Is de Sitter space a fermion?
Abstract
Following up on a recent model yielding fermionic geometries, I turn to more familiar territory to address the question of statistics in purely geometric theories. Working in the gauge formulation of gravity, where geometry is characterized by a symmetry broken Cartan connection, I give strong evidence to suggest that de Sitter space itself, and a class of de Sitter-like geometries, can be consistently quantized fermionically. By this I mean that de Sitter space can be quantized such that the wavefunctional picks up an overall minus sign under a rotational diffeomorphism. Surprisingly, the underlying mathematics is the same as that of the Skyrme model for strongly interacting baryons. This promotes the question {\it "Is geometry bosonic or fermionic?"} beyond the realm of the rhetorical and places it on uncomfortably familiar ground.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1111.3695,
title = {Is de Sitter space a fermion?},
author = {Andrew Randono},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1111.3695},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
21 pages, 4 figures. V2: significant changes to the second half of paper and overall clarification of argument. Discussion of geometric quantization and topological aspects of the quantum phase space added