Scaling-Based Quantization of Spacetime Microstructure

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel framework for quantum spacetime microstructure by promoting local scale factors to dynamical variables, leading to a discrete, quantized model that addresses vacuum energy and the cosmological constant problem.

Contribution

It develops a scale-based quantization approach for spacetime, incorporating a hierarchy of scale manifolds and spectral decomposition, offering new insights into quantum gravity and spacetime discreteness.

Findings

Derives a generalized uncertainty relation with scale dependence

Formulates scaled Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations

Constructs a microscopic area operator consistent with Bekenstein-Hawking entropy

Abstract

Planck-scale physics challenges the classical smooth-spacetime picture by introducing quantum fluctuations that imply a nontrivial spacetime microstructure. We present a framework that encodes these fluctuations by promoting local scale factors, rather than the metric tensor, to fundamental dynamical variables while preserving general covariance. The construction employs a two-tiered hierarchy of scale manifolds, comprising a first-order manifold of scale coordinates and a second-order manifold of fluctuation amplitude coordinates. On the first-order manifold, we formulate differential geometry, field equations, and a canonical quantization procedure. The theory yields a geometric renormalization-group flow for scale variables and implies spacetime discreteness at the microscopic level. By constructing a quadratic action and performing spectral decomposition with a stabilizing potential, we obtain discrete modal degrees of freedom quantized as harmonic oscillators. The framework proposes a microscopic description for zero-point energy of spacetime and explores implications for vacuum energy and ultraviolet regularization, suggesting a potential dynamical mechanism that could ameliorate the cosmological constant problem. Main results include a generalized uncertainty relation with scale-dependent coefficients, locally scaled Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations, geodesic equations for scale spacetime, and a microscopic area operator whose state counting is consistent with the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. This work develops a scale-based quantization procedure, providing a foundation for further mathematical analysis and phenomenological tests of spacetime quantization.