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Why space could be quantised on a different scale to matter
by Matthew J. Lake
This Submission thread is now published as
Submission summary
| Ontological classification |
| Academic field: |
Physics |
| Specialties:
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| Approaches: |
Theoretical, Phenomenological |
Abstract
The scale of quantum mechanical effects in matter is set by Planck's constant, $\hbar$. This represents the quantisation scale for material objects. In this article, we present a simple argument why the quantisation scale for space, and hence for gravity, may not be equal to $\hbar$. Indeed, assuming a single quantisation scale for both matter and geometry leads to the `worst prediction in physics', namely, the huge difference between the observed and predicted vacuum energies. Conversely, assuming a different quantum of action for geometry, $\beta \ll \hbar$, allows us to recover the observed density of the Universe. Thus, by measuring its present-day expansion, we may in principle determine, empirically, the scale at which the geometric degrees of freedom should be quantised.
Author comments upon resubmission
Dear Editor(s), Please see attached the revised version of the manuscript (v4). I found it very difficult to include the requested amount of technical detail within the essay style flow of the original draft. Therefore, I included it in a separate appendix. This may be regarded as a "half-way house" between the 5 page non-technical summary of the model given in the main text, which is suitable for a wide and diverse audience, such as that attending the Hanoi conference for which it was originally written, and the 150+ page derivation of the full mathematical formalism given in refs. [16], [18] and [19]. I hope that this satisfies the remaining concerns of the referee. For clarity, all changes from v3 of the manuscript are highlighted in blue. Best wishes - Matt
List of changes
Technical detail of the model has been added in a new appendix. Minor changes of language, in accordance with the referee's previous recommendations, have also been made within the main text. All changes from the previous version of the manuscript are highlighted in blue.
