PhD Comprehensive Exam | Tales Rick Perche, A Theory for the Geometry of Spacetime in terms of Quantum Measurements

MC 6460

Candidate

Tales Rick Perche | Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo

Title

A Theory for the Geometry of Spacetime in terms of Quantum Measurements

Abstract

For over one hundred years physicists have been developing successful descriptions of the forces of the universe as interactions of quantum fields. This idea has proven successful for the electromagnetic, weak, and strong forces. However, the tools of quantum field theory seem unable to describe “the force of gravity” at a fundamental level. In fact, if there is one thing that Einstein’s theory of general relativity has taught us, it is that gravity is not a force: it is the consequence of the curvature of spacetime itself. Therefore, a satisfactory theory of quantum gravity must provide a quantum description for spacetime. The goal of my research is to find such a description based on the idea that the information about the geometry of spacetime is encoded in the correlations of quantum fields, as discussed in Phys. Rev. D 93, 045026 (2016), Front. Phys. 9, 247 (2021) and later explored in Phys. Rev. D 105, 066011 (2022). Taking a step forward, it might be possible to define spacetime in a consistent way which is emergent from the correlation functions of quantum fields.