Planck-scale physics: facts and beliefs

Abstract

The relevance of the Planck scale to a theory of quantum gravity has become a worryingly little examined assumption that goes unchallenged in the majority of research in this area. However, in all scientific honesty, the significance of Planck's natural units in a future physical theory of spacetime is only a plausible, yet by no means certain, assumption. The purpose of this article is to clearly separate fact from belief in this connection.

14 pages, Latex

References in corpus (7)

• Lectures on Loop Quantum Gravity
• Selected topics in Planck-scale physics
• Higher-Dimensional Algebra and Planck-Scale Physics
• Geometry, pregeometry and beyond
• On the Universality of the Entropy-Area Relation
• Is empty spacetime a physical thing?
• The New Planck Scale: Quantized Spin and Charge Coupled to Gravity

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Turning Big Bang into Big Bounce: I. Classical Dynamics
• Local Approach to Hawking Radiation
• Quarks, Hadrons, and Emergent Spacetime
• Linear Canonical Transformations in Relativistic Quantum Physics
• Gravity with torsion in non-conservative Maxwell-like gauge approach
• Low-velocity cosmic strings in accelerating universe
• Particle decay processes, the quantum Zeno effect and the continuity of time
• Derivation of the Planck Units Based in a Membranes Model
• MOND and Natural Scales of Distance and Mass
• Modified Newtonian dynamics and hadronic scales
• Examination of the nature of the Bianchi type cosmological singularities
• K-matter as Mach's principle realization