Interpreting Theories without a Spacetime

TL;DR

This paper explores how theories lacking spacetime can be interpreted and understood, emphasizing the link between interpretation and scientific understanding through analysis of various approaches in high-energy physics.

Contribution

It provides a detailed account of interpreting spacetime-less theories and introduces three tools used by physicists to construct understanding.

Findings

Analysis of 't Hooft approximation, random matrix models, causal sets, loop quantum gravity, and group field theory.

Identification of three interpretative tools for understanding spacetime-less theories.

Demonstration of how these tools facilitate scientific understanding.

Abstract

In this paper we have two aims: first, to draw attention to the close connexion between interpretation and scientific understanding; second, to give a detailed account of how theories without a spacetime can be interpreted, and so of how they can be understood. In order to do so, we of course need an account of what is meant by a theory `without a spacetime': which we also provide in this paper. We describe three tools, used by physicists, aimed at constructing interpretations which are adequate for the goal of understanding. We analyse examples from high-energy physics illustrating how physicists use these tools to construct interpretations and thereby attain understanding. The examples are: the 't Hooft approximation of gauge theories, random matrix models, causal sets, loop quantum gravity, and group field theory.