Related papers: Towards bringing Quantum Mechanics and General Rel…
It is commonly remarked that contemporary physics faces a challenge in reconciling quantum theory with Relativity, specifically General Relativity as a theory of gravity. But "challenge" is too mild a descriptor. Once one understands both…
Quantum mechanics has enjoyed a multitude of successes since its formulation in the early twentieth century. At the same time, it has generated puzzles that persist to this day. These puzzles have inspired a large literature in physics and…
Quantum mechanics led to spectacular technological developments, discovery of new constituents of matter and new materials. However there is still no consensus on its interpretation and limitations. Some scientists and scientific writers…
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,…
We discuss the problems of quantum theory (QT) complicating its merging with general relativity (GR). QT is treated as a general theory of micro-phenomena - a bunch of models. Quantum mechanics (QM) and quantum field theory (QFT) are the…
A major unsolved problem in theoretical physics is to reconcile the classical theory of general relativity with quantum mechanics. These lectures will deal with an attempt to describe quantum gravity as a path integral over geometries known…
The theory of probability and the quantum theory, the one mathematical and the other physical, are related in that each admits a number of very different interpretations. It has been proposed that the conceptual problems of the quantum…
The geometric form of standard quantum mechanics is compatible with the two postulates: 1) The laws of physics are invariant under the choice of experimental setup and 2) Every quantum observation or event is intrinsically statistical.…
This essay presents an accessible introduction to the basic motivations to seek a quantum theory of gravity. It focuses on one approach- loop quantum gravity - as an example of the rich philosophical issues that arise when we try to combine…
Quantum mechanics (QM) has attracted a considerable amount of mysticism, in public opinion and even among academic researches, due to some of its conceptually puzzling features, such as the modification of reality by the observer and…
Our conventional understanding of space-time, as well as our notion of geometry, break down once we attempt to describe the very early stages of the evolution of our universe. The extreme physical conditions near the Big Bang necessitate an…
We review a possible framework for (non)linear quantum theories, into which linear quantum mechanics fits as well, and discuss the notion of ``equivalence'' in this setting. Finally, we draw the attention to persisting severe problems of…
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…
This essay is an attempted to address, from a modern perspective, the motion of a particle. Quantum mechanically, motion consists of a series of localizations due to repeated interactions that, taken close to the limit of the continuum,…
A general formulation of classical relativistic particle mechanics is presented, with an emphasis on the fact that superluminal velocities and nonlocal interactions are compatible with relativity. Then a manifestly relativistic-covariant…
These are some thoughts contained in a letter to colleagues, about the close relation between gravity and quantum mechanics, and also about the possibility of seeing quantum gravity in a lab equipped with quantum computers. I expect this…
I briefly review the current status of quantum gravity. After giving some general motivations for the need of such a theory, I discuss the main approaches in quantizing general relativity: Covariant approaches (perturbation theory,…
General Relativity describes gravity in geometrical terms. This suggests that quantizing such theory is the same as quantizing geometry. The subject can therefore be called quantum geometry and one may think that mathematicians are…
The measurement problem in quantum mechanics is almost exclusively discussed in situations where gravity is ignored. We discuss some recent developments in our understanding of quantum gravity and argue that they significantly alter the…
In this short review we study the state of the art of the great problems in cosmology and their interrelationships. The reconciliation of these problems passes undoubtedly through the idea of a quantum universe.