Quantum Geometry

Book excerpt: This monograph presents a review and analysis of the main mathematical, physical and epistomological difficulties encountered at the foundational level by all the conventional formulations of relativistic quantum theories, ranging from relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum field theory in Minkowski space, to the various canonical and covariant approaches to quantum gravity. It is, however, primarily devoted to the systematic presentation of a quantum framework meant to deal effectively with these difficulties by reconsidering the foundations of these subjects, analyzing their epistemic nature, and then developing mathematical tools which are specifically designed for the elimination of all the basic inconsistencies. A carefully documented historical survey is included, and additional extensive notes containing quotations from original sources are incorporated at the end of each chapter, so that the reader will be brought up-to-date with the very latest developments in quantum field theory in curved spacetime, quantum gravity and quantum cosmology. The survey further provides a backdrop against which the new foundational and mathematical ideas of the present approach to these subjects can be brought out in sharper relief.