The Small Scale Structure of Spacetime

Steven Carlip

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arXiv · 1009.1136

The Small Scale Structure of Spacetime

Steven Carlip

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Abstract

Several lines of evidence hint that quantum gravity at very small distances may be effectively two-dimensional. I summarize the evidence for such ``spontaneous dimensional reduction,'' and suggest an additional argument coming from the strong-coupling limit of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. If this description proves to be correct, it suggests a fascinating relationship between small-scale quantum spacetime and the behavior of cosmologies near an asymptotically silent singularity.

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Steven Carlip. 2010-09-06. The Small Scale Structure of Spacetime. https://arxiv.org/abs/1009.1136

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