Towards Quantum Gravity: Proceeding of the XXXV International Winter School on Theoretical Physics Held in Polanica, Poland, 2–11 February 1999

Giovanni Amelino-Camelia (auth.), Jerzy Kowalski-Glikman (eds.)3540669108, 9783540669104

The aim of this book is to give graduate students an overview of quantum gravity but it also covers related topics from astrophysics. Some well-written contributions can serve as an introduction into basic conceptual concepts like time in quantum gravity or the emergence of a classical world from quantum cosmology. This makes the volume attractive to philosophers of science, too. Other topics are black holes, gravitational waves and non-commutative extensions of physical theories.

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Table of contents :
Are We at the Dawn of Quantum-Gravity Phenomenology?….Pages 1-49
Classical and Quantum Physics of Isolated Horizons: A Brief Overview….Pages 50-70
Old and New Processes of Vorton Formation….Pages 71-78
Anti-de Sitter Supersymmetry….Pages 79-100
Combinatorial Dynamics and Time in Quantum Gravity….Pages 101-129
Non-commutative Extensions of Classical Theories in Physics….Pages 130-157
Conceptual Issues in Quantum Cosmology….Pages 158-187
Single-Exterior Black Holes….Pages 188-202
Dirac-Bergmann Observables for Tetrad Gravity….Pages 203-226
Meaning of Noncommutative Geometry and the Planck-Scale Quantum Group….Pages 227-276
Loop Quantum Gravity and the Meaning of Diffeomorphism Invariance….Pages 277-324
Black Holes in String Theory….Pages 325-364
Gravitational waves and massless particle fields….Pages 365-376