Related papers: The spacetime attribute of matter
Although time is one of our most intuitive physical concepts, its understanding at the fundamental level is still an open question in physics. For instance, time in quantum mechanics and general relativity are two distinct and incompatible…
A deformation of special relativistic kinematics (possible signal of a theory of quantum gravity at low energies) leads to a modification of the notion of spacetime. At the classical level, this modification is required when one considers a…
A central aim of theoretical physics is to account for the structure of matter at the most elementary level as underlying the Standard Model of particle physics, and ideally also as a basis for a substantial dark sector, as distributed in…
Familiar textbook quantum mechanics assumes a fixed background spacetime to define states on spacelike surfaces and their unitary evolution between them. Quantum theory has changed as our conceptions of space and time have evolved. But…
Spacetime is conventionally viewed as a stage on which actors, in the form of fields, move. Here, we explore what may lie beyond this picture. The starting point is the observation that quantum fluctuations of fields are the more strongly…
Spacetime is modelled by binary relations - by the classes of the automorphisms $\GL(\C^2)$ of a complex 2-dimensional vector space with respect to the definite unitary subgroup $\U(2)$. In extension of Feynman propagators for particle…
This paper discusses how the transactional interpretation of quantum mechanics can provide for a natural account of the emergence of spacetime events from a quantum substratum. In this account, spacetime is not a substantive manifold that…
According to Schopenhauer, Kant's arguments about the transcendental ideality of space and time can be extended to matter through the concept of causality and the principle of sufficient reason. In this article, I examine to what extent…
Since Einstein's equations $G_{ij} = 8\pi \, G \, T_{ij} \, / c^4 $ relate the metric $g_{ij}$ of spacetime to the energy-momentum tensor $T_{ij}$ which is a quantum field, the metric $g_{ij}$ must be a quantum field. And since the metric…
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…
Are time-travels possible? is the past still existing? and is the future already existing? We try to give an answer to these an other questions concerning the properties of time and the close connection (but deep physical difference)…
The theoretical framework established in arXiv:quant-ph/0404103 is extended to deal with possible astrophysical manifestations of phenomena involving reverse, as well as forward, causation in time. The basic idea is that space-time…
It is proposed that spacetime should be regarded as an evolving block universe, bounded to the future by the present time, which continually extends to the future. This future boundary is defined at each time by measuring proper time along…
In quantum mechanics time usually appears as classical parameter which means that it is treated as being essentially different from spatial coordinates that are represented by operators. On the other hand, relativity theory demands to treat…
We use a result of Hawking and Gilkey to define a Euclidean path integral of gravity and matter which has the special property of being independent of the choice of basis in the space of fields. This property allows the path integral to…
We show that the local and deterministic mode of description is not only in conflict with the quantum theory, but also with relativity. We argue that elementary relativistic properties of spacetime lead to the emergence of a…
Spacetime emergence refers to the notion that classical spacetime "emerges" as an approximate macroscopic entity from a non-spatio-temporal structure present in a more complete theory of interacting fundamental constituents. In this…
In spacetime physics, we frequently need to consider a set of all spaces (`universes') as a whole. In particular, the concept of `closeness' between spaces is essential. However, there has been no established mathematical theory so far…
By considering a new form of dimensional reduction for noncommutative field theory, we show that the signature of spacetime may be changed. In particular, it is demonstrated that a temporal dimension can emerge from a purely Euclidean…
While it is generally agreed that the nature of spacetime must be drastically different at the Planck scale, it has been a common practice to assume that spacetime is endowed with a full pseudo-Riemannian geometry regardless of the physical…