arXiv subjects

Lee Smolin

Publications and source records attributed to Lee Smolin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

The path integral formulation of energetic causal set models of the universe

I study several aspects of the path(st) integral we formulated in previous papers on energetic causal sets with Cortes and others. The focus here is on quantum field theories, including the standard model of particle physics. I show that the the theory can be extended to a quantum field theory, cut off in momentum space. Fields of spin 0, 1/2 and 1 may be naturally included, which allows us to formulate the standard model in this framework. The theory is at first formulated in momentum space. Under certain conditions, spacetime can emerge in a semiclassical limit. The theory comes with a $uv$ cutoff in momentum space, $\mu$, hence that is also a scale for lorentz invariance to break down. Traditionally, m is taken to be. a Planck energy, but we explore as a possibility making m smaller.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Non-local Field Theory from Matrix Models

We show that a class of matrix theories can be understood as an extension of quantum field theory which has non-local interactions. This reformulation is based on the Wigner-Weyl transformation, and the interactions take the form of Moyal product on a doubled geometry. We recover local dynamics on the spacetime as a low-energy limit. This framework opens up the possibility for studying novel high-energy phenomena, including the unification of gauge and geometric symmetries in a gauge theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

The TAP equation: evaluating combinatorial innovation in Biocosmology

We investigate solutions to the TAP equation, a phenomenological implementation of the Theory of the Adjacent Possible. Several implementations of TAP are studied, with potential applications in a range of topics including economics, social sciences, environmental change, evolutionary biological systems, and the nature of physical laws. The generic behaviour is an extended plateau followed by a sharp explosive divergence. We find accurate analytic approximations for the blow-up time that we validate against numerical simulations, and explore the properties of the equation in the vicinity of equilibrium between innovation and extinction. A particular variant, the two-scale TAP model, replaces the initial plateau with a phase of exponential growth, a widening of the TAP equation phenomenology that may enable it to be applied in a wider range of contexts.

q-bio.PE↗

arXiv2022

Biocosmology: Towards the birth of a new science

Cosmologists wish to explain how our Universe, in all its complexity, could ever have come about. For that, we assess the number of states in our Universe now. This plays the role of entropy in thermodynamics of the Universe, and reveals the magnitude of the problem of initial conditions to be solved. The usual budgeting accounts for gravity, thermal motions, and finally the vacuum energy whose entropy, given by the Bekenstein bound, dominates the entropy budget today. There is however one number which we have not accounted for: the number of states in our complex biosphere. What is the entropy of life and is it sizeable enough to need to be accounted for at the Big Bang? Building on emerging ideas within theoretical biology, we show that the configuration space of living systems, unlike that of their fundamental physics counterparts, can grow rapidly in response to emerging biological complexity. A model for this expansion is provided through combinatorial innovation by the Theory of the Adjacent Possible (TAP) and its corresponding TAP equation, whose solutions we investigate, confirming the possibility of rapid state-pace growth. While the results of this work remain far from being firmly established, the evidence we provide is many-fold and strong. The implications are far-reaching, and open a variety of lines for future investigation, a new scientific field we term biocosmology. In particular the relationship between the information content in life and the information content in the Universe may need to be rebuilt from scratch.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Biocosmology: Biology from a cosmological perspective

The Universe contains everything that exists, including life. And all that exists, including life, obeys universal physical laws. Do those laws then give adequate foundations for a complete explanation of biological phenomena? We discuss whether and how cosmology and physics must be modified to be able to address certain questions which arise at their intersection with biology. We show that a universe that contains life, in the form it has on Earth, is in a certain sense radically non-ergodic, in that the vast majority of possible organisms will never be realized. We argue from this that complete explanations in cosmology require a mixture of reductionist and functional explanations.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2022

Views, variety and celestial spheres

This paper describes a continuation of the program of causal views, in which the world consists of nothing but a vast number of partial views of its past. Each view is associated to an event, and is a representation of the immediate causal past of that event. These consists mainly of processes that transfer energy, momentum and other charges to it from its past events. There is fundamentally no space or spacetime, just a large number of events, which are the causes of events to come. This is a development of energetic causal set theories, developed with Marina Cortes. Momentum and energy are fundamental, and are conserved under their transformation from present events to future events. As a result Minkowski spacetime emerges, in a way that preserves causal relations. The locality of events as constructed in the emergent spacetime is a consequence of the conservation of energy-momentum fundamentally. In this paper we propose that the views of events can be represented in terms of degrees of freedom on punctured two surfaces-each puncture corresponding to an immediate past event. This opens up to the use of mathematical tools from twistor theory and the nascent area of celestial spheres. We show that This makes possible versions of the theory that are relativistically invariant.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

A Cubic Matrix Action for the Standard Model and Beyond

We propose a new framework for matrix theories that are equivalent to field theories on a toroidal spacetime. The correspondence is accomplished via infinite Toeplitz matrices whose entries match the field degrees of freedom on an energy-momentum lattice, thereby replacing the background geometry with matrix indices. These matrix theories can then be embedded into the purely cubic action of a single matrix and combined into a common universality class. We reconstruct the Standard Model action in this framework and discuss its extensions within the same class.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Views, variety and quantum mechanics

A non-local hidden variables theory for non-relativisitic quantum theory is presented, which gives a realist completion of quantum mechanics, in the sense of a complete description of individual events. The proposed fundamental theory is an extension of an energetic causal set theory, which assumes that time, events, causal structure, momentum and energy are fundamental. But space and the wave function are emergent. The beables of the theory are the views of the events, which are a subset of their causal pasts. Thus, this theory asserts that the universe is a causal network of events, which consists of partial views of itself as seen by looking backwards from each event. The fundamental dynamics is based on an action whose potential energy is proportional to the variety, which is a measure of the diversity of the views of the events, while the kinetic energy is proportional to its rate of change. The Schroedinger equation is derived to leading order in an expansion in density of the events of the fundamental histories. To higher order, there are computable corrections, non-linear in the wave function, from which new physical effects may be predicted.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

The quantum mechanics of the present

We propose a reformulation of quantum mechanics in which the distinction between definite and indefinite becomes the fundamental primitive. Inspired by suggestions of Heisenberg, Schrodinger and Dyson that the past can't be described in terms of wavefunctions and operators, so that the uncertainty principle does not apply to past events, we propose that the distinction between past, present and future is derivative of the fundamental distinction between indefinite and definite. %The same is the case for the quantum world versus classical world distinction of the Copenhagen interpretation. We then outline a novel form of presentism based on a phenomonology of events, where an event is defined as an instance of transition between indefinite and definite. Neither the past nor the future fully exist, but for different reasons. We finally suggest reformulating physics in terms of a new class of time coordinates in which the present time of a future event measures a countdown to the present moment in which that event will happen.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

The Autodidactic Universe

We present an approach to cosmology in which the Universe learns its own physical laws. It does so by exploring a landscape of possible laws, which we express as a certain class of matrix models. We discover maps that put each of these matrix models in correspondence with both a gauge/gravity theory and a mathematical model of a learning machine, such as a deep recurrent, cyclic neural network. This establishes a correspondence between each solution of the physical theory and a run of a neural network. This correspondence is not an equivalence, partly because gauge theories emerge from $N \rightarrow \infty $ limits of the matrix models, whereas the same limits of the neural networks used here are not well-defined. We discuss in detail what it means to say that learning takes place in autodidactic systems, where there is no supervision. We propose that if the neural network model can be said to learn without supervision, the same can be said for the corresponding physical theory. We consider other protocols for autodidactic physical systems, such as optimization of graph variety, subset-replication using self-attention and look-ahead, geometrogenesis guided by reinforcement learning, structural learning using renormalization group techniques, and extensions. These protocols together provide a number of directions in which to explore the origin of physical laws based on putting machine learning architectures in correspondence with physical theories.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Quantum reference frames and triality

In a background independent theory without boundary, physical observables may be defined with respect to dynamical reference systems. However, I argue here that there may be a symmetry that exchanges the degrees of freedom of the physical frame of reference with the other degrees of freedom which are measured relative to that frame. This symmetry expresses the fact that the choice of frame of reference is arbitrary, but the same laws apply to all, including observer and observed. It is then suggested that, in a canonical description, this leads to an extension of the Born duality, which exchanges coordinate and momentum variables to a triality that mixes both with the temporal reference frame. This can also be expressed by extending 2n dimensional symplectic geometry to a d= 2n+1 dimensional geometry with a cubic invariant. The choice of a temporal reference frame breaks the triality of the cubic invariant to the duality represented by the canonical two form. We discover that a very elegant way to display this structure which encompasses both classical and quantum mechanics, is in terms of matrix models based on a cubic action. There we see explicitly in either case how a spontaneous symmetry breaking leads to the emergence of a temporal reference frame.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Natural and bionic neuronal membranes: possible sites for quantum biology

A new concept for bionic quantum technology is presented based on a hybrid of a silicon wafer on which is layered a phospholipid membrane, such as is found in biological cell membranes. The phosphorus atoms in the head groups of the membranes carry nuclear spins which serve as memory qubits. The role of control qubits may be played by unpaired spins of extra electrons on phosphate groups with a single negative charge, in polar, zwitterionic headgroups such as phosphatidylcholine (PC). Classical control gates and circuits are embedded on the silicon wafer, as in proposals by Kane and others for solid state quantum computing devices. A proposal to extend these ideas to neuronal membranes, which makes use of the chirality of the phospholipid molecules that make up its bulk, is also briefly sketched. The chirality of the phospholipid molecules is argued, at least at low temperature, to induce Chern-Simons couplings, which may give rise to robust qubits in topological winding states, defined on the cylinder mod punctures-which are the ion channels.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

A Zero-Parameter Extension of General Relativity with Varying Cosmological Constant

We provide a new extension of general relativity (GR) which has the remarkable property of being more constrained than GR plus a cosmological constant, having one less free parameter. This is implemented by allowing the cosmological constant to have a consistent space-time variation, through coding its dynamics in the torsion tensor. We demonstrate this mechanism by adding a `quasi-topological' term to the Einstein action, which naturally realizes a dynamical torsion with an automatic satisfaction of the Bianchi identities. Moreover, variation of the action with respect to this dynamical $\Lambda$ fixes it in terms of other variables, thus providing a scenario with less freedom than general relativity with a cosmological constant. Once matter is introduced, at least in the homogeneous and isotropic reduction, $\Lambda$ is uniquely determined by the field content of the model. We make an explicit construction using the Palatini formulation of GR and describe the striking properties of this new theory. We also highlight some possible extensions to the theory. A companion paper [1] explores the Friedmann--Robertson--Walker reduction for cosmology, and future work will study Solar System tests of the theory.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

The cosmology of minimal varying Lambda theories

Inserting a varying Lambda in Einstein's field equations can be made consistent with the Bianchi identities by allowing for torsion, without the need to add scalar field degrees of freedom. In the minimal such theory, Lambda is totally free and undetermined by the field equations in the absence of matter. Inclusion of matter ties Lambda algebraically to it, at least when homogeneity and isotropy are assumed, i.e. when there is no Weyl curvature. We show that Lambda is proportional to the matter density, with a proportionality constant depending on the equation of state. Unfortunately, the proportionality constant becomes infinite for pure radiation, ruling out the minimal theory prima facie despite of its novel internal consistency. It is possible to generalize the theory still without the addition of kinetic terms, leading to a new algebraically-enforced proportionality between Lambda and the matter density. Lambda and radiation may now coexist in a form consistent with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, though this places strict constraints on the single free parameter of the theory, $\theta$. In the matter epoch Lambda behaves just like a dark matter component. Its density is proportional to the baryonic and/or dark matter, and its presence and gravitational effects would need to be included in accounting for the necessary dark matter in our Universe. This is a companion paper to Ref. [1] where the underlying gravitational theory is developed in detail.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Realism and causality I: Pilot wave and retrocausal models as possible facilitators

Of all basic principles of classical physics, realism should arguably be the last to be given up when seeking a better interpretation of quantum mechanics. We examine the de Broglie-Bohm pilot wave theory as a well developed example of a realistic theory. We present three challenges to a naive reading of pilot-wave theory, each based on a system of several entangled particles. With the help of a coarse graining of pilot wave theory into a discrete system, we show how these challenges can be answered. However this comes with a cost. In the description of individual systems, particles appear to scatter off empty branches of the wave function as if they were particles, and conversely travel through particles as if they were waves. More generally, the "particles" of pilot wave theory are led by the guidance equation to move in ways no classical particle would, involving apparent violations of the principles of inertia and momentum conservation.We next argue that the aforementioned cost can be avoided within a retrocausal model. In the proposed version of the pilot wave theory, the particle is guided by a combination of advanced and retarded waves. The resulting account for quantum physics seems to have greater heuristic power, it demands less damage to intuition, and moreover provides some general hints regarding spacetime and causality. This is the first of two papers. In the second [1] we show that, in the context of an explicit model, retrocausality, with respect to an effective, emergent spacetime metric, can coexist with a strict irreversibility of causal processes.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Realism and Causality II: Retrocausality in Energetic Causal Sets

We describe a new form of retrocausality, which is found in the behaviour of a class of causal set theories, called energetic causal sets (ECS). These are discrete sets of events, connected by causal relations. They have three orders: (1) a birth order, which is the order in which events are generated; this is a total order which is the true causal order, (2) a dynamical partial order, which prescribes the flows of energy and momentum amongst events, (3) an emergent causal order, which is defined by the geometry of an emergent Minkowski spacetime, in which the events of the causal sets are embedded. However, the embedding of the events in the emergent Minkowski spacetime may preserve neither the true causal order in (1), nor correspond completely with the microscopic partial order in (2). We call this disordered causality, and we here demonstrate its occurrence in specific ECS models. This is the second in a series of papers centered around the question: Should we accept violations of causality as a lesser price to pay in order to keep realist formulations of quantum theory? We begin to address this in the first paper [1] and continue here by giving an explicit example of an ECS model in the classical regime, in which causality is disordered.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

A Universe that does not know the time

In this paper we propose that cosmological time is a quantum observable that does not commute with other quantum operators essential for the definition of cosmological states, notably the cosmological constant. This is inspired by properties of a measure of time---the Chern-Simons time---and the fact that in some theories it appears as a conjugate to the cosmological constant, with the two promoted to non-commuting quantum operators. Thus, the Universe may be "delocalised" in time: it does not {\it know} the time, a property which opens up new cosmological scenarios, as well as invalidating several paradoxes, such as the timelike tower of turtles associated with an omnipresent time line. Alternatively, a Universe with a sharply defined clock time must have an indeterminate cosmological constant. The challenge then is to explain how islands of localized time may emerge, and give rise to localized histories. In some scenarios this is achieved by backward transitions in quantum time, cycling the Universe in something akin to a time machine cycle, with classical flow and quantum ebbing. The emergence on matter in a sea of Lambda probably provides the ballast behind classical behaviour.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

The quantum cosmological constant

We present an extension of general relativity in which the cosmological constant becomes dynamical and turns out to be conjugate to the Chern-Simons invariant of the Ashtekar connection on a spatial slicing. The latter has been proposed in \cite{Chopin-Lee} as a time variable for quantum gravity: the Chern-Simons time. In the quantum theory the inverse cosmological constant and Chern-Simons time will then become conjugate operators. The "Kodama state" gets a new interpretation as a family of transition functions. These results imply an uncertainty relation between $\Lambda$ and Chern-Simons time; the consequences of which will be discussed elsewhere.

gr-qc↗