A new spin on the hole argument

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 36 (3):415-434 (2004)
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Abstract

This brief paper shows how an exact analogue of Einstein's original hole argument can be constructed in the loop representation of quantum gravity. The new argument is based on the embedding of spin-networks in a manifold and the action of the diffeomorphism constraint on them. The implications of this result are then discussed. I argue that the conclusions of many physicists working on loop quantum gravity---Rovelli and Smolin in particular---that the loop representation uniquely supports relationalism are unfounded.

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Dean Rickles
University of Sydney

Citations of this work

A hole revolution, or are we back where we started?Oliver Pooley - 2006 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 37 (2):372-380.
Who's afraid of background independence?Dean Rickles - 2008 - In Dennis Geert Bernardus Johan Dieks, The Ontology of Spacetime II. Elsevier. pp. 133--52.

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References found in this work

What price spacetime substantivalism? The hole story.John Earman & John Norton - 1987 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 38 (4):515-525.
The Metaphysics of Space-Time Substantivalism.Carl Hoefer - 1996 - Journal of Philosophy 93 (1):5-27.
The hole truth.Jeremy Butterfield - 1989 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 40 (1):1-28.
Points, particles, and structural realism.Oliver Pooley - 2006 - In Dean Rickles, Steven French & Juha T. Saatsi, The Structural Foundations of Quantum Gravity. Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press. pp. 83--120.
The Essence of Space-Time.Tim Maudlin - 1988 - PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1988:82 - 91.

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