Does matter differ from vacuum?
arXiv:gr-qc/9610066
Abstract
A structured collection of thought provoking conclusions about space and time is given. Using only the Compton wavelength lambda = hbar / m c and the Schwarzschild radius r_s = 2 G m / c^2, it is argued that neither the continuity of space-time nor the concepts of space-point, instant, or point particle have experimental backing at high energies. It is then deduced that Lorentz, gauge, and discrete symmetries are not precisely fulfilled in nature. In the same way, using a simple and new Gedankenexperiment, it is found that at Planck energies, vacuum is fundamentally indistinguishable from radiation and from matter. Some consequences for supersymmetry, duality, and unification are presented.
23 pages, LaTeX, one postscript figure in separate file (a raw latex sketch of the figure is available by deleting a \comment{} command in the tex file.)
References in corpus (8)
- Discreteness of area and volume in quantum gravity
- Uncertainty Relation in Quantum Mechanics with Quantum Group Symmetry
- Prima Facie Questions in Quantum Gravity
- Introduction to Braided Geometry and -Minkowski Space
- Gravitational Quantum Limit for Length Measurements
- TOPOLOGY CHANGE AND QUANTUM PHYSICS
- The Small Scale Structure of Space-Time: A Bibliographical Review
- Recent Mathematical Developments in Quantum General Relativity