Making a Quantum Universe: Symmetry and Gravity

Abstract

So far, none of attempts to quantize gravity has led to a satisfactory model that not only describe gravity in the realm of a quantum world, but also its relation to elementary particles and other fundamental forces. Here, we outline the preliminary results for a model of quantum universe, in which gravity is fundamentally and by construction quantic. The model is based on three well motivated assumptions with compelling observational and theoretical evidence: quantum mechanics is valid at all scales; quantum systems are described by their symmetries; universe has infinite independent degrees of freedom. The last assumption means that the Hilbert space of the Universe has SU(N→∞)≅areapreservingDiff.(S2) symmetry, which is parameterized by two angular variables. We show that, in the absence of a background spacetime, this Universe is trivial and static. Nonetheless, quantum fluctuations break the symmetry and divide the Universe to subsystems. When a subsystem is singled out as reference—observer—and another as clock, two more continuous parameters arise, which can be interpreted as distance and time. We identify the classical spacetime with parameter space of the Hilbert space of the Universe. Therefore, its quantization is meaningless. In this view, the Einstein equation presents the projection of quantum dynamics in the Hilbert space into its parameter space. Finite dimensional symmetries of elementary particles emerge as a consequence of symmetry breaking when the Universe is divided to subsystems/particles, without having any implication for the infinite dimensional symmetry and its associated interaction-percived as gravity. This explains why gravity is a universal force.