Related papers: Spacetime foam: a review
The space-time metric is widely believed to be subject to stochastic fluctuations induced by quantum gravity at the Planck scale. This work is based on two different phenomenological approaches being currently made to this topic, and…
We present an extension of quantum field theory to the case when the spacetime topology fluctuates (spacetime foam). In this extension the number of bosonic fields becomes a variable and the ground state is characterized by a finite…
Spacetime foam is analyzed within the simplistic model of a set of scalar fields on a flat background. We suggest the formula for the path integral which allows to account for the all possible topologies of spacetime. We show that the…
It is found that the existence of spacetime foam leads to a situation in which the number of fundamental quantum bosonic fields is a variable quantity. The general aspects of an exact theory that allows for a variable number of fields are…
Inspired by the work of Wheeler among others, we have studied the problem of quantum measurements of space-time distances by applying the general principles of quantum mechanics as well as those of general relativity. Contrary to the…
Using a \emph{gedanken} experiment providing presumably a minimal inaccuracy the uncertainty contributions to the space-time measurement are precisely evaluated for clock and mirror respectively. The resulting expression of minimal…
I propose a phenomenological description of space-time foam and discuss the experimental limits that are within reach of forthcoming experiments.
A mathematical formalism for treating spacetime topology as a quantum observable is provided. We describe spacetime foam entirely in algebraic terms. To implement the correspondence principle we express the classical spacetime manifold of…
We review the possibility that quantum fluctuations in the structure of space-time at the Planck scale might be subject to experimental probes. We study the effects of space-time foam in an approach inspired by string theory, in which…
In addressing the cosmological constant problem, we propose that the discrepancy between the theoretical and observed values can be ascribed to the inherent uncertainty in the spacetime metric. Mach's principle, which posits that mass…
Several approaches to the quantum-gravity problem predict that spacetime should be "fuzzy", but have been so far unable to provide a crisp physical characterization of this notion. An intuitive picture of spacetime fuzziness has been…
A simple model of spacetime foam, made by $N$ wormholes in a semiclassical approximation, is taken under examination. The Casimir-like energy of the quantum fluctuation of such a model and its probability of being realized are computed.…
Perhaps standard effective field theory arguments are right, and vacuum fluctuations really do generate a huge cosmological constant. I show that if one does not assume homogeneity and an arrow of time at the Planck scale, a very large…
Perhaps the cosmological constant really is huge at the Planck scale, but is "hidden" by Planck scale quantum fluctuations of spacetime. I briefly review this proposal and provide some evidence, coming from a simplified midisuperspace…
Space--time can be understood as some kind of space--time foam of fluctuating bubbles or loops which are expected to be an outcome of a theory of quantum gravity. One recently discussed model for this kind of space--time fluctuations is the…
A recent paper (gr-qc/9909017) criticizes our work on the structure of spacetime foam. Its authors argue that the quantum uncertainty limit for the position of the quantum clock in a gedanken timing experiment, obtained by Wigner and used…
Astronomical observations of distant quasars may be important to test models for quantum gravity, which posit Planck-scale spatial uncertainties ('spacetime foam') that would produce phase fluctuations in the wavefront of radiation emitted…
The study of physics at the Planck scale has garnered significant attention due to its implications for understanding the fundamental nature of the universe. At the Planck scale, quantum fluctuations challenge the classical notion of…
Planck-scale physics challenges the classical smooth-spacetime picture by introducing quantum fluctuations that imply a nontrivial spacetime microstructure. We present a framework that encodes these fluctuations by promoting local scale…
In the process of work it has been found that space-time quantum fluctuations are naturally described in terms of the deformation parameter introduced on going from the well-known quantum mechanics to that at Planck scales and put forward…