Related papers: A View From the Island
The feeling of a moving present or `now' seems to form part of our most basic perceptions about reality. Such a present, however, is not reflected in any of our theories of the physical world. In this short note I argue for a tenseless view…
In this manuscript we review the theoretical foundations of gravitational waves in the framework of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. Following Einstein's early efforts we first derive the linearised Einstein field equations…
In this paper, which is of programmatic rather than quantitative nature, we aim to further delineate and sharpen the future potential of the LISA mission in the area of fundamental physics. Given the very broad range of topics that might be…
Some basic sociophysical notions are described by a physicist, tentatively for a sociologically-oriented reader.
I briefly review the conceptual developments that led to the Standard Model and discuss some of its remarkable qualitative features. On the way, I draw attention to several puzzling aspects that are beyond the reach of our present…
Influence theory is a foundational theory of physics that is not based on traditional empirically defined concepts, such as positions in space and time, mass, energy, or momentum. Instead, the aim is to derive these concepts, and their…
An approach to special relativity is outlined which emphasizes the wave and field mechanisms which physically produce the relativistic effects, with the goal of making them seem more natural to students by connecting more explicitly with…
Quantum field theory currently has a single standard mathematical characterization (the Standard Model), but no single accepted conceptual framework to interpret the mathematics. Many of these conceptualizations rely on intuitive concepts…
In this article the current understanding of fundamental particles and their interactions is presented for the interested non-specialist, by adopting a semi-historical path. A discussion on the unresolved problems is also presented.
In this talk I describe a recently introduced field-theoretical approach that can be used as an alternative framework to study one-dimensional systems of highly correlated particles.
Particle physics has evolved a coherent model that characterizes forces and particles at the most elementary level. This Standard Model, built from many theoretical and experimental studies, is in excellent accord with almost all current…
An attempt to construct a phenomenological theory of earthquakes is being undertaken by a small research team, which includes the author. We have only taken the first steps towards goal, but the results already obtained convincingly…
I describe several broad features of a programme to understand gravity as an emergent, long wavelength, phenomenon (like elasticity) and discuss one concrete framework for realizing this paradigm in the backdrop of several recent results.
These notes are an introduction to General Relativity as a Quantum Effective Field Theory, following the material given in a short course on the subject at EPFL. The intent is to develop General Relativity starting from a quantum field…
For several decades there has been no breakthrough in fundamental physics as revolutionary as relativity and quantum physics despite the amazing advancement of applied physics and technology. By discussing several examples of what physics…
I review the basic ingredients of discretized gravity which motivate the introduction of Group Field Theory. Thus I describe the GFT formulation of some models and conclude with a few remarks on the emergence of noncommutative structures in…
Introduction to the theoretical foundations of gravitational waves: from general relativity to detection and binary system waveforms. Lecture notes prepared for the MaNiTou summer school on gravitational waves. Draft chapter for the CNRS…
The paper presents a metaphysical characterization of spatiotemporal backgrounds from a realist perspective. The conceptual analysis is based on a heuristic sketch that encompasses the common formal traits of the major spacetime theories,…
Several physical concepts, including the concept of time, are clarified herein by taking into account existing experimental data. In addition, the missing links among these physical concepts are established. This allows us to take another…
We present a bird's-eye survey on the development of fundamental ideas of quantum gravity, placing emphasis on perturbative approaches, string theory, loop quantum gravity, and black hole thermodynamics. The early ideas at the dawn of…