Related papers: Generalizing Quantum Mechanics for Quantum Gravity
In this article I study how the problem of time of canonical approaches to quantum gravity affects the simple minisuperspace models used in quantum cosmology. I follow some authors who have argued that this issue makes the quantization of…
Quantum gravity is the missing piece in our understanding of the fundamental interactions today. Given recent observational breakthroughs in gravity, providing a quantum theory for what lies beyond general relativity is more urgent than…
This is an introduction to quantum gravity, aimed at a fairly general audience and concentrating on what have historically two main approaches to quantum gravity: the covariant and canonical programs (string theory is not covered). The…
We present the case for a fundamentally discrete quantum spacetime and for Group Field Theories as a candidate consistent description of it, briefly reviewing the key properties of the GFT formalism. We then argue that the outstanding…
This is an introduction to the group field theory approach to quantum gravity, with emphasis on motivations and basic formalism, more than on recent results; we elaborate on the various ingredients, both conceptual and formal, of the…
Time is absolute in standard quantum theory and dynamical in general relativity. The combination of both theories into a theory of quantum gravity leads therefore to a "problem of time". In my essay I shall investigate those consequences…
The theory of quantum gravity is aimed to fuse general relativity with quantum theory into a more fundamental framework. The space of quantum gravity provides both the non-fixed causality of general relativity and the quantum uncertainty of…
In prior work, we have argued that spacetime functionalism provides tools for clarifying the conceptual difficulties specifically linked to the emergence of spacetime in certain approaches to quantum gravity. We argue in this article that…
Quantum mechanics for matter fields moving in an evaporating black hole spacetime is formulated in fully four-dimensional form according to the principles of generalized quantum theory. The resulting quantum theory cannot be expressed in a…
Although the standard viewpoint in theoretical physics is that the unification of quantum theory and general relativity requires the quantization of gravity and spacetime, there is not consensus about whether spacetime must fundamentally…
Among the various attempts to formulate a theory of quantum gravity, a class of approaches suggests that spacetime, as modeled by general relativity, is destined to fade away. A major issue becomes then to identify which structures may…
Quantum gravity has become a fertile interface between gravitational physics and quantum many-body physics, with its double goal of identifying the microscopic constituents of the universe and their fundamental dynamics, and of…
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…
The book gives an overview over the possible perspectives with regard to our conceptions of space and time in the transition from General Relativity to a future theory of Quantum Gravity. Here the most different approaches and strategies…
The aim of this work is to review the concepts of time in quantum mechanics and general relativity to show their incompatibility. We show that the absolute character of Newtonian time is present in quantum mechanics and also partially in…
I give a pedagogical explanation of what it is about quantization that makes general relativity go from being a nearly perfect classical theory to a very problematic quantum one. I also explain why some quantization of gravity is…
We argue that the demand of background independence in a quantum theory of gravity calls for an extension of standard geometric quantum mechanics. We discuss a possible kinematical and dynamical generalization of the latter by way of a…
The perspective is advanced that the time parameter in quantum mechanics corresponds to the time coordinate in a Minkowski flat spacetime local approximation to the actual dynamical curved spacetime of General Relativity, rather than to an…
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…
This is a self-contained introduction to quantum Riemannian geometry based on quantum groups as frame groups, and its proposed role in quantum gravity. Much of the article is about the generalisation of classical Riemannian geometry that…