Principle of equivalence at Planck scales, QG in locally inertial frames and the zero-point-length of spacetime
Autor: | Thanu Padmanabhan |
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Rok vydání: | 2020 |
Předmět: |
High Energy Physics - Theory
Physics Quantum geometry Inertial frame of reference Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) Spacetime 010308 nuclear & particles physics FOS: Physical sciences Zero-point energy Propagator General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) Quantum spacetime 01 natural sciences General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology Gravitation Theoretical physics High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) 0103 physical sciences 010303 astronomy & astrophysics Planck length |
Zdroj: | General Relativity and Gravitation. 52 |
ISSN: | 1572-9532 0001-7701 |
Popis: | Principle of Equivalence makes effects of classical gravity vanish in local inertial frames. What role does the Principle of Equivalence play as regards quantum gravitational effects in the local inertial frames? I address this question here from a specific perspective. At mesoscopic scales close to, but somewhat larger than, Planck length one could describe quantum spacetime and matter in terms of an effective geometry. The key feature of such an effective quantum geometry is the existence of a zero-point-length. When we proceed from quantum geometry to quantum matter, the zero-point-length will introduce corrections in the propagator for matter fields in a specific manner. On the other hand, one cannot ignore the self-gravity of matter fields at the mesoscopic scales and this will also modify the form of the propagator. Consistency demands that, these two modifications - coming from two different directions - are the same. I show that this non-trivial demand is actually satisfied. Surprisingly, the Principle of Equivalence, operating at sub-Planck scales, ensures this consistency in a subtle manner. Comment: 16 pages; no figures |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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