One of the most challenging problems of contemporary theoretical physics is the mathematically rigorous construction of a theory which describes gravitation and the other fundamental physical interactions within a common framework. The physical ideas which grew from attempts to develop such a theory require highly advanced mathematical methods and radically new physical concepts.
This book presents different approaches to a rigorous unified description of quantum fields and gravity. It contains a carefully selected cross-section of lively discussions which took place in autumn 2010 at the fifth conference "Quantum field theory and gravity - Conceptual and mathematical advances in the search for a unified framework" in Regensburg, Germany. In the tradition of the other proceedings covering this series of conferences, a special feature of this book is the exposition of a wide variety of approaches, with the intention to facilitate a comparison.
The book is mainly addressed to mathematicians and physicists who are interested in fundamental questions of mathematical physics. It allows the reader to obtain a broad and up-to-date overview of a fascinating active research area.
Author(s): Felix Finster, Olaf Müller, Marc Nardmann, Jürgen Tolksdorf, Eberhard Zeidler
Publisher: Birkhäuser
Year: 2012
Language: English
Pages: 382
Tags: Global Analysis and Analysis on Manifolds; Field Theory and Polynomials
Front Matter....Pages i-xiv
Quantum Gravity: Whence, Whither?....Pages 1-13
Local Covariance and Background Independence....Pages 15-23
The “Big Wave” Theory for Dark Energy....Pages 25-40
Discrete and Continuum Third Quantization of Gravity....Pages 41-64
Unsharp Values, Domains and Topoi....Pages 65-96
Causal Boundary of Spacetimes:Revision and Applications to AdS/CFT Correspondence....Pages 97-119
Some Mathematical Aspects of the Hawking Effect for Rotating Black Holes....Pages 121-136
Observables in the General Boundary Formulation....Pages 137-156
Causal Fermion Systems: A Quantum Space-Time Emerging From an Action Principle....Pages 157-182
CCR- versus CAR-Quantization on Curved Spacetimes....Pages 183-206
On the Notion of ‘the Same Physics in All Spacetimes’....Pages 207-227
Local Covariance, Renormalization Ambiguity, and Local Thermal Equilibrium in Cosmology....Pages 229-256
Shape Dynamics. An Introduction....Pages 257-297
On the Motion of Point Defects in Relativistic Fields....Pages 299-335
How Unique Are Higher-dimensional Black Holes?....Pages 337-344
Equivalence Principle, Quantum Mechanics, and Atom-Interferometric Tests....Pages 345-370
Back Matter....Pages 371-380
