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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 7: The role of geometry in gravitational theories

AGPhil 7.2: Vortrag

Donnerstag, 19. März 2015, 11:30–12:00, A 060

General Covariance, Diffeomorphism Invariance, and Background Independence in 5 Dimensions — •Antonio Vassallo — University of Lausanne, Department of Philosophy, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

The paper considers the "GR-desideratum", that is, the way general relativity implements general covariance, diffeomorphism invariance, and background independence. Two cases are discussed where 5-dimensional generalizations of general relativity - namely, the original Kaluza-Klein theory and induced matter theory - run into interpretational troubles when the GR-desideratum is forced upon them. It is then shown how the conceptual problems dissolve when such a desideratum is relaxed. In the end, it is suggested that a similar strategy might mitigate some major issues in modern spacetime physics, such as the problem of time in canonical quantum gravity or the embedding of quantum non-locality into relativistic spacetimes.