English

Pregeometry, Formal Language and Constructivist Foundations of Physics

History and Philosophy of Physics 2023-11-08 v1 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Theory Mathematical Physics math.MP Quantum Physics

Abstract

How does one formalize the structure of structures necessary for the foundations of physics? This work is an attempt at conceptualizing the metaphysics of pregeometric structures, upon which new and existing notions of quantum geometry may find a foundation. We discuss the philosophy of pregeometric structures due to Wheeler, Leibniz as well as modern manifestations in topos theory. We draw attention to evidence suggesting that the framework of formal language, in particular, homotopy type theory, provides the conceptual building blocks for a theory of pregeometry. This work is largely a synthesis of ideas that serve as a precursor for conceptualizing the notion of space in physical theories. In particular, the approach we espouse is based on a constructivist philosophy, wherein ``structureless structures'' are syntactic types realizing formal proofs and programs. Spaces and algebras relevant to physical theories are modeled as type-theoretic routines constructed from compositional rules of a formal language. This offers the remarkable possibility of taxonomizing distinct notions of geometry using a common theoretical framework. In particular, this perspective addresses the crucial issue of how spatiality may be realized in models that link formal computation to physics, such as the Wolfram model.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2311.03973,
  title  = {Pregeometry, Formal Language and Constructivist Foundations of Physics},
  author = {Xerxes D. Arsiwalla and Hatem Elshatlawy and Dean Rickles},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.03973},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

20 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-28T13:14:00.667Z