PIRSA:10120052

Local scale invariance as an alternative to Lorentz invariance

Gryb, S. (2010). Local scale invariance as an alternative to Lorentz invariance. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/10120052

Gryb, Sean. Local scale invariance as an alternative to Lorentz invariance. Perimeter Institute, Dec. 01, 2010, https://pirsa.org/10120052 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:10120052,
            doi = {10.48660/10120052},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/10120052},
            author = {Gryb, Sean},
            keywords = {Quantum Foundations},
            language = {en},
            title = {Local scale invariance as an alternative to Lorentz invariance},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2010},
            month = {dec},
            note = {PIRSA:10120052 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

Sean Gryb University of Groningen

DOI 10.48660/10120052
Collection
Talk Type Conference
Subject

Abstract

I will present a recent result showing that general relativity admits a dual description in terms of a 3D scale invariant theory. The dual theory was discovered by starting with the basic observation that, fundamentally, all observations can be broken down into local comparisons of spatial configurations. Thus, absolute local spatial size is unobservable. Inspired by this principle of "relativity of size", I will motivate a procedure that allows the refoliation invariance of general relativity to be traded for 3D local scale invariance. This trade does away with "many fingered time" and offers a new possibility for dealing with the many technical and conceptual difficulties associated with the Wheeler-DeWitt equation.