Related papers: Is a classical Euclidean TOE reasonable?
When the semi-positive cosmological constant is dynamical, the naive Euclidean Einstein action is unbounded from below and the Hartle-Hawking wavefunction of the universe is not normalizable. With the inclusion of back-reaction (a crucial…
The Einstein Equivalence Principle (EEP) is of crucial importance to test the foundations of general relativity. When the particles involved in the test exhibit quantum properties, it is unknown whether this principle still holds. A…
We investigate a lattice model for Euclidean quantum gravity based on discretization of the Palatini formulation of General Relativity. Using Monte Carlo simulation we show that while a naive approach fails to lead to a vacuum state…
One of the basic observations of the classical world is that physical entities are real and can be distinguished from each other. However, within quantum theory, the idea of physical realism is not well established. A framework to analyse…
We consider a $SO(d)$ gauge theory in an Euclidean $d$-dimensional space-time, which is known to be renormalizable to all orders in perturbation theory for $2\le{d}\le4$. Then, with the help of a space-time representation of the gauge…
We review the Euclidean Hopf algebra $U_q(e^N)$ dual of $Fun(\rn_q^N\lcross SO_{q^{-1}}(N))$ and describe its fundamental Hilbert space representations \cite{fioeu}, which turn out to be rather simple "lattice-regularized" versions of the…
For want of a more natural proposal, it is generally assumed that the back-reaction of a quantised matter field on a classical metric is given by the expectation value of its energy-momentum tensor, evaluated in a specified state. This…
Close insight into mathematical and conceptual structure of classical field theories shows serious inconsistencies in their common basis. In other words, we claim in this work to have come across two severe mathematical blunders in the very…
We discuss different formulations and approaches to string theory and $ 2d$ quantum gravity. The generic idea to get a unique description of {\it many} different string vacua altogether is demonstrated on the examples in $ 2d$ conformal,…
It is often argued that gravity has to be a quantum theory simply because a fundamentally semiclassical approach would necessarily be inconsistent. Here I review recent Newtonian toy models of (stochastic) semiclassical gravity. They…
Some consequences of a fully classical unified theory of gravity and electromagnetism are worked out for the electromagnetic sector such as the occurrence of classical light beams with spin and orbital angular momenta that are topologically…
Gravitational R\'enyi computations have traditionally been described in the language of Euclidean path integrals. In the semiclassical limit, such calculations are governed by Euclidean (or, more generally, complex) saddle-point geometries.…
For a 1+1 dimensional theory of gravity with torsion different approaches to the formulation of a quantum theory are presented. They are shown to lead to the same finite dimensional quantum system. Conceptual questions of quantum gravity…
The framework of generalized probabilistic theories is a powerful tool for studying the foundations of quantum physics. It provides the basis for a variety of recent findings that significantly improve our understanding of the rich physical…
When a mountaineer is ascending one of the great peaks of the Himalayas she knows that an entirely new vista awaits her at the top, whose ramifications will be known only after she gets there. Her immediate goal though, is to tackle the…
Based on a clear ontology of material individuals, we analyze in detail the factual semantics of quantum theory, and argue that the basic mathematical formalism of quantum theory is just okay with (a certain form of ) realism and that it is…
Classically, unimodular gravity is known to be equivalent to General Relativity (GR), except for the fact that the effective cosmological constant $\Lambda$ has the status of an integration constant. Here, we explore various formulations of…
The recently introduced consistent discrete lattice formulation of canonical general relativity produces a discrete theory that is constraint-free. This immediately allows to overcome several of the traditional obstacles posed by the…
The cosmological constant problem is usually considered an inevitable feature of any effective theory capturing well-tested gravitational and matter physics, without regard to the details of short-distance gravitational couplings. In this…
General relativity is a deterministic theory with non-fixed causal structure. Quantum theory is a probabilistic theory with fixed causal structure. In this paper we build a framework for probabilistic theories with non-fixed causal…