相关论文: Vacuum Fluctuations and the Small Scale Structure …
Over the past few years, evidence has begun to accumulate suggesting that spacetime may undergo a "spontaneous dimensional reduction" to two dimensions near the Planck scale. I review some of this evidence, and discuss the (still very…
Quantum fluctuations of the vacuum stress-energy tensor are highly non-Gaussian, and can have unexpectedly large effects on spacetime geometry. In this paper, we study a two-dimensional dilaton gravity model coupled to a conformal field, in…
Several lines of evidence hint that quantum gravity at very small distances may be effectively two-dimensional. I summarize the evidence for such ``spontaneous dimensional reduction,'' and suggest an additional argument coming from the…
We employ the semiclassical approximation to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation in the spatially flat de Sitter Universe to investigate the dynamics of a minimally coupled scalar field near the Planck scale. We find that, contrary to naive…
A viable quantum theory of gravity is one of the biggest challenges facing physicists. We discuss the confluence of two highly expected features which might be instrumental in the quest of a finite and renormalizable quantum gravity --…
The two-point function characterizing the stress tensor fluctuations of a massless minimally coupled field for an invariant vacuum state in de Sitter spacetime is discussed. This two-point function is explicitly computed for spacelike…
We revisit two-point function approaches used to study vacuum fluctuation in wedge-shaped regions and conical backgrounds. Appearance of divergent integrals is discussed and circumvented. The issue is considered in the context of a massless…
Quantum vacuum fluctuations tend to be strongly anti-correlated, which reduces their observable effects. However, time dependence can upset the cancellation of these anti-correlated fluctuations and greatly enhance their effects. This form…
We have investigated the cosmological scenarios with a four dimensional effective action which is connected with multidimensional, supergravity and string theories. The solution for the scale factor is such that initially universe undergoes…
We analyze the quantum fluctuations of vacuum stress tensors and spacetime curvatures, using the framework of linear response theory which connects these fluctuations to dissipation mechanisms arising when stress tensors and spacetime…
We examine vacuum fluctuations in theories with modified dispersion relations which represent dimensional reduction at high energies. By changing units of energy and momentum we can obtain a description rendering the dispersion relations…
Arguments are gived for the plausibility that quantum mechanics is a stochastic theory and that many quantum phenomena derive from the existence of a real noise consisting of vacuum fluctuations of all fundamental fields existing in nature.…
We explore the cosmological implications of a mechanism found in several approaches to quantum-gravity, whereby the spectral dimension of spacetime runs from the standard value of 4 in the infrared (IR) to a smaller value in the ultraviolet…
Results from a number of different approaches to quantum gravity suggest that the effective dimension of spacetime may drop to $d=2$ at small scales. I show that two different dimensional estimators in causal set theory display the same…
Hints from a number of different approaches to quantum gravity point to a phenomenon of "spontaneous dimensional reduction" to two spacetime dimensions near the Planck scale. I examine the physical meaning of the term "dimension" in this…
In this work we review some concepts developed over the last few years: that the gravitational vacuum has, even at scales much larger than the Planck length, a peculiar structure, with anomalously strong and long-lasting fluctuations called…
The positive energy theorem precludes the possibility of Minkowski flat space decaying by any mechanism. In certain circumstances, however, large quantum fluctuations of the gravitational field could arise---not only at the Planck scale,…
In this paper, we calculate the spectrum of scalar field fluctuations in a bouncing, asymptotically flat Universe, and investigate the dependence of the result on changes in the physics on length scales shorter than the Planck length which…
Although we lack complete understanding of quantum aspects of gravitation, it is usually agreed, using general arguments, that a final quantum gravity theory will endow space and time with some (fundamental or effective) notion of…
The phenomenologically observed flatness - or near flatness - of spacetime cannot be understood as emerging from continuum Planck (or sub-Planck) scales using known physics. Using dimensional arguments it is demonstrated that any…