2007/12/21 by Matej Pavšič, Matej Pavsic, Pavsic, Matej · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0712.3660
15 pages; Presented at "Time and Matter 2007", 26-31 August 2007, Bled, Slovenia
arxiv created 2007/12/21 · openalex publication_date 2007/12/21 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We consider the possibility that the basic space of physics is not spacetime, but configuration space. We illustrate this on the example with a system of gravitationally interacting point particles. It turns out that such system can be described by the minimal length action in a multidimensional configuration space C with a block diagonal metric. Allowing for more general metrics and curvatures of C, we step beyond the ordinary general relativity in spacetime. The latter theory is then an approximation to the general relativity in C. Other sorts of configuration spaces can also be considered, for instance those associated with extended objects, such as strings and branes. This enables a deeper understanding of the geometric principle behind string theory, and an insight on the occurrence of Yang-Mills and gravitational fields at the `fundamental level'.