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Physics as Spacetime Geometry

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Springer Handbook of Spacetime

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Abstract

As there have been no major advancements in fundamental physics in the past decades it seems reasonable to reexamine the major explicit and especially implicit assumptions in fundamental physics to ensure that all logically possible research directions are identified. The purpose of this chapter is to outline such a direction. Minkowski’s program of regarding four-dimensional physics as spacetime geometry is rigorously and consistently employed to the already geometrized general relativity with the most stunning implication that gravitational phenomena are fully explained in the theory without the need to assume that they are caused by gravitational interaction. Then the real open question in gravitational physics seems to be how matter curves spacetime, not how to quantize the apparent gravitational interaction. In view of the difficulties encountered by quantum gravity, even the radical option that gravity is not a physical interaction deserves careful scrutiny due to its potential impact on fundamental physics as a whole. The chapter discusses the possible implications of this option for the physics of gravitational waves and for quantum gravity and ends with an example where regarding physics as spacetime geometry provides a straightforward explanation of a rather subtle issue in relativity – propagation of light in noninertial reference frames.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Foundational Studies Hermann Minkowski, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Vesselin Petkov Prof. Dr.

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  1. Vesselin Petkov Prof. Dr.
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Correspondence to Vesselin Petkov Prof. Dr. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, 16802, University Park, PA, USA

    Abhay Ashtekar

  2. Institute for Foundational Studies Hermann Minkowski, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Vesselin Petkov

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Petkov, V. (2014). Physics as Spacetime Geometry. In: Ashtekar, A., Petkov, V. (eds) Springer Handbook of Spacetime. Springer Handbooks. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41992-8_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41992-8_8

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