Related papers: The Counterintuitive Universe
All existing experimental results are currently interpreted using classical geometry. However, there are theoretical reasons to suspect that at a deeper level, geometry emerges as an approximate macroscopic behavior of a quantum system at…
We review, in a historical perspective, developments in physics which led to the emergence of unifying ideas and theories. Some attention is paid to the theoretical programme that started in the second decade of the XXth century and whose…
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…
The unification of gravity to the other forces has been a major problem for most of the last century. I use a modification to Newtonian gravitation to extract the strong and weak nuclear coupling constants. Some of the possible implications…
General relativity in the form where gravitational perturbations together with other physical fields propagate on an auxiliary background is considered. With using the Katz-Bi{\v{c}}\'ak-Lynden-Bell technique new conserved currents,…
The picture of space-time that Minkowski created in 1907 has been followed by two important developments in physics not contained in the original picture: general relativity and quantum mechanics. We will argue that the use of concepts of…
A reconciliation of gravitation and electromagnetism has eluded physics for neearly a century. It is argued here that this is because both quantum physics and classical physics are set in differentiable space time manifolds with point…
Quantum theory is notoriously counterintuitive, and yet remains entirely self-consistent when applied universally. Here we uncover a new manifestation of its unusual consequences. We demonstrate, theoretically and experimentally (by means…
Observations provide increasingly strong evidence that the universe is accelerating. This revolutionary advance in cosmological observations confronts theoretical cosmology with a tremendous challenge, which it has so far failed to meet.…
Along with weaving together observations, experiments, and theoretical constructs into a coherent mesh of understanding of the world around us, physics over its past five centuries has continuously refined the base concepts on which the…
Despite the extraordinary successes the two great bastions of $20^{th}$ century science (Quantum Theory and General Relativity) are troubled with serious conceptual and mathematical difficulties. As a result, further growth of fundamental…
A classical dynamical system in a four-dimensional Euclidean space with universal time is considered. The space is hypothesized to be originally occupied by a uniform substance, pictured as a liquid, which at some time became supercooled.…
A set of diverse but mutually consistent results obtained in different settings has spawned a new view of loop quantum gravity and its physical implications, based on the interplay of operator calculations and effective theory: Quantum…
When one takes into account gravitation, the measurement of space and time cannot be carried out with infinite accuracy. When quantum mechanics is reformulated taking into account this lack of accuracy, the resolution of the measurement…
General relativity predicts a singularity in the beginning of the universe being called big bang. Recent developments in loop quantum cosmology avoid the singularity and the big bang is replaced by a big bounce. A classical theory of…
In light of G\"{o}del's undecidability results (incomplete theorems) for math, quantum indeterminism indicates that physics and the Universe may be indeterministic, incomplete, and open in nature, and therefore demand no single unification…
Quantum gravity is known to be mostly a kind of metaphysical speculation. In this brief essay, we try to argue that, although still extremely difficult to reach, observational signatures can in fact be expected. The early universe is an…
A central theme in cosmology is the perplexing fact that the Universe is undergoing an accelerating expansion. The latter, one of the most important and challenging current problems in cosmology, represents a new imbalance in the governing…
An alternative approach to Einstein's theory of General Relativity (GR) is reviewed, which is motivated by a range of serious theoretical issues inflicting the theory, such as the cosmological constant problem, presence of non-Machian…
On a scientific meta-level, it is discussed how an overall understanding of the physical universe can be built on the basis of well-proven theories, observations, and recent experiments. In the light of almost a century of struggle to make…