2 pages; Contribution to Proceedings of the workshop "Progress of String Theory and Quantum Field Theory", Osaka City University, Japan, 7-10 December 2007
We address issues on the origin of gravity and the dark energy (or the cosmological constant) from the perspectives of emergent gravity. We discuss how the emergent gravity reveals a noble, radically different picture about the origin of spacetime, which is crucial for a tenable solution of the cosmological constant problem. In particular, the emergent gravity naturally explains the dynamical origin of flat spacetime, which is absent in Einstein gravity.
The contemporary physics has revealed growing evidences that the emergence can be applied to not only biology and condensed matter systems but also gravity and spacetime. We observe that noncommutative spacetime necessarily implies emergent spacetime if spacetime at microscopic scales should be viewed as noncommutative. Since the emergent spacetime is a new fundamental paradigm for quantum gravity, it is necessary to reexamine all the rationales to introduce the multiverse hypothesis from the standpoint of emergent spacetime. We argue that the emergent spacetime certainly opens a new perspecti…
We showed before that self-dual electromagnetism in noncommutative (NC) spacetime is equivalent to self-dual Einstein gravity. This result implies a striking picture about gravity: Gravity can emerge from electromagnetism in NC spacetime. Gravity is then a collective phenomenon emerging from gauge fields living in fuzzy spacetime. We elucidate in some detail why electromagnetism in NC spacetime should be a theory of gravity. In particular, we show that NC electromagnetism is realized through the Darboux theorem as a diffeomorphism symmetry G which is spontaneously broken to symplectomorphism H…
We examine the picture of emergent geometry arising from a mass-deformed matrix model. Because of the mass-deformation, a vacuum geometry turns out to be a constant curvature spacetime such as d-dimensional sphere and (anti-)de Sitter spaces. We show that the mass-deformed matrix model giving rise to the constant curvature spacetime can be derived from the d-dimensional Snyder algebra. The emergent geometry beautifully confirms all the rationale inferred from the algebraic point of view that the d-dimensional Snyder algebra is equivalent to the Lorentz algebra in (d+1)-dimensional {\it flat} s…
A natural geometric framework of noncommutative spacetime is symplectic geometry rather than Riemannian geometry. The Darboux theorem in symplectic geometry then admits a novel form of the equivalence principle such that the electromagnetism in noncommutative spacetime can be regarded as a theory of gravity. Remarkably the emergent gravity reveals a noble picture about the origin of spacetime, dubbed as emergent spacetime, which is radically different from any previous physical theory all of which describe what happens in a given spacetime. In particular, the emergent gravity naturally explain…
We present an exposition on the geometrization of the electromagnetic force. We show that, in noncommutative (NC) spacetime, there always exists a coordinate transformation to locally eliminate the electromagnetic force, which is precisely the Darboux theorem in symplectic geometry. As a consequence, the electromagnetism can be realized as a geometrical property of spacetime like gravity. We show that the geometrization of the electromagnetic force in NC spacetime is the origin of gravity, dubbed as the emergent gravity. We discuss how the emergent gravity reveals a novel, radically different …
We explain how quantum gravity can be defined by quantizing spacetime itself. A pinpoint is that the gravitational constant G = L_P^2 whose physical dimension is of (length)^2 in natural unit introduces a symplectic structure of spacetime which causes a noncommutative spacetime at the Planck scale L_P. The symplectic structure of spacetime M leads to an isomorphism between symplectic geometry (M, ω) and Riemannian geometry (M, g) where the deformations of symplectic structure ωin terms of electromagnetic fields F=dA are transformed into those of Riemannian metric g. This approach for quantum g…
We address issues on the origin of gravity and the cosmological constant problem based on a recent understanding about the correspondence between noncommutative field theory and gravity. We suggest that the cosmological constant problem can be resolved in a natural way if gravity emerges from a gauge theory in noncommutative spacetime. Especially, we elucidate why the emergent gravity implies that vacuum energy does not gravitate but only fluctuations around the vacuum generate gravity. That is, a flat spacetime emerges from uniform condensation of energy, previously identified with the cosmol…
We discuss the relevance of quantum gravity to the frontier questions in high energy phenomenology: the problems of dark matter, dark energy, and vacuum selection as well as the problems of emergent spacetime and wormholes. Dark matter and dark energy phenomenology, and the problem of vacuum selection are discussed within the context of string theory as a model of quantum gravity. Emergent spacetime and wormholes are discussed in a more general context of effective theories of quantum gravity.
We argue that the emergent spacetime picture admits a background-independent formulation of cosmic inflation. The inflation in this picture corresponds to the dynamical emergence of spacetime while the conventional inflation is simply an (exponential) expansion of a preexisting spacetime owing to the vacuum energy carried by an inflaton field. We show that the cosmic inflation arises as a time-dependent solution of the matrix quantum mechanics describing the dynamical process of Planck energy condensate in vacuum without introducing any inflaton field as well as an {\it ad hoc} inflation poten…
Emergent gravity is based on the Darboux theorem or the Moser lemma in symplectic geometry stating that the electromagnetic force can always be eliminated by a local coordinate transformation as far as U(1) gauge theory is defined on a spacetime with symplectic structure. In this approach, the spacetime geometry is defined by U(1) gauge fields on noncommutative (NC) spacetime. Accordingly the topology of spacetime is determined by the topology of NC U(1) gauge fields. We show that the topology change of spacetime is ample in emergent gravity and the subsequent resolution of spacetime singulari…
We suggest that at high energy each space dimension has their own time dimension, forming a 3-dimensional complex spacetime. Based on this hypothesis, we propose that the primordial universe is made of six fundamental anticommutative fields and their complex conjugate states. These fields are called Hexad Preons which carry hypercolor degree of freedom transforming under U(3,3) gauge group. Upon the breakdown of the gauge group from U(3,3) to its maximal compact subgroup $U(3)\otimes U(3)$, the metric emerges. Leptons, quarks, as well as other matter states may be formed from the subsequent co…
In this paper, we study the collapsing scenario for the k-essence emergent Vaidya spacetime in the context of massive gravity's rainbow. For this study, we consider that the background metric is Vaidya spacetime in massive gravity's rainbow. We show that the k-essence emergent gravity metric resembles closely to the new type of generalized Vaidya massive gravity metric with the rainbow deformations for null fluid collapse where we consider the k-essence scalar field as a function solely of the advanced or the retarded time. The k-essence emergent Vaidya massive gravity rainbow mass function is…
We give an introductory account of the AdS/CFT correspondence in the 1/2-BPS sector of ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory.Six of the dimensions of the string theory are emergent in the Yang-Mills theory. In this article we suggest how these dimensions and local physics in these dimensions emerge. The discussion is aimed at non-experts.
For a particular type of {\bf k-}essence scalar field, the {\bf k-}essence emergent gravity metric is exactly mapped on to the Barriola-Vilenkin (BV) type metric for Schwarzschild background established by Gangopadhyay and Manna. Based on the S. Chandrasekhar, we report the exciting features of the time-like geodesic structure in the presence of dark energy in an emergent gravity scenario for this Barriola-Vilenkin type metric. We trace the different kinds of trajectories for time-like geodesic in the presence of dark energy for the {\bf k-}essence emergent Barriola-Vilenkin spacetime, which i…
We emphasize that noncommutative (NC) spacetime necessarily implies emergent spacetime if spacetime at microscopic scales should be viewed as NC. In order to understand NC spacetime correctly, we need to deactivate the thought patterns that we have installed in our brains and taken for granted for so many years. Emergent spacetime allows a background-independent formulation of quantum gravity that will open a new perspective to resolve the notorious problems in theoretical physics such as the cosmological constant problem, hierarchy problem, dark energy, dark matter, and cosmic inflation.
In this paper, we study the gravitational collapse in the {\bf k-}essence emergent gravity using a generalized Vaidya-type metric as a background. We also analyze the cosmic censorship hypothesis for this system. We show that the emergent gravity metric resembles closely to the new type of the generalized Vaidya metrics for null fluid collapse with the {\bf k-}essence emergent mass function, where we consider the {\bf k-}essence scalar field being a function solely of the advanced or the retarded time. This new type of {\bf k-}essence emergent Vaidya metric has satisfied the required energy co…
We explore emergent geometry of the spacetime at the microscopic scale by adiabatic transport of a quasi-coherent state of a fermionic string, with quantum spacetime described by the matrix theory (BFSS matrix model). We show that the generator of the Berry phase is the shift vector of the spacetime foliation by spacelike surfaces associated with the quasi-coherent state. The operator-valued generator of the geometric phase of weak adiabatic transport is the Lorentz connection of the emergent geometry which is not torsion free at the microscopic scale. The effects of the torsion seem consisten…
We consider a deformation of five-dimensional warped gravity with bulk and boundary mass terms to quadratic order in the action. We show that massless zero modes occur for special choices of the masses. The tensor zero mode is a smooth deformation of the Randall-Sundrum graviton wavefunction and can be localized anywhere in the bulk. There is also a vector zero mode with similar localization properties, which is decoupled from conserved sources at tree level. Interestingly, there are no scalar modes, and the model is ghost-free at the linearized level. When the tensor zero mode is localized ne…
The possibility that the universe may have a fundamental and positive cosmological constant has motivated an interesting cosmological model, in which initially the universe is in a cosmological constant sea, then the local quantum fluctuations violating the null energy condition create some islands with matter and radiation, which under certain conditions might corresponds to our observable universe. We in this note study the perturbation spectra of scalar fields not affecting the evolution of background during the fluctuation. We will examine whether they can be interesting, and responsible f…
We argue that a field theory defined on noncommutative (NC) spacetime should be regarded as a theory of gravity, which we refer to as the emergent gravity. A whole point of the emergent gravity is essentially originated from the basic property: A NC spacetime is a (NC) phase space. This fact leads to two important consequences: (I) A NC field theory can basically be identified with a matrix model or a large N field theory where NC fields can be regarded as master fields of large N matrices. (II) NC fields essentially define vector (tetrad) fields. So they define a gravitational metric of some …
This is a rough transcript of talks given at the Workshop on Groups & Algebras in M Theory at Rutgers University, May 31--Jun 04, 2005. We review the basic motivation for a pre-geometric formulation of nonperturbative String/M theory, and for an underlying eleven-dimensional electric-magnetic duality, based on our current understanding of the String/M Duality Web. We explain the concept of an emerging spacetime geometry in the large N limit of a U(N) flavor matrix Lagrangian, distinguishing our proposal from generic proposals for quantum geometry, and explaining why it can incorporate curved s…
We discuss how a matrix model recently shown to describe emergent gravity may contain extra degrees of freedom which reproduce some characteristics of the standard model, in particular the breaking of symmetries and the correct quantum numbers of fermions.
There are many examples where geometry and gravity are concepts that emerge from a theory of quantum mechanics without gravity. This suggests thinking of gravity as an exotic phase of matter. Quantifying this phase in the Landau paradigm requires some sort of symmetry principle or order parameter that captures its appearance. In this essay we propose higher-form symmetries as a symmetry principle underlying emergent spacetime. We explore higher-form symmetries in gauge-gravity duality and explain how their breaking describes features of a gravitational theory. Such symmetries imply the existen…
Over the past few years the arithmetic Langlands program has found applications in two quite different problems that arise in string physics. The first of these is concerned with the fundamental problem of deriving the geometry of spacetime from the worldsheet dynamics, leading to a realization of the notion of an emergent spacetime in string theory. The second problem is concerned with the idea of using automorphic black holes as probes of spacetime. In this article both of these applications of the Langlands program are described.
We summarize the arguments that space and time are likely to be emergent notions; i.e. they are not present in the fundamental formulation of the theory, but appear as approximate macroscopic concepts. Along the way we briefly review certain topics. These include ambiguities in the geometry and the topology of space which arise from dualities, questions associated with locality, various known examples of emergent space, and the puzzles and the prospects of emergent time.
In this paper we examine a small but detailed test of the emergent gravity picture with explicit solutions in gravity and gauge theory. We first derive symplectic U(1) gauge fields starting from the Eguchi-Hanson metric in four-dimensional Euclidean gravity. The result precisely reproduces the U(1) gauge fields of the Nekrasov-Schwarz instanton previously derived from the top-down approach. In order to clarify the role of noncommutative spacetime, we take the Braden-Nekrasov U(1) instanton defined in ordinary commutative spacetime and derive a corresponding gravitational metric. We show that t…
We propose a CFT unitary description of the gravitational collapse. The starting point is the model of a black hole in AdS proposed by Maldacena in arXiv: 0106112 [hep-th]. We show that by proposing a two-copies version of the AdS/CFT conjecture, the process of formation of black holes so as other spacetimes with horizons may be described as an unitary process in the dual field theory. In doing this, we construct a well defined framework to describe general spacetimes as entangled states, in terms of the spectrum of states on the exact Anti-de-Sitter background. As application, we show how the…
We introduce a novel spacetime reduction procedure for the fields of a supergravity-Yang-Mills theory in generic curved spacetime background, and with large N flavor group, to linearized forms on an infinitesimal patch of local tangent space at a point in the spacetime manifold. Our new prescription for spacetime reduction preserves all of the local symmetries of the continuum field theory Lagrangian in the resulting zero-dimensional matrix Lagrangian, thereby obviating difficulties encountered in previous matrix proposals for emergent spacetime in recovering the full nonlinear symmetries of E…
The value of the cosmological constant is explained in terms of a noisy diffusion of energy from the low energy particle physics degrees of freedom to the fundamental Planckian granularity which is expected from general arguments in quantum gravity. The quantitative success of our phenomenological model is encouraging and provides possibly useful insights about physics at the scale of quantum gravity.
We propose a way to discover, in tabletop experiments, spacetime-emergent materials, that is, materials holographically dual to higher-dimensional quantum gravity systems under the AdS/CFT correspondence. The emergence of the holographic spacetime is verified by a mathematical imaging transform of the response function on the material. We consider theories on a 1-dimensional ring-shaped material, and compute the response to a scalar source locally put at a point on the ring. When the theory on the material has a gravity dual, the imaging in the low temperature phase exhibits a distinct differe…
Matrix models of Yang-Mills type lead to an emergent gravity theory, which may not require fine-tuning of a cosmological constant. We find cosmological solutions of Friedmann-Robertson-Walker type. They generically have a big bounce, and an early inflation-like phase with graceful exit. The mechanism is purely geometrical, no ad-hoc scalar fields are introduced. The solutions are stabilized through vacuum fluctuations and are thus compatible with quantum mechanics. This leads to a Milne-like universe after inflation, which appears to be in remarkably good agreement with observation and may pro…
We offer a perspective on some recent results obtained in the context of the group field theory approach to quantum gravity, on top of reviewing them briefly. These concern a natural mechanism for the emergence of non-commutative field theories for matter directly from the GFT action, in both 3 and 4 dimensions and in both Riemannian and Lorentzian signatures. As such they represent an important step, we argue, in bridging the gap between a quantum, discrete picture of a pre-geometric spacetime and the effective continuum geometric physics of gravity and matter, using ideas and tools from fiel…
Relativistic spin-1/2 particles in curved spacetime are naturally described by Dirac theory, which is a dynamical and Lorentz-invariant field theory. In this work, we propose a non-dynamical fermion theory in 3+1 dimensions dubbed spinor topological field theory, built in terms of a spinor field and a Cartan connection related to de Sitter group. We show that our model gives rise to the Dirac theory in curved spacetime when the local de Sitter gauge invariance of the model breaks down to the Lorentz gauge invariance, providing also a geometric origin to the fermion mass. Finally, we show that …
We show that a pair of field theory monodromies in which the shift symmetry is broken by small, well motivated deformations, naturally incorporates a mechanism for cancelling off radiative corrections to the cosmological constant. The lighter monodromy sector plays the role of inflation as well as providing a rigid degree of freedom that acts as a dynamical counterterm for the cosmological constant. The heavier monodromy sector includes a rigid dilaton that forces a global constraint on the system and the cancellation of vacuum energy loops occurs at low energies via the sequestering mechanism…
Based on the idea of emergent spacetime, we consider the possibility that the material underlying our spacetime is modelled by a fluid. We are particularly interested in possible connections between the geometrical properties of the emergent spacetime and the properties of the underlying fluid. We find some partial results that support this possibility. By using the Kerr spacetime as an example, we construct from the Riemann curvature tensor a vector field, which behaves just like the speculated fluid flow.
Emergent gravity is based on a novel form of the equivalence principle known as the Darboux theorem or the Moser lemma in symplectic geometry stating that the electromagnetic force can always be eliminated by a local coordinate transformation as far as spacetime admits a symplectic structure, in other words, a microscopic spacetime becomes noncommutative (NC). If gravity emerges from U(1) gauge theory on NC spacetime, this picture of emergent gravity suggests a completely new quantization scheme where quantum gravity is defined by quantizing spacetime itself, leading to a dynamical NC spacetim…
We derive new space-time uncertainty relations (STUR) at the fundamental Planck length $L_P$ from quantum mechanics and general relativity (GR), both in flat and curved backgrounds. Contrary to claims present in the literature, our approach suggests that no minimal uncertainty appears for lengths, but instead for minimal space and four-volumes. Moreover, we derive a maximal absolute value for the energy density. Finally, some considerations on possible commutators among quantum operators implying our STUR are done.
We construct a model of quantum gravity in which dimension, topology and geometry of spacetime are dynamical. The microscopic degree of freedom is a real rectangular matrix whose rows label internal flavours, and columns label spatial sites. In the limit that the size of the matrix is large, the sites can collectively form a spatial manifold. The manifold is determined from the pattern of entanglement present across local Hilbert spaces associated with column vectors of the matrix. With no structure of manifold fixed in the background, the spacetime gauge symmetry is generalized to a group tha…
We give a brief review of two nonperturbative phenomena typical of noncommutative field theory which are known to lead to the perturbative instability known as the UV-IR mixing. The first phenomena concerns the emergence/evaporation of spacetime geometry in matrix models which describe perturbative noncommutative gauge theory on fuzzy backgrounds. In particular we show that the transition from a geometrical background to a matrix phase makes the description of noncommutative gauge theory in terms of fields via the Weyl map only valid below a critical value g_*. The second phenomena concerns th…
It is shown that nearly-flat 3+1D spacetime emerging from a dual quantum field theory in 2+1D displays quantum fluctuations from classical Euclidean geometry on macroscopic scales. A covariant holographic mapping is assumed, where plane wave states with wavevector k on a 2D surface map onto classical null trajectories in the emergent third dimension at an angle θ=l_P k relative to the surface element normal, where l_P denotes the Planck length. Null trajectories in the 3+1D world then display quantum uncertainty of angular orientation, with standard deviation Δθ=\sqrt{l_P/z} for longitudinal p…
Spacetime geometry is treated as a fluctuating, stochastic quantum system allowing an effective quantum gravity solution to the cosmological constant problem. A Focker-Planck equation for the probability density of spacetime metric fluctuations is solved for an FRW universe and the most probable value for the metric scale factor R is for a very small cosmological constant.
No definitive evidence of spacetime supersymmetry (SUSY) that transmutes fermions into bosons and vice versa has been revealed in nature so far. Moreover, whether spacetime SUSY in 2+1 and higher dimensions can occur or emerge in generic microscopic models remains open. Here, we introduce a lattice realization of a \textit{single} Dirac fermion with attractive Hubbard interactions that preserves both time-reversal and chiral symmetries. By performing numerically-exact sign-problem-free determinant quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the interacting single Dirac fermion in 2+1 dimensi…
It has been known for a long time that Einstein's field equations when projected onto a black hole horizon looks very similar to a Navier-Stokes equation in suitable variables. More recently, it was shown that the projection of Einstein's equation on to any null surface in any spacetime reduces exactly to the Navier-Stokes form when viewed in the freely falling frame. We develop an action principle, the extremization of which leads to the above result, in an arbitrary spacetime. The degrees of freedom varied in the action principle are the null vectors in the spacetime and not the metric tenso…
In this note we present a framework in which the weak scale appears dynamically technically natural with no new physics up to the Planck scale. The mixing between the massless Higgs and the R^2 metric theory induces, in canonical parametrization of the Einstein frame, an effective field-dependent Higgs mass parameter. It is a dynamical variable which in the course of cosmic evolution scans a wide range of values and eventually stabilizes at a low scale. The one-loop effective potential has an electroweak symmetry breaking vacuum and the hierarchy is explained by dimensional transmutation and c…
Observations indicate that our universe is characterized by a late-time accelerating phase, possibly driven by a cosmological constant $Λ$, with the dimensionless parameter $ΛL_P^2 \simeq 10^{-122}$, where $L_P = (G \hbar /c^3)^{1/2}$ is the Planck length. In this review, we describe how the emergent gravity paradigm provides a new insight and a possible solution to the cosmological constant problem. After reviewing the necessary background material, we identify the necessary and sufficient conditions for solving the cosmological constant problem. We show that these conditions are naturally sa…
In the context of the Bank-Fishler-Shenker-Susskind Matrix theory, we analyze a spherical membrane in light-cone M theory along with two asymptotically distant probes. In the appropriate energy regime, we find that the membrane behaves like a smeared Matrix black hole; and the spacetime geometry seen by the probes can become non-commutative even far away from regions of Planckian curvature. This arises from non-linear Matrix interactions where fast matrix modes lift a flat direction in the potential -- akin to the Paul trap phenomenon in atomic physics. In the regime where we do have a notion …
