Condensed matter physics and the nature of spacetime

Abstract

This essay considers the prospects of modeling spacetime as a phenomenon that emerges in the low-energy limit of a quantum liquid. It evaluates three examples of spacetime analogues in condensed matter systems that have appeared in the recent physics literature, indicating the extent to which they are viable, and considers what they suggest about the nature of spacetime.

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Jonathan Bain
New York University

Citations of this work

Quantum gravity.Steven Weinstein - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
The emergence of spacetime in condensed matter approaches to quantum gravity.Jonathan Bain - 2013 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 44 (3):338-345.

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References found in this work

Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell.A. Zee - 2010 - Princeton University Press.
Effective Field Theories, Reductionism and Scientific Explanation.Stephan Hartmann - 2001 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 32 (2):267-304.
On the emergence of time in quantum gravity.Jeremy Butterfield & Chris Isham - 2006 - In The Arguments of Time. Oxford, GB: OUP/British Academy. pp. 111--168.
Gauge principles, gauge arguments and the logic of nature.Christopher A. Martin - 2002 - Proceedings of the Philosophy of Science Association 2002 (3):S221-S234.
Reductionism, emergence, and effective field theories.Elena Castellani - 2002 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 33 (2):251-267.

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