffeomorphism-invariant observables and dynamical…
A covariant reformulation of General Relativity is briefly considered from three points of view: geometrodynamics, Lagrange-Euler field theory, and gauge field theory. From a geometrodynamics perspective, a definition of the reference frame…
It is mandatory to know how to operationally define and translate a reference frame into mathematics, in order that a physical interpretation of theory calculations in terms of observational data is possible. The situation is particularly…
This paper explores construction of gauge (diffeomorphism)-invariant observables in anti de Sitter (AdS) space and the related question of how to find a "holographic map" providing a quantum equivalence to a boundary theory. Observables are…
It is well known that in a generally covariant gravitational theory the choice of spacetime scalars as coordinates yields phase-space observables (or "invariants"). However their relation to the symmetry group of diffeomorphism…
Diffeomorphism invariance is often considered to be a hallmark of the theory of general relativity (GR). But closer analysis reveals that this cannot be what makes GR distinctive. The concept of diffeomorphism invariance can be defined in…
We study how the problem of observables is fully resolved for background independent theories defined on finite graphs. We argue the correct analogue of coordinate independence is the invariance under changes of graph labels, a kind of…
This work introduces a novel three-fold classification of reference frames in General Relativity, distinguishing between Idealised Reference Frames (IRFs), Dynamical Reference Frames (DRFs), and Real Reference Frames (RRFs). By defining a…
Some of the most outstanding questions in the field of gravitation and geometry remain unsolved as a result of our limited understanding of the global structure of the spacetime geometry and the role played by global spacetime…
Quantum gauge theory in the connection representation uses functions of holonomies as configuration observables. Physical observables (gauge and diffeomorphism invariant) are represented in the Hilbert space of physical states; physical…
Barbour's interpretation of Mach's principle led him to postulate that gravity should be formulated as a dynamical theory of spatial conformal geometry, or in his terminology, "shapes." Recently, it was shown that the dynamics of General…
In the current debate referring to the construction of a tenable background independent theory of Quantum Gravity we introduce the notion of topos-theoretic relativization of physical representability and demonstrate its relevance…
We explore, in the general relativistic context, the properties of the recently introduced GPS coordinates, as well as those of the associated frames and coframes. We show that they are covariant, and completely independent of any observer.…
We construct relational observables in group field theory (GFT) in terms of covariant positive operator-valued measures (POVMs), using techniques developed in the context of quantum reference frames. We focus on matter quantum reference…
We propose a step-by-step manual for the construction of alternative theories of gravity, perturbatively as well as nonperturbatively. The construction is guided by no more than two fundamental principles that we impose on the gravitational…
Classical dynamical laws are conventionally formulated as closed evolution equations defined on fixed geometric backgrounds and a global time parameter. We develop a formulation in which neither prescribed evolution laws nor an external…
A central lesson of gravity is that local observables are ill-defined. Coordinates themselves are a redundancy of description, so any particular point in spacetime is only meaningful once defined relationally by clocks, rulers, or…
We give an overview of some conceptual difficulties, sometimes called paradoxes, that have puzzled for years the physical interpetation of classical canonical gravity and, by extension, the canonical formulation of generally covariant…
We further develop a noncommutative model unifying quantum mechanics and general relativity proposed in {\it Gen. Rel. Grav.} (2004) {\bf 36}, 111-126. Generalized symmetries of the model are defined by a groupoid $\Gamma $ given by the…
In this paper we introduce a new general framework for the study of phenomenological quantum gravity theories (PQG). The key idea is the introduction of two different types of spacetime, an observer-independent spacetime (modeled by a…
Although local Hamiltonians exhibit local time dynamics, this locality is not explicit in the Schr\"{o}dinger picture in the sense that the wavefunction amplitudes do not obey a local equation of motion. We show that geometric locality can…