Emergent relativity: Classical drama at the horizon

Nikolić, Hrvoje Emergent relativity: Classical drama at the horizon. Working Paper. UNSPECIFIED. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Motivated by the black hole information paradox, we propose a reformulation of the classical theory of relativity. The main assumption is that classical space is discretized at very small length scales, while time remains continuous. This breaks Lorentz invariance at short distances, implies the existence of a fundamental preferred reference frame, and indicates that the fundamental kinematic notions of time and space are independent of the dynamical metric field. Special and general relativity are then understood as emergent, effective theories, valid only at sufficiently large scales. Observers moving at ultra-relativistic velocities relative to the preferred frame, as well as freely falling observers near a black hole horizon, see a drama, namely a radical deviation from the predictions of relativity. Physics in the black hole interior encounters an even more radical departure from the relativity theory. Such a reformulation of classical physics in black holes and close to their horizons leads to a simple resolution of the black hole information paradox. The quantization of such a theory with a pre-dynamical time and a discrete pre-dynamical space is, in principle, straightforward.

Item Type:

Report (Working Paper)

Uncontrolled Keywords:

emergent relativity; discrete space; black hole; information paradox

Subjects:

NATURAL SCIENCES > Physics > General and Classical Physics
NATURAL SCIENCES > Physics > Physics of Elementary Particles and Fields

Divisions:

Theoretical Physics Division

Projects: