In the following we undertake to describe how macroscopic spacetime (or rather, a microscopic protoform of it) is supposed to emerge as a superstructure of a web of lumps in a stochastic discrete network structure. As in preceding work (mentioned below), our analysis is based on the working philosophy that both physics and the corresponding mathematics have to be genuinely discrete on the primordial (Planck scale) level. This strategy is concretely implemented in the form of cellular networks and random graphs . One of our main themes is the development of the concept of physical (proto)points or lumps as densely entangled subcomplexes of the network and their respective web, establishing something like (proto)causality . It may perhaps be said that certain parts of our programme are realizations of some early ideas of Menger and more recent ones sketched by Smolin a couple of years ago. We briefly indicate how this two-storey concept of quantum spacetime can be used to encode the (at least in our view) existing non-local aspects of quantum theory without violating macroscopic spacetime causality!
In the following we undertake to describe how macroscopic spacetime (or rather, a microscopic protoform of it) is supposed to emerge as a superstructure of a web of lumps in a stochastic discrete network structure. As in preceding work (mentioned below), our analysis is based on the working philosophy that both physics and the corresponding mathematics have to be genuinely discrete on the primordial (Planck scale) level. This strategy is concretely implemented in the form of cellular networks and random graphs . One of our main themes is the development of the concept of physical (proto)points or lumps as densely entangled subcomplexes of the network and their respective web, establishing something like (proto)causality . It may perhaps be said that certain parts of our programme are realizations of some early ideas of Menger and more recent ones sketched by Smolin a couple of years ago. We briefly indicate how this two-storey concept of quantum spacetime can be used to encode the (at least in our view) existing non-local aspects of quantum theory without violating macroscopic spacetime causality!
In the following we undertake to derive quantum theory as a stochastic low-energy and coarse-grained theory from a more primordial discrete and basically geometric theory living on the Planck scale and which (as we argue) possibly underlies also \tit{string theory}. We isolate the so-called \tit{ideal elements} which represent at the same time the cornerstones of the framework of ordinary quantum theory and show how and why they encode the \tit{non-local} aspects, being ubiquituous in the quantum realm, in a, on the surface, local way. We show that the quantum non-locality emerges in our approach as a natural consequence of the underlying \tit{two-storey} nature of space-time or the physical vacuum, that is, quantum theory turns out to be a residual effect of the geometric depth structure of space-time on the Planck scale. We indicate how the \tit{measurement problem} and the emergence of the \tit{macroscopic sub-regime} can be understood in this framework.
We amalgamate three seemingly quite different fields of concepts and phenomena and argue that they actually represent closely related aspects of a more primordial space-time structure called by us wormhole spaces. Connes' framework of non-commutative topological spaces and ``points, speaking to each other'', a translocal web of (cor)relations, being hidden in the depth-structure of our macroscopic space-time and made visible by the application of a new geometric renormalisation process, and the apparent but difficult to understand translocal features of quantum theory. We argue that the conception of our space-time continuum as being basically an aggregate of structureless points is almost surely to poor and has to be extended and that the conceptual structure of quantum theory, in particular its translocal features like e.g. entanglement and complex superposition, are exactly a mesoscopic consequence of this microscopic wormhole structure. We emphasize the close connections with the ``small world phenomenon'' and rigorously show that the micro state of our space-time, viewed as a dynamical system, has to be critical in a scale free way as recently observed in other fields of network science. We then briefly indicate the mechanisms by which this non-local structure manages to appear in a seemingly local disguise on the surface level, thus invoking a certain Machian spirit.
We propose a framework in which physical law arises as an approximation to continuous causality. Instead of assuming that causal relations form a discrete set of events, we posit that between any two events there exists an uncountable, densely ordered continuum of intermediate causal connections. This continuous causal fabric replaces the conventional notion of spacetime points with a real-valued ordering structure, inwhich each event is a limiting boundary of infinitely many causal intermediates. The mathematical laws of physics then emerge as effective descriptions of the averaged behavior along such continuous causal chains. Within this framework, geometry and dynamics are interpreted as statistical projections of an underlying causal continuum endowed with a measure and local kernel of influence.
A causal set C can describe a discrete spacetime, but this discrete spacetime is not quantum, because C is endowed with Boolean logic, as it does not allow cycles. In a quasi-ordered set Q, cycles are allowed. In this paper, we consider a subset QC of a quasi-ordered set Q, whose elements are all the cycles. In QC, which is endowed with quantum logic, each cycle of maximal outdegree N in a node, is associated with N entangled qubits. Then QC describes a quantum computing spacetime. This structure, which is non-local and non-casual, can be understood as a proto-spacetime. Micro-causality and locality can be restored in the subset U of Q whose elements are unentangled qubits which we interpret as the states of quantum spacetime. The mapping of quantum spacetime into proto-spacetime is given by the action of the XOR gate. Moreover, a mapping is possible from the Boolean causal set into U by the action of the Hadamard gate. In particular, the causal order defined on the elements of U induces the causal evolution of spin networks.
Usual quantum mechanics requires a fixed, background, spacetime geometry and its associated causal structure. A generalization of the usual theory may therefore be needed at the Planck scale for quantum theories of gravity in which spacetime geometry is a quantum variable. The elements of generalized quantum theory are briefly reviewed and illustrated by generalizations of usual quantum theory that incorporate spacetime alternatives, gauge degrees of freedom, and histories that move forward and backward in time. A generalized quantum framework for cosmological spacetime geometry is sketched. This theory is in fully four-dimensional form and free from the need for a fixed causal structure. Usual quantum mechanics is recovered as an approximation to this more general framework that is appropriate in those situations where spacetime geometry behaves classically. (Talk given at the Workshop on Physics at the Planck Scale, Puri, India, December12-21, 1994. This talk is a precis of the author's 1992 Les Houches Lectures: Spacetime Quantum Mechanics and the Quantum Mechanics of Spacetime, gr-qc/9304006).
The Causal Set hypothesis for Quantum Gravity asserts that the smooth Lorentzian spacetime manifold of General Relativity is only an approximation to a fundamental microscopic discrete structure: a locally-finite partially-ordered set. The points of this set are akin to the point-events of the spacetime manifold, and the order-relations among these points are akin to the causal-relations among these point-events. The local-finiteness condition implies a fundamental discreteness and provides an important [conformal] factor needed for the continuum approximations. In this dissertation, we address two aspects toward the formulation of a quantum dynamics for causal sets. The first aspect concerns the dynamics of a zero-mass classical scalar field on a background causal set, Poisson-sampled from an Alexandrov interval in (1 + 1)-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. Our numerical simulations suggest that actions can be defined for such a scalar field, expressed solely in terms of the causal set and the scalar field, which approximates the corresponding classical action on the continuum Minkowski spacetime. This result may help us describe matter and gauge fields in a local and Lorentz-invariant way on a causal set, a discrete structure now being considered as the arena for spacetime physics. More importantly, it may help us formulate an action for the causal set itself, which would be used in a sum-over-histories approach to describe the quantum dynamics of causal sets. The second aspect concerns Quantum Measure Theory, a new approach to quantum dynamics inspired by the sum-over-histories approach, which is better suited to formulating the dynamics of causal sets and of other alternative structures for spacetime. To better understand the mathematical structure underlying this new approach, we derive some algebraic identities involving the sum-rules of the Quantum Measure and its generalizations. We conclude with a discussion on possible applications and open problems concerning these aspects.