Related papers: Topology, Quantum Gravity and Particle Physics
Time in quantum gravity is not a well-defined notion, despite its central role in the very definition of dynamics. Using the formalism of quantum geometrodynamics, we shortly review the problem and illustrate it with two proposed solutions.…
We portray the structure of quantum gravity emerging from recent progress in understanding the quantum mechanics of an evaporating black hole. Quantum gravity admits two different descriptions, based on Euclidean gravitational path integral…
A satisfactory theory of quantum gravity may necessitate a drastic modification of our perception of space-time, by giving it a foamy structure at distances comparable to the Planck length. It is argued in this essay that the experimental…
Till now, the foundation of quantum physics is still mysterious. To explore the mysteries in the foundation of quantum physics, people always take it for granted that quantum processes must be some types of fields/objects on a rigid space.…
We consider gravity from the quantum field theory point of view and introduce a natural way of coupling gravity to matter by following the gauge principle for particle interactions. The energy-momentum tensor for the matter fields is shown…
The spin-statistics connection, quantum gravity and other physical considerations suggest that classical space-time topology is not an immutable attribute and can change in quantum physics. The implementation of topology change using…
A particular approach to topology change in quantum gravity is reviewed, showing that several aspects of Stephen's work are intertwined with it in an essential way. Speculations are made on possible implications for the causal set approach…
The fact that quantum theory is non-differentiable, while general relativity is built on the assumption of differentiability sources an incompatibility between quantum theory and gravity. Higher order geometry addresses this issue directly…
In seeking to arrive at a theory of ``quantum gravity'', one faces several choices among alternative approaches. I list some of these ``forks in the road'' and offer reasons for taking one alternative over the other. In particular, I…
An approach to quantum gravity and cosmology is proposed based on a synthesis of four elements: 1) the Bekenstein bound and the related holographic hypothesis of 't Hooft and Susskind, 2) topological quantum field theory, 3) a new approach…
We survey indications from different branches of Physics that the fine scale structure of spacetime is not adequately described by a manifold. Based on the hints we accumulate, we propose a new structure, which we call a quantum topos. In…
Quantum theory can be understood as pointing to an ontology of relations. I observe that this reading of quantum mechanics is supported by the ubiquity of relationality in contemporary fundamental physics, including in classical mechanics,…
General relativity is unable to determine the topology of the Universe. We propose to apply quantum approach. Quantization of dynamics of a test particle is sensitive to the spacetime topology. Presented results for a particle in de Sitter…
Loop Quantum Gravity provides a natural truncation of the infinite degrees of freedom of gravity, obtained by studying the theory on a given finite graph. We review this procedure and we present the construction of the canonical theory on a…
We investigate the possibility that the quantum theory of gravity could be constructed discretely using algebraic methods. The algebraic tools are similar to ones used in constructing topological quantum field theories.The algebraic tools…
The paper concerns the fictitious entanglement of the so-called ``singularities'' in problems, pertaining to quantum gravity, due, in point of fact, to the way we try to employ, in that context, differential geometry, the latter being…
We give a very brief introduction to the group field theory approach to quantum gravity, a generalisation of matrix models for 2-dimensional quantum gravity to higher dimension, that has emerged recently from research in spin foam models.
The basic problem of quantum cosmology is the definition of the quantum state of the universe, with appropriate boundary conditions on Riemannian three-geometries. This paper describes recent progress in the corresponding analysis of…
We propose a mathematically concrete way of modelling the suggestion that in quantum gravity the spacetime disappears, replacing it with a discrete approximation to the causal path space described as an object in a model category. One of…
Investigating quantum gravity requires a comprehension of both, general relativity and quantum field theory. Therefore this thesis starts, after a general introduction to the treated topics, with a brief review of the field theoretical…