Speaker
Claus Kiefer
Description
The problem of time is among the main conceptual challenges for any approach to quantum gravity. It is already present in classical general relativity, where it is called background independence, but it exhibits its full power only after quantization. I give a general introduction and point out ways
for its solution. The presentation is focused on quantum geometrodynamics, which is the canonical quantization of general relativity in metric variables. I give some examples and briefly discuss connected issues such as decoherence, semiclassical approximation, and the arrow of time.
