Spontaneous Dimensional Reduction in Short-Distance Quantum Gravity?

ORAL

Abstract

Several lines of evidence hint that quantum gravity at very small distances may be effectively two-dimensional. I will summarize the evidence for such ``spontaneous dimensional reduction,'' and suggest an additional argument coming from the strong-coupling limit of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. If this description proves to be correct, it suggests an interesting relationship between small-scale quantum spacetime and the behavior of cosmologies near an asymptotically silent singularity.

Authors

  • Steven Carlip

    UC Davis