The appearance of infinity together with collapsing quantum state due to the observation or interaction, which are two challenging features of quantum field theory, become very serious problems in quantum gravity as well as in quantum geometry of space-time. These problems can be divided into two categories: technical and conceptual parts. In the technical aspect, the biggest problem comes from the definition of the point, which constructs classical geometry. By changing the point definition, the technical problem may be approximately bypassed, and a mathematical formulation of quantum geometry may be found. On the other hand, the conceptual problem comes from the quantum state collapse due to the observation since the entanglement between the observer and gravity cannot be eliminated in the presence of gravity. The conceptual part does not depend on the techniques which are employed. As much as possible, we try to discuss these problems by rediscovering the perception and understanding of a phenomenon for an observer in quantum theory.
Asymptotic safety, quantum gravity, and the swampland: a conceptual assessment
Arnold-Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics, Ludwig Maximilians Universität München（慕尼黑大学阿诺德-索末菲理论物理中心）；Max-Planck-Institut für Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut)（马克斯·普朗克物理研究所（维尔纳·海森堡研究所））；Institute for Theoretical Physics, Heidelberg University（海德堡大学理论物理研究所）；Niels Bohr International Academy, The Niels Bohr Institute（尼尔斯·玻尔国际学院，尼尔斯·玻尔研究所）；High Energy Physics Department, Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics, and Particle Physics, Radboud University（拉德堡德大学数学、天体物理和粒子物理研究所高能物理系）
Over the last years the Asymptotic Safety program has matured into a serious candidate for a quantum theory of gravity compatible with observations. The rapid technical progress in computing renormalisation group flows for gravity and gravity-matter systems in the non-perturbative regime has put many interesting physical questions within reach. In particular, the construction of the non-perturbative quantum corrections to the propagation of fields on a fluctuating spacetime allows addressing the effective propagation of matter on a quantum spacetime or the possible resolution of spacetime sing…
Understanding the quantum aspects of gravity is not only a matter of equations and experiments. Gravity is intimately connected with the structure of space and time, and understanding quantum gravity requires us to find a conceptual structure appropriate to make sense of the quantum aspects of space and time. In the course of the last decades, an extensive discussion on this problem has led to a clear conceptual picture, that provides a coherent conceptual foundation of today's Loop Quantum Gravity. We review this foundation, addressing issues such as the sense in which space and time are emer…
Quantum gravity aims to describe gravity in quantum mechanical terms. How exactly this needs to be done remains an open question. Various proposals have been put on the table, such as canonical quantum gravity, loop quantum gravity, string theory, etc. These proposals often encounter technical and conceptual problems. In this chapter, we focus on canonical quantum gravity and discuss how many conceptual problems, such as the measurement problem and the problem of time, can be overcome by adopting a Bohmian point of view. In a Bohmian theory (also called pilot-wave theory or de Broglie-Bohm the…
Covariant Loop Quantum Gravity (CLQG) is a tentative background-independent and non-perturbative theory of quantum gravity which has emerged from a number of different research directions. Recently, this theory has been applied to the so-called Planck star model -- a particular model of stellar collapse in which non-perturbative quantum gravity effects play a predominant role. However, several obstacles have impeded progress in the investigation of this scenario. These obstacles range from conceptual issues, such as the question how to extract physical predictions from a background independent…
量子引力研究的漫长历史已经形成了一个复杂的思想和方法网络。本文的目的是通过分析几乎任何量子引力的方法都可以提出的一些{ \em prima facie\/}问题来解开这个网络，这些问题的答案有助于对不同的方案进行分类。特别强调的是：（一）背景的概念和技术结构的作用;（二）时空同构的作用;（三）时间的问题。
The definition of physical states is the main technical issue of canonical approaches towards Quantum Gravity. In this work, we outline how those states can be found in Einstein-Cartan theory via a continuum limit and they are given by finite dimensional representations of the Lorentz group.
Quantum-reduced loop gravity is a model of loop quantum gravity, which - from the technical point of view - is characterized by the remarkably simple form of its basic operators. In this article we examine the operators of the quantum-reduced model from the perspective of full loop quantum gravity. We show that, in spite of their simplicity, the operators of the quantum-reduced model are simply the operators of the full theory acting on states in the Hilbert space of the quantum-reduced model. The passage from the full theory operators to the "reduced" operators simply consists of noting that …
Noncommutative geometry, as conceptualized by Nicolini, Smailagic, and Spallucci, may be viewed as a slight modification of Einstein's theory. The same can be said for $f(R)$ modified gravity for an appropriate choice of the function $f(R)$. Since such an $f(R)$ could be determined from the noncommutative-geometry background, these gravitational theories make very similar predictions in the discussion of (a) dark matter and (b) traversable wormholes; they can therefore be taken as equally viable models.
Even if the fundamental action of gravity is local, the corresponding quantum effective action, that includes the effect of quantum fluctuations, is a nonlocal object. These nonlocalities are well understood in the ultraviolet regime but much less in the infrared, where they could in principle give rise to important cosmological effects. Here we systematize and extend previous work of our group, in which it is assumed that a mass scale $Λ$ is dynamically generated in the infrared, giving rise to nonlocal terms in the quantum effective action of gravity. We give a detailed discussion of concept…
The geometrical spectra in loop quantum gravity (LQG) suffer from ambiguity up to the free Immirzi parameter that is often determined by comparing results from the theory with the established dynamics at the black hole horizon. We address conceptual difficulties associated with such approaches and point out that the Immirzi parameter can be fixed naively by applying the LQG version of the equipartition rule at a holographic boundary such that the Hawking-Unruh temperature law follows. The value of the Immirzi parameter derived in this way should possess universal validity. This approach also p…
In the context of field theory in curved spacetimes, it is known that suitable background spacetime geometries can trigger instabilities of fields, leading to exponential growth of their (quantum and classical) fluctuations --- a phenomenon called $\textit{vacuum awakening}$ in the quantum context, which in some classical scenarios seeds $\textit{spontaneous scalarization/vectorization}$. Despite its conceptual interest, an actual observation in nature of this effect is uncertain since it depends on the existence of fields with appropriate masses and couplings in strong-gravity regimes. Here, …
We start by surveying the history of the idea of a fundamental conservation law and briefly examine the role conservation laws play in different classical contexts. In such contexts we find conservation laws to be useful, but often not essential. Next we consider the quantum setting, where the conceptual problems of the standard formalism obstruct a rigorous analysis of the issue. We then analyze the fate of energy conservation within the various viable paths to address such conceptual problems; in all cases we find no satisfactory way to define a (useful) notion of energy that is generically …
Reflective equilibrium between physics and philosophy, and between GR and particle physics, is fruitful and rational. I consider the virtues of simplicity, conservatism, and conceptual coherence, along with perturbative expansions. There are too many theories to consider. Simplicity supplies initial guidance, after which evidence increasingly dominates. One should start with scalar gravity; evidence required spin 2. Good beliefs are scarce, so don't change without reason. But does conservatism prevent conceptual innovation? No: considering all serious possibilities (Feynman, Weinberg, etc.) co…
This chapter provides an introduction to Unimodular Gravity both at the classical and quantum level, discussing the rôle it might play in the partial solution of the Cosmological Constant problem. The main objective of this work is to serve as a conceptual introduction to Unimodular gravity without disregarding computational detail. In that sense, techniques used at the research level are presented and applied in detail.
Loop quantum gravity is a mature theory. To proceed to explicit calculations in cosmology, it is necessary to make assumptions and simplifications based on the symmetries of the cosmological setting. Symmetry reduction is especially critical when dealing with cosmological perturbations. The present article reviews several approaches to the problem of building a consistent formalism that describes the dynamics of perturbations on a quantum spacetime and tries to address their respective strengths and weaknesses. We also review the main open issues in loop quantum cosmology.
We review (anti)evaporation phenomena within the context of quantum gravity and extended theories of gravity. The (anti)evaporation effect is an instability of the black hole horizon discovered in many different scenarios: quantum dilaton-gravity, $f(R)$-gravity, $f(T)$-gravity, string inspired black holes and brane-world cosmology. Evaporating and antievaporating black holes seem to have completely different thermodynamical features compared to standard semiclassical black holes. The purpose of this review is to provide an introduction to conceptual and technical aspects of (anti)evaporation …
We present the arguments suggesting that time is emergent in quantum gravity and discuss extensively, but without any technical detail, the many aspects that can be involved in such emergence. We refer to both the physical issues that need to be tackled, by quantum gravity formalisms, to realize concretely this emergent picture of time, and the conceptual challenges that have to be addressed in parallel to achieve a proper understanding of it.
In Crull (2015) it is argued that, in order to confront outstanding problems in cosmology and quantum gravity, interpretational aspects of quantum theory can by bypassed because decoherence is able to resolve them. As a result, Crull (2015) concludes that our focus on conceptual and interpretational issues, while dealing with such matters in Okon and Sudarsky (2014), is avoidable and even pernicious. Here we will defend our position by showing in detail why decoherence does not help in the resolution of foundational questions in quantum mechanics, such as the measurement problem or the emergen…
