Description

Book Synopsis
It is often claimed that Einstein''s magnum opus---his 1915 theory of General Relativity---is distinguished from other theories of space and time in virtue of its background independence. It''s also often claimed that background independence is an essential feature of any quantum theory of gravity. But are these claims true? This book aspires to offer definitive answers to both of these questions, by (a) charting the space of possible definitions of background independence, and (b) applying said definitions to various classical and quantum theories of gravity. The outcome, in brief, is as follows: General Relativity is not unique by virtue of its background independence (and, indeed, fails to be background independent on some popular definitions); moreover, the situation in the case of quantum theories of gravity is delicate, because (i) there are viable such theories which (by some accounts, at least) fail to be background independent, but also (ii) theories (e.g. perturbative string

Table of Contents
1: Introduction 2: Models and Gauge 3: Classical Background Independence 4: Classical Theories of Spacetime 5: Quantum Theories of Spacetime 6: Conclusions

Background Independence in Classical and Quantum

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    A Hardback by Dr James Read

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      Book details

      Publisher Oxford University Press
      Published 9 November 2023
      ISBN-13 9780192889119
      978-0192889119
      ISBN-10 0192889117
      Also in:
      Politics, Philosophy & Society Philosophy: metaphysics and ontology Science & Nature Quantum physics

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      It is often claimed that Einstein''s magnum opus---his 1915 theory of General Relativity---is distinguished from other theories of space and time in virtue of its background independence. It''s also often claimed that background independence is an essential feature of any quantum theory of gravity. But are these claims true? This book aspires to offer definitive answers to both of these questions, by (a) charting the space of possible definitions of background independence, and (b) applying said definitions to various classical and quantum theories of gravity. The outcome, in brief, is as follows: General Relativity is not unique by virtue of its background independence (and, indeed, fails to be background independent on some popular definitions); moreover, the situation in the case of quantum theories of gravity is delicate, because (i) there are viable such theories which (by some accounts, at least) fail to be background independent, but also (ii) theories (e.g. perturbative string

      Table of Contents
      1: Introduction 2: Models and Gauge 3: Classical Background Independence 4: Classical Theories of Spacetime 5: Quantum Theories of Spacetime 6: Conclusions

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