Physics NotePublished
Quantum Gravity, Classical Geometry: A Coherent Treatment
M. Novello; E. Elbaz
1989
Publication details
- Authors
- M. Novello; E. Elbaz
- Type
- Physics Note
- Status
- Published
- Publication date
- 1989
- Description
- After the work of many physicists — synthesized in a recent paper by Grishchuk, Petrov and Popova¹ — there is no more doubts that the exact Einstein's General Relativity admits a complete formal description in terms of a field theory in an (auxiliary) Minkowski background manifold. We explore here this property in order to propose a model in which gravity is to be quantized, although the observable metrical properties of space–time remain a classical structure. Thus, quantum fluctuations of the gravitational field can produce microscopic excitations without recurring to the metrical concept. In the macroscopic world — that is, in the observed domain of General Relativity, e.g., <math>\ell >> \ell_{Planck}</math> – only the geometrical quantities constructed from the classical (non-quantum) metric <math>g_{\mu\nu}\,\!</math> produce observable gravitational effects.
- Year
- 1989
- Number
- CBPF-NF-021/89
- Linked to a thesis
- No
- Linked to a grant
- No