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PIRSA:23050130

Nonlocality in the causal set approach to quantum gravity

APA

Dowker, F. (2023). Nonlocality in the causal set approach to quantum gravity. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. https://pirsa.org/23050130

Fay Dowker Imperial College London

Talk numberPIRSA:23050130

Abstract

The nonlocality of causal sets gives us hope of solving the cosmological constant puzzle (``why is the universe so smooth, big and old if there is only one scale---the discreteness scale---in the theory?’’) On the other hand locality, , GR and local QFT, must be recovered from quantum gravity in the continuum approximation at large scales, which is a challenge. If we are lucky though (like Goldilocks, the universe gets the nonlocality ``just right’’) nonlocality may be a rich source of phenomenology. Yasaman Yazdi’s talk will be on cosmological models based on the nonlocality of causal sets. I will give a couple of examples of more astrophysical phenomenological models based on simple assumptions---randomness due to spacetime uncertainty and Lorentz invariance---and pose a research question: is there a model of ``quantum swerves’’?