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Infinities as a measure of our ignorance

2013/05/10 by Francesca Vidotto, Vidotto, Francesca
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph) #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #gr-qc #physics.hist-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1305.2358

12 pages, talk presented at the workshop "Infinities and Cosmology", DAMPT, Cambridge, UK, 21st March 2013. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1105.1898 by other authors

arxiv created 2013/05/10 · openalex publication_date 2013/05/10 · arxiv updated 2013/05/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

The quantization of gravity offers a solution to the presence of singularities in cosmology. Infinities are removed because of the existence of finite quanta of spacetime. This is one of the most important prediction of Loop Quantum Gravity. But treating gravity on the same footing as the other quantum field theories introduces a different kind of infinities: the ones from the renormalization procedure. In the covariant formulation of Loop Quantum Gravity (Spinfoam) this kind of infinities are tamed by the presence of the cosmological constant. These two results are guided by a specific perspective on the appearance of infinity in physics: this is just interpreted as a signpost that the theory should be improved. It arises from our limited knowledge, and not as a fundamental fact of nature.

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