2007/11/30 by Steven B. Giddings
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #gr-qc #hep-th #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.78.084004
published as Phys.Rev.D78:084004,2008 · 15 pages. v2: minor clarifying comments added
arxiv created 2008/09/09 · openalex publication_date 2008/10/03 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
If gravity respects quantum mechanics, it is important to identify the essential postulates of a quantum framework capable of incorporating gravitational phenomena. Such a construct likely requires elimination or modification of some of the ``standard'' postulates of quantum mechanics, in particular, those involving time and measurement. This paper proposes a framework that appears sufficiently general to incorporate some expected features of quantum gravity. These include the statement that space and time may only emerge approximately and relationally. One perspective on such a framework is as a sort of generalization of the S-matrix approach to dynamics. Within this framework, more dynamical structure is required to fully specify a theory; this structure is expected to lack some of the elements of local quantum field theory. Some aspects of this structure are discussed, both in the context of scattering of perturbations about a flat background, and in the context of cosmology.