Huggett, Nick and Wuthrich, Christian (2012) Emergent spacetime and empirical (in)coherence. [Preprint]
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Abstract
Numerous approaches to a quantum theory of gravity posit fundamental ontologies that exclude spacetime, either partially or wholly. This situation raises deep questions about how such theories could relate to the empirical realm, since arguably only entities localized in spacetime can ever be observed. Are such entities even possible in a theory without fundamental spacetime? How might they be derived, formally speaking? Moreover, since by assumption the fundamental entities can't be smaller than the derived (since relative size is a spatiotemporal notion) and so can't 'compose' them in any ordinary sense, would a formal derivation actually show the physical reality of localized entities? We address these questions via a survey of a range of theories of quantum gravity, and generally sketch how they may be answered positively.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | |||||||||
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| Additional Information: | 18 pages, 1 figure. Final version; to appear in Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics. | |||||||||
| Keywords: | spacetime; quantum gravity; empirical incoherence; causal set theory; loop quantum gravity; string theory; non-commutative geometry | |||||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Gravity Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory |
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| Depositing User: | Christian Wuthrich | |||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 14 Nov 2012 03:19 | |||||||||
| Last Modified: | 06 Jun 2014 11:57 | |||||||||
| Item ID: | 9445 | |||||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Gravity Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory |
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| Date: | 2012 | |||||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/9445 |
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Is science without spacetime possible? (deposited 26 Jun 2012 11:50)
- Emergent spacetime and empirical (in)coherence. (deposited 14 Nov 2012 03:19) [Currently Displayed]
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