Contents More Information

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Contents More Information Cambridge University Press 052166280X - Physics Meets Philosophy at the Planck Scale: Contemporary Theories in Quantum Gravity - Edited by Craig Callender and Nick Huggett Table of Contents More information Contents Preface ix 1 Introduction 1 Craig Callender and Nick Huggett Part I Theories of Quantum Gravity and their Philosophical Dimensions 2 Spacetime and the philosophical challenge of quantum gravity 33 Jeremy Butterfield and Christopher Isham 3 Naive quantum gravity 90 Steven Weinstein 4 Quantum spacetime: What do we know? 101 Carlo Rovelli Part II Strings 5 Reflections on the fate of spacetime 125 Edward Witten 6 A philosopher looks at string theory 138 Robert Weingard 7 Black holes, dumb holes, and entropy 152 William G. Unruh Part III Topological Quantum Field Theory 8 Higher-dimensional algebra and Planck scale physics 177 John C. Baez vii © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 052166280X - Physics Meets Philosophy at the Planck Scale: Contemporary Theories in Quantum Gravity - Edited by Craig Callender and Nick Huggett Table of Contents More information Contents Part IV Quantum Gravity and the Interpretation of General Relativity 9 On general covariance and best matching 199 Julian B. Barbour 10 Pre-Socratic quantum gravity 213 Gordon Belot and John Earman 11 The origin of the spacetime metric: Bell’s ‘Lorentzian pedagogy’ and its significance in general relativity 256 Harvey R. Brown and Oliver Pooley Part V Quantum Gravity and the Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics 12 Quantum spacetime without observers: Ontological clarity and the conceptual foundations of quantum gravity 275 Sheldon Goldstein and Stefan Teufel 13 On gravity’s role in quantum state reduction 290 Roger Penrose 14 Why the quantum must yield to gravity 305 Joy Christian References 339 Notes on contributors 357 Index 361 viii © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org.
Recommended publications
  • Raiders of the Lost Spacetime
    Raiders of the lost spacetime Christian W¨uthrich∗ For Dennis Lehmkuhl (ed.), Towards a Theory of Spacetime Theories. Birkh¨auser. Abstract Spacetime as we know and love it is lost in most approaches to quantum gravity. For many of these approaches, as inchoate and incomplete as they may be, one of the main challenges is to relate what they take to be the fundamental non-spatiotemporal structure of the world back to the classical spacetime of GR. The present essay investigates how spacetime is lost and how it may be regained in one major approach to quantum gravity, loop quantum gravity. Keywords: quantum gravity, problem of time, quantum GR, loop quantum gravity, emergence of spacetime. Many approaches to quantum gravity (QG) suggest or imply that space and time do not exist at the most fundamental ontological level, at least not in anything like their usual form. Thus deprived of their former status as part of the fundamental furniture of the world, together, perhaps, with quarks and leptons, they merely `emerge' from the deeper physics that does not rely on, or even permit, their (fundamental) existence, rather like tables and chairs. The extent to which the fundamental structures described by competing approaches to QG diverge from relativistic spacetimes varies, along different dimensions (Huggett and W¨uthrich 2012). That modern physics puts time under pressure is widely accepted. One can read the history of modern physics from the advent of relativity theory to the present day as a continuing peeling away of the structure that time was initially believed to exemplify (Huggett et al.
    [Show full text]
  • August 9, 2001 Word Count: 7015 Words Abstract There Is A
    PRESENTISM AND QUANTUM GRAVITY1 August 9, 2001 word count: 7015 words Abstract There is a philosophical tradition of arguing against presentism, the thesis that only presently existing things exist, on the basis of its incompatibility with fundamental physics. I grant that presentism is incompatible with special and general relativity, but argue that presentism is not incompatible with quantum gravity, because there are some theories of quantum gravity that utilize a fixed foliation of spacetime. I reply to various objections to this defense of presentism, and point out a flaw in Gödel’s modal argument for the ideality of time. This paper provides an interesting case study of the interplay between physics and philosophy. 1I have given talks based on previous versions of this paper at Princeton University, the American University of Beirut, California Polytechnic State University, and the University of Kentucky. I thank the audiences at these presentations for helpful discussion. I also thank Gordon Belot, Mauro Dorato, Brian Kierland, Steven Savitt, Bas van Fraassen, Steve Weinstein, and an anonymous referee for helpful comments. 1 1. Introduction. I am a presentist: I believe that only presently existing things exist.2 Contrast presentism with eternalism: the eternalist believes that past, present, and future things all exist. Assuming that there are three spatial dimensions, the eternalist believes that the universe is four- dimensional, and while there are different events in different regions of this so-called “block universe”, the universe as a whole does not change. The presentist, in contrast, believes that the universe is three-dimensional. I am also a Heraclitean: I believe that change is a fundamental aspect of reality.
    [Show full text]
  • Creation Ex Nihilo: Theology and Science William Lane Craig
    Creation ex nihilo: Theology and Science William Lane Craig SUMMARY The biblical doctrine of temporal creation ex nihilo has received strong scientific confirmation from post-relativistic physics. Two lines of evidence point to an absolute beginning of the universe: the expansion of the universe and the thermodynamics of the universe. In each case attempts to maintain a past-eternal universe have become increasingly difficult to defend. Given the beginning of the universe, the question arises as to how the universe could have come into being. Attempts by some physicists to maintain that physics can explain the origin of the universe from nothing either trade on an equivocal use of the term “nothing” or else are guilty of philosophical faux pas. Supernatural creation ex nihilo is the better explanation. CREATION EX NIHILO: THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE Introduction “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1.1). With majestic simplicity the author of the opening chapter of Genesis thus differentiated his viewpoint, not only from the ancient creation myths of Israel’s neighbors, but also effectively from pantheism, such as is found in religions like Vedanta Hinduism and Taoism, from panentheism, whether of classical neo- Platonist vintage or twentieth-century process theology, and from polytheism, ranging from ancient paganism to contemporary Mormonism. The biblical writers give us to understand that the universe had a temporal origin and thus imply creatio ex nihilo in the temporal sense that God brought the universe into being without a material cause at some point in the finite past. [1] Moreover, the Church Fathers, though heavily influenced by Greek thought, dug in their heels concerning the doctrine of creation, sturdily insisting on the temporal creation of the universe ex nihilo in opposition to the prevailing Hellenistic doctrine of the eternity of matter.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ultimate Question of Origins: God and the Beginning of the Universe
    The Ultimate Question of Origins: God and the Beginning of the Universe William Lane Craig William Lane Craig is Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife Jan and their two teenage children Charity and John. At the age of sixteen as a junior in high school, he first heard the message of the Christian gospel and yielded his life to Christ. Dr. Craig pursued his undergraduate studies at Wheaton College (B.A. 1971) and graduate studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (M.A. 1974; M.A. 1975), the University of Birmingham (England) (Ph.D. 1977), and the University of Munich (Germany) (D.Theol. 1984). From 1980-86 he taught Philosophy of Religion at Trinity, during which time he and Jan started their family. In 1987 they moved to Brussels, Belgium, where Dr. Craig pursued research at the University of Louvain until 1994. The absolute origin of the universe, of all matter and energy, even of physical space and time themselves, in the Big Bang singularity contradicts the perennial naturalistic assumption that the universe has always existed. One after another, models designed to avert the initial cosmological singularity--the Steady State model, the Oscillating model, Vacuum Fluctuation models--have come and gone. Current quantum gravity models, such as the Hartle-Hawking model and the Vilenkin model, must appeal to the physically unintelligible and metaphysically dubious device of "imaginary time" to avoid the universe's beginning. The contingency implied by an absolute beginning ex nihilo points to a transcendent cause of the universe beyond space and time.
    [Show full text]
  • Robert Winston's Story of God Science and Religion 'Syked' About Science
    Guardian Student Media Awards 2005 Best Magazine Nominee I,Thes Imperialci Collegeence Science Magazine Issue 2 Summer 2005 , As science magazineience for Imperial College Science and ReligionI c Robert Winston’s Story of God ‘Syked’ about Science Issue 3 Winter 2005 Cover-Contents-Editorial-BackCover2.indd 1 25/11/05 3:08:57 am IssueI, s 3c Winterience 2005 Editor-in-chief From the Editor Mun Keat Looi Section Editors Imperial Features Letitia Hughes CIENCE, LIGHT of our lives, fire of our minds. Science seeks Helen Thomson to explain our existence and purpose, but in doing so strays into the territory of religion. So the conflict began. You know External Features the story: two households, both alike in dignity... Amber Bauer S Stella Papadopoulou Here at I, Science we see little difference between the frying pan and the fire. The row over Intelligent Design theory has reignited Interviews the debate on both sides of the Atlantic. Google, the new ultimate Chris Miles source of knowledge, finds an astonishing 118 million hits for the Lilian Anekwe term “science and religion”. Is there a place for science in religion, or religion in science? News and Events There is plenty of opinion at the Imperial College of Science, David Brill Technology and Medicine: the Rector, Sir Richard Sykes (p18), the Laura Middleton Chaplain Andrew Willson (p25), Professor Lord Robert Winston (p10) and the Reverend Sir John Polkinghorne (p12). Of course, we Opinion take the opportunity to wax lyrical ourselves (p25). Duncan McMillan Permit me my two cents worth. Professor Sir Richard Dawkins, Daniela de Angel one of the major voices in the debate, spoke at Imperial recently.
    [Show full text]
  • Why the Quantum
    Deep Beauty: Mathematical Innovation and the Search for an Underlying Intelligibility of the Quantum World A Symposium and Book Publication Program Sponsored by Princeton University’s Department of Philosophy Supported by a Grant from the John Templeton Foundation Celebrating the Life and Legacy of John von Neumann and the 75th Anniversary of the Publication of His Classic Text: The Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics* Symposium: October 3 – October 4, 2007 Princeton, New Jersey _______________________ Revised 09-11-07, PContractor ________________ * von Neumann, Johann. Mathematische grundlagen der quantenmechanik. Berlin: J. Springer, 1932. Deep Beauty:Mathematical Innovation and the Search for an Underlying Intelligibility of the Quantum World John von Neumann,1903-1957 Courtesy of the Archives of the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton)* The following photos are copyrighted by the Institute for Advanced Study, and they were photographed by Alan Richards unless otherwise specified. For copyright information, visit http://admin.ias.edu/hslib/archives.htm. *[ED. NOTE: ELLIPSIS WILL WRITE FOR PERMISSION IF PHOTO IS USED; SEE http://www.physics.umd.edu/robot/neumann.html] Page 2 of 14 Deep Beauty:Mathematical Innovation and the Search for an Underlying Intelligibility of the Quantum World Project Overview and Background DEEP BEAUTY: Mathematical Innovation and the Search for an Underlying Intelligibility of the Quantum World celebrates the life and legacy of the scientific and mathematical polymath John Von Neumann 50 years after his death and 75 years following the publication of his renowned, path- breaking classic text, The Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics.* The program, supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, consists of (1) a two-day symposium sponsored by the Department of Philosophy at Princeton University to be held in Princeton October 3–4, 2007 and (2) a subsequent research volume to be published by a major academic press.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Book > Physics Meets Philosophy at the Planck Scale
    LBMQWKOIB7DA Doc # Physics Meets Philosophy at the Planck Scale: Contemporary Theories in Quantum Gravity Physics Meets Philosophy at the Planck Scale: Contemporary Theories in Quantum Gravity Filesize: 3.54 MB Reviews These types of book is the perfect pdf available. I actually have study and that i am sure that i will planning to read through again again in the foreseeable future. Its been designed in an exceedingly basic way which is simply soon after i finished reading through this publication in which basically changed me, modify the way i believe. (Laney Morissette) DISCLAIMER | DMCA EQGVA6WHP7LR < PDF Physics Meets Philosophy at the Planck Scale: Contemporary Theories in Quantum Gravity PHYSICS MEETS PHILOSOPHY AT THE PLANCK SCALE: CONTEMPORARY THEORIES IN QUANTUM GRAVITY Cambridge University Press, 2001. Book Condition: New. Brand New, Unread Copy in Perfect Condition. A+ Customer Service! Summary: Preface; 1. Introduction Craig Callendar and Nick Huggett; Part I. Theories of Quantum Gravity and their Philosophical Dimensions: 2. Spacetime and the philosophical challenge of quantum gravity Jeremy Butterfield and Christopher Isham; 3. Naive quantum gravity Steven Weinstein; 4. Quantum spacetime: what do we know? Carlo Rovelli; Part II. Strings: 5. Reflections on the fate of spacetime Edward Witten; 6. A philosopher looks at string theory Robert Weingard; 7. Black holes, dumb holes, and entropy William G. Unruh; Part III. Topological Quantum Field Theory: 8. Higher-dimensional algebra and Planck scale physics John C. Baez; Part IV. Quantum Gravity and the Interpretation of General Relativity: 9. On general covariance and best matching Julian B. Barbour; 10. Pre-Socratic quantum gravity Gordon Belot and John Earman; 11.
    [Show full text]
  • Narrowing the Gap Between General Relativity and Quantum Gravity Baptiste Le Bihan, Niels Linnemann
    Have we lost spacetime on the way? Narrowing the gap between general relativity and quantum gravity Baptiste Le Bihan, Niels Linnemann To cite this version: Baptiste Le Bihan, Niels Linnemann. Have we lost spacetime on the way? Narrowing the gap between general relativity and quantum gravity. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, Elsevier, 2019, 65, pp.112-121. 10.1016/j.shpsb.2018.10.010. hal-02064978 HAL Id: hal-02064978 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02064978 Submitted on 12 Mar 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Have We Lost Spacetime on the Way? Narrowing the Gap Between General Relativity and Quantum Gravity Baptiste Le Bihana and Niels Linnemannb Forthcoming in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics a [email protected] b [email protected] Philosophy Department, University of Geneva 2 Rue de Candolle, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland Abstract Important features of space and time are taken to be missing in quantum gravity, allegedly requiring an explanation of the emergence of spacetime from non-spatio-temporal theories.
    [Show full text]
  • The Deep Nature of Reality
    The deep nature of reality Note: John Wheeler ideas condensed on this contest theme seems an anticipation at this essay. I wrote about the quality or property of every physical existing thing “motion”, the word time can be seen frequently, it is only use as a reference word My language Spanish Of course not thinking about fundamental physics, is a serious problem, because as everybody knows a change, or a new thing at the base, can modified many things at the top, and make a big difference for the discipline. Most research on the subject especially by physicist’s takes the so called time as it was gravity, a physics entity, a natural thing that came from the beginning of the universe, if it was one. So as always, they fail to find a definition and an experimental meaning for it, disappointed some decided that time didn’t exist and quit the search. None that I know face the search of the so called time as a primitive man creation, as a tool to satisfy its needs. That’s why nobody found a physical prove of its existence. Searching people takes a different approach that we here, but the same words, given them similar meanings, as we here, so this make the theme a slippery one. Seems that many people say the same, but if you see it carefully nobody says this. I do hope that what I say on the theme comes clear and reach all peoples minds; I understand it is badly needed since fifty years ago The so called time was search since the beginning of written history, when physics as such didn’t exist, different cultures and great thinkers fail the intent till now days.
    [Show full text]
  • 2 2009-10 a Annual Re Eport to I Ndustry C Canada
    2009‐10 Annual Report to Industry Canada Covering the Objectives, Activities and Finances for the period August 1, 2009 to July 31, 2010 and Statement of Objectives for Next Year and the Future Submitted by: Neil Turok, Director to the Hon. Tony Clement, Minister of Industry and the Hon. Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology) Contents Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 1 Overview of Perimeter Institute ................................................................................................................... 3 Statement of Objectives for 2009‐10............................................................................................................ 5 Objective 1: Achieve major research breakthroughs ................................................................................... 7 Research Highlights ................................................................................................................................... 7 Honours, Awards and Major Grants ....................................................................................................... 13 Objective 2: Become the research home of a critical mass of the world’s leading theoretical physicists . 15 Faculty Recruitment ................................................................................................................................ 15 Associate Faculty Recruitment ...............................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • “A Cautious Ontology of Spacetime in Quantum Gravity”
    “A CAUTIOUS ONTOLOGY OF SPACETIME IN QUANTUM GRAVITY” By Sean Lorenz Philosophy of Physics Prof. Peter Bokulich Boston University April 27, 2006 I. INTRODUCTION In 1988, Robert Weingard presented a paper on string theory at the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association much to the dismay of several colleagues. They told him that it’s too early for philosophers of physics to be making any sort of foundational remarks about quantum gravity. Why would these sort of worried comments be made to Weingard? The primary concern stems from the still-changing mathematical structure of string theory/M-theory as well as the lack of empirical evidence to date. So are Weingard’s colleagues justified in their focus on solidified formalisms? Or is there a place for philosophical inquiry (or scientific inquiry for that matter) concerning quantum gravity? If one does give the go-ahead for making deeper insights relevant to quantum gravity, a host of philosophical and scientific issues immediately come to the foreground: the reconciliation of gravity and quantum theory, the need or disregard of quantization, the problem of time, the ontology of spacetime, as well as the challenge of “doing science” without empirical proof. In this paper I will be discussing the core ontological issue of quantum spacetime where the properties of spacetime become indefinite, infused into the field itself. II. WHAT IS QUANTUM GRAVITY? II.A. OVERVIEW Before delving into interpretations and questions in quantum gravity, I will discuss the basics of quantum gravity. As a perfunctory definition, quantum gravity is the attempt by physicists to reconcile theories of the very big and the very small, i.e.
    [Show full text]
  • Atheism: Five Arguments for God
    ATHEISM: FIVE ARGUMENTS FOR GOD William Lane Craig1 It’s perhaps something of a surprise that almost none of the so-called New Atheists has anything to say about arguments for God’s existence. Instead, they do tend to focus on the social effects of religion and question whether religious belief is good for society. One might justifiably doubt that the social impact of an idea for good or ill is an adequate measure of its truth, especially when there are reasons being offered to think that the idea in question really is true. Darwinism, for example, has certainly had at least some negative social influences, but that’s hardly grounds for thinking the theory to be false and simply ignoring the biological evidence in its favor. Perhaps the New Atheists think that the traditional arguments for God’s existence are now passé and so no longer need refutation. If so, they are naïve. Over the last generation there has been a revival of interest among professional philosophers, whose business it is to think about difficult metaphysical questions, in arguments for the existence of God. This resurgence of interest has not escaped the notice of even popular culture. In 1980 Time ran a major story entitled “Modernizing the Case for God,” which described the movement among contemporary philosophers to refurbish the traditional arguments for God’s existence. Time marveled, In a quiet revolution in thought and argument that hardly anybody could have foreseen only two decades ago, God is making a comeback. Most intriguingly, this is happening not among theologians or ordinary believers, but in the crisp intellectual circles of academic philosophers, where the consensus had long banished the Almighty from fruitful discourse.2 According to the article, the noted American philosopher Roderick Chisholm opined that the reason atheism was so influential in the previous generation is that the brightest philosophers were atheists; but today, he observes, many of the brightest philosophers are theists, using a tough-minded intellectualism in defense of that belief.
    [Show full text]