Beyond Spacetime: The Foundations of Quantum Gravity

Cambridge University Press, 5/14/2020
EAN 9781108477024, ISBN10: 110847702X

Hardcover, 370 pages, 25.4 x 17.8 x 2 cm
Language: English

One of the greatest challenges in fundamental physics is to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity in a theory of quantum gravity. A successful theory would have profound consequences for our understanding of space, time, and matter. This collection of essays written by eminent physicists and philosophers discusses these consequences and examines the most important conceptual questions among philosophers and physicists in their search for a quantum theory of gravity. Comprising three parts, the book explores the emergence of classical spacetime, the nature of time, and important questions of the interpretation, metaphysics, and epistemology of quantum gravity. These essays will appeal to both physicists and philosophers of science working on problems in foundational physics, specifically that of quantum gravity.

1. Introduction Nick Huggett, Keizo Matsubara and Christian Wüthrich
Part I. Spacetime Emergence
2. The Bronstein hypercube of quantum gravity Daniele Oriti
3. Emergence of time in loop quantum gravity Suddhasattwa Brahma
4. Beyond standard inflationary cosmology Robert H. Brandenberger
5. What black holes have taught us about quantum gravity Daniel Harlow
Part II. Time in Quantum Theories of Gravity
6. Space and time in loop quantum gravity Carlo Rovelli
7. Being and becoming on the road to quantum gravity, or, the birth of a baby is not a baby Fay Dowker, Allan A. Smith, Ben B. Jones and Carol C. Smith
8. Temporal relationalism Lee Smolin
9. Back to parmenides Henrique Gomes
Part III. Issues of Interpretation
10. Why black hole information loss is paradoxical David Wallace
11. Chronic incompleteness, final theory claims, and the lack of free parameters in string theory Richard Dawid
12. Spacetime and physical equivalence Sebastian De Haro
13. On the empirical consequences of the AdS/CFT duality Radin Dardashti, Richard Dawid, Sean Gryb and Karim Thébault
14. Extending Lewisian modal metaphysics from a specific quantum gravity perspective Tiziana Vistarini
15. What can (mathematical) categories tell us about spacetime? Ko Sanders
Index.