Related papers: The end of spacetime
We emphasize that noncommutative (NC) spacetime necessarily implies emergent spacetime if spacetime at microscopic scales should be viewed as NC. In order to understand NC spacetime correctly, we need to deactivate the thought patterns that…
A discursive, non-technical, analysis is made of some of the basic issues that arise in almost any approach to quantum gravity, and of how these issues stand in relation to recent developments in the field. Specific topics include the…
Loop quantum gravity, a non-perturbative and manifestly background free, quantum theory of gravity implies that at the kinematical level the spatial geometry is discrete in a specific sense. The spirit of background independence also…
In this essay, we argue that the problem of time should not be regarded as an issue to be resolved within the prevailing framework for studying quantum gravity, but rather as an indication that there is an issue within the framework itself.…
We develop the spectral point of view on geometry based on the formalism of quantum physics. We start from the simple physical question of specifying our position in space and explain how the spectral geometric point of view provides a new…
A monistic framework is set up where energy is the only fundamental substance. Different states of energy are ordered by a set of scalar qunatum-phase-fields. The dual elements of matter, mass and space, are described as volume- and…
A deformation of special relativistic kinematics (possible signal of a theory of quantum gravity at low energies) leads to a modification of the notion of spacetime. At the classical level, this modification is required when one considers a…
In this chapter we take up the quantum Riemannian geometry of a spatial slice of spacetime. While researchers are still facing the challenge of observing quantum gravity, there is a geometrical core to loop quantum gravity that does much to…
We attempt to find new symmetries in the space-time structure, leading to a modified gravitation at large length scales, which provides the foundations of a quantum gravity at very low energies. This search begins by considering a unified…
Quantum gravity was born as that branch of modern theoretical physics that tries to unify its guiding principles, i.e., quantum mechanics and general relativity. Nowadays it is providing new insight into the unification of all fundamental…
In black hole physics, inflationary cosmology, and quantum field theories, it is conjectured that the physical laws are subject to radical changes below the Planck length. Such changes are due to effects of quantum gravity believed to…
Flat space cosmology spacetimes are exact time-dependent solutions of 3-dimensional gravity theories, such as Einstein gravity or topologically massive gravity. We exhibit a novel kind of phase transition between these cosmological…
The usual quantization of a classical space-time field does not touch the non-geometrical character of quantum mechanics. We believe that the deep problems of unification of general relativity and quantum mechanics are rooted in this poor…
The different roles and natures of spacetime appearing in a quantum field theory and in classical physics are analyzed implying that a quantum theory of gravitation is not necessarily a quantum theory of curved spacetime. Developing an…
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…
Rather than an a priori arena in which events take place, space-time is a construction of our mind making possible a particular kind of ordering of events. As quantum entanglement is a property of states independent of classical distances,…
General relativity, despite its profound successes, fails as a complete theory due to presence of singularities. While it is widely believed that quantum gravity has the potential to be a complete theory, in which spacetime consistently…
In asymptotically Minkowski space-times, one finds a surprisingly rich interplay between geometry and physics in both the classical and quantum regimes. On the mathematical side it involves null geometry, infinite dimensional groups,…
These notes summarise a talk surveying the combinatorial or Hamiltonian quantisation of three dimensional gravity in the Chern-Simons formulation, with an emphasis on the role of quantum groups and on the way the various physical constants…
Conventional approaches to quantum gravity regard quantum principles, such as nonlocality and superposition, as fundamental properties of nature and therefore argue that gravity must also be quantized. In contrast, this work introduces a…