Spacetime
Foam| Spacetime
Foam |
In General > s.a. cell
complex [froth]; equivalence principle [violations].
* Idea: A version of
quantum spacetime, modeled as a differentiable manifold with fluctuating small-scale
topology; Introduced by Wheeler, could
lead to
consider particle phenomenology as a "chemistry of geometry";
To make this more precise, we must understand the quantum gravity vacuum and
its fluctuations; Some versions of spacetime foam can be seen as a "sea
of virtual black holes".
* Conditions: Requires
a cosmological constant (at least in Hawking's picture).
> Versions: see spin
foam; string
phenomenology; topology change; wormholes [gas].
Consequences > s.a. quantum-gravity
phenomenology; gravitational
thermodynamics.
@ Gravity: Hawking PRD(96)
[virtual black holes, black-hole evaporation]; Garattini MPLA(98)gq,
IJMPA(99)gq/98,
ht/99-in
[black-hole pair production]; Garattini NPPS(00)gq/99 [black-hole
entropy,
cosmological constant], IJMPD(02)gq/00 [cosmological
constant];
Dzhunushaliev IJMPD(02)gq/00, gq/00-in
[polarization by wormhole]; Mäkelä & Peltola PRD(04)gq/03 [Schwarzschild
horizon].
@ Cosmology:
Liu et al PRD(95)
[entropy and flatness without inflation]; Kirillov ap/07 [dark
energy,
dark matter, etc]; Arzano et al PLB(07)
[holographic foam]; Ng a0808-in
[holographic foam and dark energy]; > s.a. dark
energy.
@ Thermal properties: Garay PRL(98)gq,
PRD(98)gq;
Rosales gq/99 [electroweak
coupling]; Liu & Ma IJMP(00)gq/99;
Agnese & La Camera NCB(01)gq/00 [black
hole
horizons]; Garattini PLB(99)ht,
Ent(00)gq,
IJMPA(02)gq/01 [entropy].
@ Field propagation, matter: Hawking PRD(96)
[loss of coherence, Higgs particle, 
QCD];
Garay IJMPA(99)gq;
Kirillov ht/00-in
[quantum field theory]; Kirillov & Savelova a0806 [path
integral and
cutoff], a0808 [behavior
of bosonic systems]; G&C(08)
[astrophysical effects]; Mavromatos & Sarkar NJP(08)
[model
of flavour vacua]; Kirillov et al PLB(08)-a0802 [cosmic-ray propagation]; > s.a. matter
phenomenology.
References > s.a. black-hole
entropy; kaluza-klein theory.
@ General: Wheeler AP(57),
62 pp 71-83; Hawking NPB(78),
in(79); Crane & Smolin
GRG(85), NPB(86);
Friedman et al NPB(88)
[and fermions]; Kirillov & Turaev
G&C(03)ht/01 [Coulomb
& Newton V]; Ng gq/04-in, gq/04-ln
[and information].
@ Phenomenological description: Amelino-Camelia gq/01.
@ Algebraic approach: Baez pr(84); Heller & Sasin IJTP(97) [classical
model]; Raptis & Zapatrin CQG(01)gq.
@ Gas / superposition of wormholes: Preparata et al GRG(00)gq/98 [quantum
gravity ground state]; Garattini PLB(99)ht/98 [semiclassical
wormholes], ZN(01)gq/00-in,
gq/01-in,
IJMPA(02)gq/01,
IJTGN(02)gq
[Reissner-Nordström wormholes]; Cacciatori et al PLB(98)ht/97;
Requardt a0910 [non-local
correlations and black-hole entropy, holography, entanglement].
@ Strings
and branes: Ellis et al PRD(01)ht/00 [interactions
and GZK cutoff]; Iqbal et al ht/03 [topological
strings]; Hartnoll
& Policastro ATMP(06)ht/04 [twistor
string theory]; Mavromatos a0909-in [phenomenology].
@ Other models: Alberty PLB(89)
[2D]; Seriu PLB(93);
Redmount & Suen
PRD(93), PRD(94)gq/93;
Nergiz & Saclioglu PRD(96)ht/95 [quasi-periodic
Gibbons-Hawking metric]; Zizzi IJTP(99)
[and dS space]; Dzhunushaliev IJMPD(02)gq/00,
gq/00-in,
FP(02)gq/01 [dielectric];
Braden & Nekrasov CMP(04)
[non-commutative instantons]; Bernadotte & Klinkhamer PRD(07)
[classical model
with defects in Minkowski]; Ng gq/07,
a0801-in
[holographic,
statistics and dark energy].
"When I hear that spacetime becomes a foam at the Planck scale, I don’t reach for my gun. (I haven’t any.) But I do wonder what that foam has to do with the macroscopic events that spacetime was constructed to represent and the macroscopic means we use to locate events. — N D Mermin
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oct 2009