Selected Honorable Mentions from the Annual Essay Competition of the Gravity Research Foundation for the Year 2007No Access

SYMMETRIES, SINGULARITIES AND THE DE-EMERGENCE OF SPACE

THIBAULT DAMOUR

Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques, 35, Route de Chartres, F-91440 Bures-sur-Yvette, France

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and

HERMANN NICOLAI

Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, Albert-Einstein-Institut, Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam, Germany

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https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218271808012206Cited by:17 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

Recent work has revealed intriguing connections between a Belinsky–Khalatnikov–Lifshitz-type analysis of spacelike singularities in general relativity and certain infinite-dimensional Lie algebras, particularly the "maximally extended" hyperbolic Kac–Moody algebra E₁₀. In this essay we argue that these results may lead to an entirely new understanding of the (quantum) nature of space(–time) at the Planck scale, and hence — via an effective "de-emergence" of space near the singularity — to a novel mechanism for achieving background independence in quantum gravity.

This essay received an "honorable mention" in the 2007 Essay Competition of the Gravity Research Foundation.

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