PIRSA:19080084

General Covariance and Causal Sets

Dowker, F. (2019). General Covariance and Causal Sets. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/19080084

Dowker, Fay. General Covariance and Causal Sets. Perimeter Institute, Aug. 29, 2019, https://pirsa.org/19080084 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:19080084,
            doi = {10.48660/19080084},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/19080084},
            author = {Dowker, Fay},
            keywords = {Quantum Gravity},
            language = {en},
            title = {General Covariance and Causal Sets},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2019},
            month = {aug},
            note = {PIRSA:19080084 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

Fay Dowker

Imperial College London

Talk number
PIRSA:19080084
Collection
Talk Type
Subject
Abstract

If General Relativity emerges from quantum gravity, then general covariance, the gauge invariance of GR, will emerge with it. We can ask, within any approach to the problem of quantum gravity, what is the “precursor” principle or precept that will give rise to — or manifest itself as — general covariance in the large scale semi-classical approximation?
Given how important the understanding of general covariance (or lack of it!) was in the development of GR we might expect that thinking about this question will be similarly important in the development of quantum gravity.
I will explain how general covariance is seen from the perspective of the causal set approach to quantum gravity and describe recent progress in creating a framework for causal set dynamics that is completely covariant and does not refer to any gauge degrees of freedom at all.