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Numerous approaches to a quantum theory of gravity posit fundamental ontologies that exclude spacetime, either partially or wholly. This situation raises deep questions about how such theories could relate to the empirical realm, since…
It is generally assumed that the search for a consistent and testable theory of quantum gravity is among the most important open problems of fundamental physics. I review the motivations for this search, the main problems on the way, and…
Quantum gravity is expected to be necessary in order to understand situations where classical general relativity breaks down. In particular in cosmology one has to deal with initial singularities, i.e. the fact that the backward evolution…
The purpose of this work is to investigate the consequences of quantum gravity for the singularity problem. We study the higher-derivative terms that invariably appear in any quantum field theoretical model of gravity, handling them both…
A quantum object is extended by virtue of quantum uncertainty. Subjected to gravity, it therefore experiences tidal forces and other relativistic effects. As a result, entropy and purity affect geodesic motion and acquire weight, an…
The idea that quantum gravity can be realized at the TeV scale is extremely attractive to theorists and experimentalists alike. This proposal leads to extra spacial dimensions large compared to the electroweak scale. Here we give a very…
Quantum information can provide a lens for characterizing the operational implications of spacetime physics. A well-known result in this area is that quantum entanglement is degraded in the vicinity of a black hole. This result treats the…
A personal perspective on the black hole evaporation process is presented using as guidelines inputs from: (i) loop quantum gravity, (ii) simplified models where concrete results have been obtained, and, (iii) semi-classical quantum general…
General relativity is a background-independent theory of a dynamical classical spacetime geometry. Quantum theory is formulated in a classical spacetime, as an intrinsically probabilistic, contextual theory of non-classical, interfering…
In three spacetime dimensions, general relativity drastically simplifies, becoming a ``topological'' theory with no propagating local degrees of freedom. Nevertheless, many of the difficult conceptual problems of quantizing gravity are…
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…
The origin of the observed acceleration of the expansion of the universe is a major problem of modern cosmology and theoretical physics. Simple estimations of the contribution of vacuum to the density energy of the universe in quantum field…
When gravity is sourced by a quantum system, there is tension between its role as the mediator of a fundamental interaction, which is expected to acquire nonclassical features, and its role in determining the properties of spacetime, which…
Quantum General Relativity (QGR), sometimes called Loop Quantum Gravity, has matured over the past fifteen years to a mathematically rigorous candidate quantum field theory of the gravitational field. The features that distinguish it from…
Considerable attention has been focused on Verlinde's recent work, claiming that Newton's gravity is not a fundamental force. In a recent work (arXiv:1012.5858), we give further the logic basis and basic clues to derive the Newton's…
In this paper we study a new symmetry argument that results in a vacuum state with strictly vanishing vacuum energy. This argument exploits the well-known feature that de Sitter and Anti- de Sitter space are related by analytic…
Symmetry, irreversibility, and quantum coherence are foundational concepts in physics. Here, we present a universal tradeoff relation between these three concepts. This particularly reveals that (1) under a global symmetry, any attempt to…
A "quantum-first" approach to gravity is described, where rather than quantizing general relativity, one seeks to formulate the physics of gravity within a quantum-mechanical framework with suitably general postulates. Important guides are…
It is proposed that the event horizon of a black hole is a quantum phase transition of the vacuum of space-time analogous to the liquid-vapor critical point of a bose fluid. The equations of classical general relativity remain valid…
Extending black-hole entropy to ordinary objects, we propose kinetic entropy tensor, based on which a quantum gravity tensor equation is established. Our investigation results indicate that if N=1, the quantum gravity tensor equation…