Laurent Freidel

Last updated
Laurent Freidel
Born
Laurent Freidel

France
Alma mater École normale supérieure de Lyon
Known for Loop quantum gravity and Spin Foam models of quantum gravity, specifically the Freidel-Krasnov spin foam model [1]
Scientific career
Institutions Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Thesis  (1994)

Laurent Freidel is a French theoretical physicist and mathematical physicist known mainly for his contributions to quantum gravity, including loop quantum gravity, spin foam models, doubly special relativity, group field theory, relative locality and most recently metastring theory. He is currently a faculty member at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. [2]

Freidel received his PhD in 1994 from the École normale supérieure de Lyon (ENSL) in Lyon, France. He stayed at ENSL officially as a research scientist for 12 years, until 2006. During that time he also held a postdoctoral position at Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania, United States from 1997 to 1999 and an adjunct professor position at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada from 2002 to 2009. In 2006 he joined Perimeter Institute as its ninth faculty member.

Between 2004 and 2006 Freidel has coauthored a series of papers on the Ponzano-Regge model, a spin foam model of 3-dimensional quantum gravity. [3] In 2007 he introduced, with Kirill Krasnov, a new spin foam model for 4-dimensional quantum gravity which has become known as the Freidel-Krasnov model. [1]

In 2011 Freidel published a paper with Giovanni Amelino-Camelia, Jerzy Kowalski-Glikman and Lee Smolin introducing the principle of relative locality, a proposed generalization of the principle of relativity in which different observers see different notions of spacetimes. [4] Between 2013 and 2015 he published a series of papers with Robert Leigh and Djordje Minic introducing a new formulation of string theory, metastring theory, which implements the notion of relative locality in a precise way and introduces a new notion of modular spacetime. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loop quantum gravity</span> Theory of quantum gravity, merging quantum mechanics and general relativity

Loop quantum gravity (LQG) is a theory of quantum gravity that incorporates matter of the Standard Model into the framework established for the intrinsic quantum gravity case. It is an attempt to develop a quantum theory of gravity based directly on Albert Einstein's geometric formulation rather than the treatment of gravity as a mysterious mechanism (force). As a theory, LQG postulates that the structure of space and time is composed of finite loops woven into an extremely fine fabric or network. These networks of loops are called spin networks. The evolution of a spin network, or spin foam, has a scale on the order of a Planck length, approximately 10−35 meters, and smaller scales are meaningless. Consequently, not just matter, but space itself, prefers an atomic structure.

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Doubly special relativity (DSR) – also called deformed special relativity or, by some, extra-special relativity – is a modified theory of special relativity in which there is not only an observer-independent maximum velocity, but also an observer-independent maximum energy scale and/or a minimum length scale. This contrasts with other Lorentz-violating theories, such as the Standard-Model Extension, where Lorentz invariance is instead broken by the presence of a preferred frame. The main motivation for this theory is that the Planck energy should be the scale where as yet unknown quantum gravity effects become important and, due to invariance of physical laws, this scale should remain fixed in all inertial frames.

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Schild's Ladder is a 2002 science fiction novel by Australian author Greg Egan. The book derives its name from Schild's ladder, a construction in differential geometry, devised by the mathematician and physicist Alfred Schild.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spin foam</span> Topological structure used in a description of quantum gravity

In physics, the topological structure of spinfoam or spin foam consists of two-dimensional faces representing a configuration required by functional integration to obtain a Feynman's path integral description of quantum gravity. These structures are employed in loop quantum gravity as a version of quantum foam.

The Immirzi parameter is a numerical coefficient appearing in loop quantum gravity (LQG), a nonperturbative theory of quantum gravity. The Immirzi parameter measures the size of the quantum of area in Planck units. As a result, its value is currently fixed by matching the semiclassical black hole entropy, as calculated by Stephen Hawking, and the counting of microstates in loop quantum gravity.

The history of loop quantum gravity spans more than three decades of intense research.

In general relativity, Regge calculus is a formalism for producing simplicial approximations of spacetimes that are solutions to the Einstein field equation. The calculus was introduced by the Italian theoretician Tullio Regge in 1961.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Causal dynamical triangulation</span> Hypothetical approach to quantum gravity with emergent spacetime

Causal dynamical triangulation (CDT), theorized by Renate Loll, Jan Ambjørn and Jerzy Jurkiewicz, is an approach to quantum gravity that, like loop quantum gravity, is background independent.

In relativistic physics, Lorentz invariance states that the laws of physics should remain unchanged under Lorentz transformation. In quantum gravity, Lorentz invariance measures the universal features in the hypothetical loop quantum gravity universes; which is a hypothetical theory that explains the quantum theory of gravity based on a geometrical interpretation of the theory of relativity. The various hypothetical design models for the universe, multiverse, and loop quantum gravity could have various general covariant principle results.

Sundance Osland Bilson-Thompson is an Australian theoretical particle physicist. He has developed the idea that certain preon models may be represented topologically, rather than by treating preons as pointlike particles. His ideas have attracted interest in the field of loop quantum gravity, as they may represent a way of incorporating the Standard Model into loop quantum gravity. This would make loop quantum gravity a candidate theory of everything.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Group field theory</span> Quantum field theory with a Lie group base manifold

Group field theory (GFT) is a quantum field theory in which the base manifold is taken to be a Lie group. It is closely related to background independent quantum gravity approaches such as loop quantum gravity, the spin foam formalism and causal dynamical triangulation. Its perturbative expansion can be interpreted as spin foams and simplicial pseudo-manifolds (depending on the representation of the fields). Thus, its partition function defines a non-perturbative sum over all simplicial topologies and geometries, giving a path integral formulation of quantum spacetime.

Twisted geometries are discrete geometries that play a role in loop quantum gravity and spin foam models, where they appear in the semiclassical limit of spin networks. A twisted geometry can be visualized as collections of polyhedra dual to the nodes of the spin network's graph. Intrinsic and extrinsic curvatures are defined in a manner similar to Regge calculus, but with the generalisation of including a certain type of metric discontinuities: the face shared by two adjacent polyhedra has a unique area, but its shape can be different. This is a consequence of the quantum geometry of spin networks: ordinary Regge calculus is "too rigid" to account for all the geometric degrees of freedom described by the semiclassical limit of a spin network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shape dynamics</span>

In theoretical physics, shape dynamics is a theory of gravity that implements Mach's principle, developed with the specific goal to obviate the problem of time and thereby open a new path toward the resolution of incompatibilities between general relativity and quantum mechanics.

Relative locality is a proposed physical phenomenon in which different observers would disagree on whether two space-time events are coincident. This is in contrast to special relativity and general relativity in which different observers may disagree on whether two distant events occur at the same time but if an observer infers that two events are at the same spacetime position then all observers will agree.

In physics, Born reciprocity, also called reciprocal relativity or Born–Green reciprocity, is a principle set up by theoretical physicist Max Born that calls for a duality-symmetry among space and momentum. Born and his co-workers expanded his principle to a framework that is also known as reciprocity theory.

In theoretical physics, the problem of time is a conceptual conflict between general relativity and quantum mechanics in that quantum mechanics regards the flow of time as universal and absolute, whereas general relativity regards the flow of time as malleable and relative. This problem raises the question of what time really is in a physical sense and whether it is truly a real, distinct phenomenon. It also involves the related question of why time seems to flow in a single direction, despite the fact that no known physical laws at the microscopic level seem to require a single direction.

References

  1. 1 2 Freidel, Laurent; Krasnov, Kirill (21 June 2008). "A new spin foam model for 4D gravity". Classical and Quantum Gravity. 25 (12): 125018. arXiv: 0708.1595 . Bibcode:2008CQGra..25l5018F. doi:10.1088/0264-9381/25/12/125018. S2CID   119138842.
  2. "Laurent Freidel's homepage at Perimeter Institute".
  3. Freidel, Laurent; Louapre, David (21 December 2004). "Ponzano–Regge model revisited: I. Gauge fixing, observables and interacting spinning particles". Classical and Quantum Gravity. 21 (24): 5685–5726. arXiv: hep-th/0401076 . Bibcode:2004CQGra..21.5685F. doi:10.1088/0264-9381/21/24/002. S2CID   42369187.
  4. Amelino-Camelia, Giovanni; Freidel, Laurent; Kowalski-Glikman, Jerzy; Smolin, Lee (October 2011). "Principle of relative locality". Physical Review D. 84 (8): 084010. arXiv: 1101.0931 . Bibcode:2011PhRvD..84h4010A. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.84.084010. S2CID   49921081.
  5. Freidel, Laurent; Leigh, Robert; Minic, Djordje (2015). "Metastring Theory and Modular Space-time". Journal of High Energy Physics. 2015 (6): 6. arXiv: 1502.08005 . Bibcode:2015JHEP...06..006F. doi:10.1007/JHEP06(2015)006. S2CID   55570067.