Related papers: On the dimensionality of spacetime

Quantum (and classical) binding energy considerations in n-dimensional space indicate that atoms (and planets) can only exist in three-dimensional space. This is why observable space is solely 3-dimensional. Both a novel Virial theorem…

Lower-dimensionality at higher energies has manifold theoretical advantages as recently pointed out. Moreover, it appears that experimental evidence may already exists for it - a statistically significant planar alignment of events with…

It is shown by very simple arguments that the observed 3+1 dimensionality of spacetime may be understood on the basis of four fundamental principles of physics namely, Causality, General Covariance, Gauge Invariance and Renormalizability.…

The possibility that spacetime is extended beyond the familiar 3+1-dimensions has intrigued physicists for a century. Indeed, the consequences of a dimensionally richer spacetime would be profound. Recently, new theories with higher…

There are anthropic reasons to suspect that life in more than three spatial dimensions is not possible, and if the same could be said of fewer than three, then one would have an anthropic argument for why we experience precisely three large…

Vacuum Einstein theory in three spacetime dimensions is locally trivial, but admits many solutions that are globally different, particularly if there is a negative cosmological constant. The classical theory of such locally "anti-de Sitter"…

We live in a 3+1 space-time that is intended as a description of the universe with three space dimensions and one time dimension. Space-time dimensionality seems so natural that it is rarely criticized. Experiments and the highly successful…

A general effective field theory formalism is presented which describes the low-energy dynamics of a 3-brane universe. In this scenario an arbitrary four-dimensional particle theory, such as the Standard Model, is constrained to live on the…

A string theory in $3$ euclidean spacetime dimensions is found to describe the semiclassical behavior of a certain exact physical state of quantum general relativity in $4$ dimensions. Both the worldsheet and the three dimensional metric…

The emphasis in the developmet of theories with more than three spatial dimensions has recently shifted towards ``brane world'' picture, which assumes that ordinary matter (with possible exceptions of gravitons and other, hypothetic,…

A large class of vacuum space-times is constructed in dimension 4+1 from hyperboloidal initial data sets which are not small perturbations of empty space data. These space-times are future geodesically complete, smooth up to their future…

(from the talk:) I shall here speak on gravity in (1+1)-dimensional space-time --- lineal gravity. The purpose of studying lower dimensional theories, and specifically lower dimensional gravity, is to gain insight into difficult…

Changing the dimensionality of the space-time at the smallest and largest distances has manifold theoretical advantages. If the space is lower dimensional in the high energy regime, then there are no ultraviolet divergencies in field…

String theory, as a theory containing quantum gravity, is usually thought to require more dimensions of spacetime than the usual 3+1. Here I argue on physical grounds that needing extra dimensions for strings may well be an artefact of…

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…

Given a generic Cremonian space-time, its three spatial dimensions are shown to exhibit an intriguing, "two-plus-one" partition with respect to standard observers. Such observers are found to form three distinct, disjoint groups based on…

The requirement that physical phenomena associated with gravitational collapse should be duly reconciled with the postulates of quantum mechanics implies that at a Planckian scale our world is not 3+1 dimensional. Rather, the observable…

We consider various curious features of general relativity, and relativistic field theory, in two spacetime dimensions. In particular, we discuss: the vanishing of the Einstein tensor; the failure of an initial-value formulation for vacuum…

According to modern quantum physics, at the microlevel, the dimension of space-time is at least 11; we only observe 4 dimensions because the others are compactified: the size along each of the other dimensions is much smaller than the…

We propose that the effective dimensionality of the space we live in depends on the length scale we are probing. As the length scale increases, new dimensions open up. At short scales the space is lower dimensional; at the intermediate…