2011/07/22 by Daniele Oriti, Oriti, Daniele · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Popular Physics (physics.pop-ph) #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Quantum Mechanics and Applications
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1107.4534
openalex publication_date 2011/07/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
We focus on the question: "Is space fundamentally discrete or continuous?" in the context of current quantum gravity research. In particular, we paint a scenario based on the idea that 'quantum space' is a sort of peculiar condensed matter system, and on the speculation that its microscopic dynamics is described by a 'group field theory' formalism. We suggest that, from this perspective, on the one hand the question has no absolute meaning, so no answer, but also that, on the other hand, the reason why this is the case is the 'quantum space' is much richer and more interesting than we may have assumed. We also speculate on further physical implications of the suggested scenario.