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One of the most challenging problems of contemporary theoretical physics is the mathematically rigorous construction of a theory which describes gravitation and the other fundamental physical interactions within a common framework. The physical ideas which grew from attempts to develop such a theory require highly advanced mathematical methods and radically new physical concepts.
This book presents different approaches to a rigorous unified description of quantum fields and gravity. It contains a carefully selected cross-section of lively discussions which took place in autumn 2010 at the fifth conference "Quantum field theory and gravity - Conceptual and mathematical advances in the search for a unified framework" in Regensburg, Germany. In the tradition of the other proceedings covering this series of conferences, a special feature of this book is the exposition of a wide variety of approaches, with the intention to facilitate a comparison.
The book is mainly addressed to mathematicians and physicists who are interested in fundamental questions of mathematical physics. It allows the reader to obtain a broad and up-to-date overview of a fascinating active research area.
List of contents
Preface.- Quantum Gravity: Whence, Whithter? (Claus Kiefer).- Local Covariance and Background Independence (Klaus Fredenhagen, Katarzyna Rejzner).- The "Big Wave" Theory for Dark Energy (Blake Temple).- Discrete and Continuum Third Quantization of Gravity (Steffen Gielen, Daniele Oriti).- Unsharp Values, Domains and Topoi (Andreas Döring, Rui Soares Barbosa).- Causal Boundary of Spacetimes: Revision and Applications to AdS/CFT Correspondence (José Luis Flores, Jónatan Herrera, Miguel Sánchez).- Some Mathematical Aspects of the Hawking Effect for Rotating Black Holes (Dietrich Häfner).- Observables in the General Boundary Formulation (Robert Oeckl).- Causal Fermion Systems: A Quantum Space-Time Emerging From an Action Principle (Felix Finster, Andreas Grotz, Daniela Schiefeneder).- CCR- Versus CAR-Quantization on Curved Spacetimes (Christian Bär, Nicolas Ginoux).- On the Notion of 'the Same Physics in All Spacetimes' (Christopher J. Fewster).- Local Covariance, Renormalization Ambiguity, and Local Thermal Equilibrium in Cosmology (Rainer Verch).- Shape Dynamics. An Introduction (Julian Barbour).- On the Motion of Point Defects in Relativistic Fields (Michael K.-H. Kiessling).- How Unique are Higher-dimensional Black Holes? (Stefan Hollands).- Equivalence Principle, Quantum Mechanics, and Atom-interferometric Tests (Domenico Giulini).
About the author
Olaf Müller, Jahrgang 1964, geboren und aufgewachsen in Wilhelmshaven an der Nordsee. Studium der Publizistik, Informationswissenschaft und Politik an der FU Berlin. Zehn Jahre Fernsehjournalist,dann Wechsel in die Unternehmenskommunikation. Sein Steckenpferd ist die Drehbuchschreiberei. Olaf Müller lebt in Berlin.
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Eberhard Zeidler works at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Leipzig (Germany). In 1996 he was one of the founding directors of this institute. He is a member of the Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina. In 2006 he was awarded the 'Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftspreis' of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung.
Summary
One of the most challenging problems of contemporary theoretical physics is the mathematically rigorous construction of a theory which describes gravitation and the other fundamental physical interactions within a common framework. The physical ideas which grew from attempts to develop such a theory require highly advanced mathematical methods and radically new physical concepts.
This book presents different approaches to a rigorous unified description of quantum fields and gravity. It contains a carefully selected cross-section of lively discussions which took place in autumn 2010 at the fifth conference "Quantum field theory and gravity - Conceptual and mathematical advances in the search for a unified framework" in Regensburg, Germany. In the tradition of the other proceedings covering this series of conferences, a special feature of this book is the exposition of a wide variety of approaches, with the intention to facilitate a comparison.
The book is mainly addressed to mathematicians and physicists who are interested in fundamental questions of mathematical physics. It allows the reader to obtain a broad and up-to-date overview of a fascinating active research area.
Additional text
From the reviews:
“The articles present recent research on conceptual and mathematical issues aiming at a unified framework for quantum field theory and general relativity. … In my experience, this is the best single text to use to learn field theory that one can buy today. … for a solid grounding in the fundamentals of field theory there is no better place to start then this.” (Philosophy, Religion and Science Book Reviews, bookinspections.wordpress.com, March, 2014)
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From the reviews:
"The articles present recent research on conceptual and mathematical issues aiming at a unified framework for quantum field theory and general relativity. ... In my experience, this is the best single text to use to learn field theory that one can buy today. ... for a solid grounding in the fundamentals of field theory there is no better place to start then this." (Philosophy, Religion and Science Book Reviews, bookinspections.wordpress.com, March, 2014)
