arXiv subjects

S. Carlip

Publications and source records attributed to S. Carlip.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Quantum Gravity in 2+1 Dimensions

General relativity becomes vastly simpler in three spacetime dimensions: all vacuum solutions have constant curvature, and the moduli space of solutions can be almost completely characterized. As a result, this lower dimensional setting becomes an ideal test bed for a wide range of approaches to quantum gravity, from reduced phase phase space quantization to covariant canonical quantization to path integral methods to asymptotic quantization of "edge states." Here I review a variety of classical descriptions of the moduli space of solutions and a broad range of quantizations, with special attention to implications for realistic quantum gravity in four spacetime dimensions.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Covariant canonical quantization and the problem of time

In the covariant canonical approach to classical physics, each point in phase space represents an entire classical trajectory. Initial data at a fixed time serve as coordinates for this ``timeless'' phase space, and time evolution can be viewed as a coordinate change. We argue for a similar view in quantum theory. As in the Heisenberg picture, the wave function is fundamentally time-independent. On any given time slice, however, we can diagonalize a complete set of position operators to form a basis, in which the projected wave function depends on the choice of time. In this picture, time evolution can be viewed as a basis change in what is otherwise a block universe. We argue that this may help solve the ``problem of time'' in quantum gravity, and illustrate the idea with an example from three-dimensional quantum gravity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Spacetime foam: a review

More than 65 years ago, John Wheeler suggested that quantum uncertainties of the metric would be of order one at the Planck scale, leading to large fluctuations in spacetime geometry and topology, which he termed "spacetime foam." In this review I discuss various attempts to implement this idea and to test it, both theoretically and, to a lesser extent, observationally.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Path integral suppression of badly behaved causal sets

Causal set theory is a discrete model of spacetime that retains a notion of causal structure. We understand how to construct causal sets that approximate a given spacetime, but most causal sets are not at all manifold-like, and must be dynamically excluded if something like our universe is to emerge from the theory. Here we show that the most common of these "bad" causal sets, the Kleitman-Rothschild orders, are strongly suppressed in the gravitational path integral, and we provide evidence that a large class of other "bad" causal sets are similarly suppressed. It thus becomes plausible that continuum behavior could emerge naturally from causal set quantum theory.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

A Schwarzian on the Stretched Horizon

It is well known that the Euclidean black hole action has a boundary term at the horizon proportional to the area. I show that if the horizon is replaced by a stretched horizon with appropriate boundary conditions, a new boundary term appears, described by a Schwarzian action similar to the recently discovered boundary actions in "nearly anti-de Sitter" gravity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Spacetime foam, midisuperspace, and the cosmological constant

Perhaps the cosmological constant really is huge at the Planck scale, but is "hidden" by Planck scale quantum fluctuations of spacetime. I briefly review this proposal and provide some evidence, coming from a simplified midisuperspace model, that an appropriate "foamy" structure can do the job of hiding a large cosmological constant, and can persist under time evolution.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Midisuperspace foam and the cosmological constant

Wheeler's conjectured "spacetime foam" -- large quantum fluctuations of spacetime at the Planck scale -- could have important implications for quantum gravity, perhaps even explaining why the cosmological constant seems so small. Here I explore this problem in a midisuperspace model consisting of metrics with local spherical symmetry. Classically, an infinite class of ``foamy'' initial data can be constructed, in which cancellations between expanding and contracting regions lead to a small average expansion even if $Λ$ is large. Quantum mechanically, the model admits corresponding stationary states, for which the probability current is also nearly zero. These states appear to describe a self-reproducing spacetime foam with very small average expansion, effectively hiding the cosmological constant.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Quantum Fields, Geometric Fluctuations, and the Structure of Spacetime

Quantum fluctuations of the vacuum stress-energy tensor are highly non-Gaussian, and can have unexpectedly large effects on spacetime geometry. In this paper, we study a two-dimensional dilaton gravity model coupled to a conformal field, in which the distribution of vacuum fluctuations is well understood. In this model, the fluctuations of the matter field are responsible for the fluctuations of the geometry itself. By analyzing the geodesic deviation in this model, we show that a pencil of massive particles propagating on this fuzzy spacetime eventually converges and collapses. This is consistent with our earlier analysis of null geodesics in [Phys. Rev. Lett.\ 107, 021303 (2011)].

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Reply to Wang and Unruh

I reply to a Comment by Q. Wang and W.G. Unruh regarding my paper "Hiding the Cosmological Constant" [Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 131302].

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

A comment on "How the cosmological constant is hidden by Planck scale curvature fluctuations''

A recent preprint by Wang and Unruh [arXiv:1911.06110] contains a number of criticisms of my paper, "Hiding the cosmological constant" [Phys. Rev. Lett. 123 (2019) 131302, arXiv:1809.08277]. While Wang and Unruh suggest an interesting alternative scenario and raise an important conceptual question, most of their criticisms are incorrect, in part because of misunderstandings about averaging and about the nature of the "foamy" spacetimes considered in my paper.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Near-Horizon BMS Symmetry, Dimensional Reduction, and Black Hole Entropy

In an earlier short paper [Phys.\ Rev.\ Lett.\ 120 (2018) 101301, arXiv:1702.04439], I argued that the horizon-preserving diffeomorphisms of a generic black hole are enhanced to a larger BMS${}_3$ symmetry, which is powerful enough to determine the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. Here I provide details and extensions of that argument, including a loosening of horizon boundary conditions and a more thorough treatment of dimensional reduction and meaning of a "near-horizon symmetry."

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

Hiding the cosmological constant

Perhaps standard effective field theory arguments are right, and vacuum fluctuations really do generate a huge cosmological constant. I show that if one does not assume homogeneity and an arrow of time at the Planck scale, a very large class of general relativistic initial data exhibit expansions, shears, and curvatures that are enormous at small scales, but quickly average to zero macroscopically. Subsequent evolution is more complex, but I argue that quantum fluctuations may preserve these properties. The resulting picture is a version of Wheeler's `spacetime foam,' in which the cosmological constant produces high curvature at the Planck scale but is nearly invisible at observable scales.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

How to Hide a Cosmological Constant

Naive calculations in quantum field theory suggest that vacuum fluctuations should induce an enormous cosmological constant. What if these estimates are right? I argue that even a huge cosmological constant might be hidden in Planck scale fluctuations of geometry and topology---what Wheeler called `spacetime foam'---while remaining virtually invisible macroscopically.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Dimension and Dimensional Reduction in Quantum Gravity

If gravity is asymptotically safe, operators will exhibit anomalous scaling at the ultraviolet fixed point in a way that makes the theory effectively two-dimensional. A number of independent lines of evidence, based on different approaches to quantization, indicate a similar short-distance dimensional reduction. I will review the evidence for this behavior, emphasizing the physical question of what one means by `dimension' in a quantum spacetime, and will discuss possible mechanisms that could explain the universality of this phenomenon.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

Dimensional reduction in manifold-like causal sets

We investigate the behavior of small subsets of causal sets that approximate Minkowski space in three, four, and five dimensions, and show that their effective dimension decreases smoothly at small distances. The details of the short distance behavior depend on a choice of dimensional estimator, but for a reasonable version of the Myrheim-Meyer dimension, the minimum dimension is $d \approx 2$, reproducing results that have been seen in other approaches to quantum gravity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

Suppression of non-manifold-like sets in the causal set path integral

While it is possible to build causal sets that approximate spacetime manifolds, most causal sets are not at all manifold-like. We show that a Lorentzian path integral with the Einstein-Hilbert action has a phase in which one large class of non-manifold-like causal sets is strongly suppressed, and suggest a direction for generalization to other classes. While we cannot yet show our argument holds for all non-manifold-like sets, our results make it plausible that the path integral might lead to emergent manifold-like behavior with no need for further conditions.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

The Dynamics of Supertranslations and Superrotations in 2+1 Dimensions

Supertranslations, and at least in 2+1 dimensions superrotations, are asymptotic symmetries of the metric in asymptotically flat spacetimes. They are not, however, symmetries of the boundary term of the Einstein-Hilbert action, which therefore induces an action for the Goldstone-like fields that parametrize these symmetries. I show that in 2+1 dimensions, this action is closely related to a chiral Liouville action, as well as the "Schwarzian" action that appears in two-dimensional near-AdS physics.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

Black Hole Entropy from BMS Symmetry at the Horizon

Near the horizon, the obvious symmetries of a black hole spacetime---the horizon-preserving diffeomorphisms---are enhanced to a larger symmetry group with a BMS${}_3$ algebra. Using dimensional reduction and covariant phase space techniques, I investigate this augmented symmetry, and show that it is strong enough to determine the black hole entropy.

gr-qc↗