Infinitesimal Structure of Singularities
Feb 27, 2017Citations per year
Abstract: (MDPI)
Some important problems of general relativity, such as the quantisation of gravity or classical singularity problems, crucially depend on geometry on very small scales. The so-called synthetic differential geometry—a categorical counterpart of the standard differential geometry—provides a tool to penetrate infinitesimally small portions of space-time. We use this tool to show that on any “infinitesimal neighbourhood” the components of the curvature tensor are themselves infinitesimal, and construct a simplified model in which the curvature singularity disappears, owing to this effect. However, one pays a price for this result. Using topoi as a generalisation of spaces requires a weakening of arithmetic (the existence of infinitesimals) and of logic (to the intuitionistic logic). Is this too high a price to pay for acquiring a new method of solving unsolved problems in physics? Without trying, we shall never know the answer.- general relativity
- category theory
- synthetic differential geometry
- infinitesimal formal manifold
- curvature
- space-time singularity
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