There are phenomena, on a wide range of scales, where conventional notions of space and time appear to be insufficient. Examples are laboratory experiments where spacetime is 'set in a quantum superposition', the end of the evaporation of black holes, the very early universe. The project aims at understanding reality in these contexts, addressing the question: are space and time irreducible aspects of reality? Can physics be developed without them?
Members of three intellectual communities bring complementary instruments to this aim: theoretical and conceptual tools from Quantum Information, the spinnetwork/spinfoam formalism of non-perturbative Quantum Gravity, and the conceptual clarity of analytic Philosophy.
The project gathers a consortium of ~ 30 faculties and ~ 30 postdocs and students, organized into two hubs (Madrid and Vienna) and satellites research groups (Bonn, Brussels, Cyprus, Florida, London Holloway, London UCL, Louisiana, Marseille, Melbourne, Okinawa, Oxford, Paris, Pennsylvania, Perimeter, Zurich). It supports postdoctoral scholarships, collaborations, workshops, schools, and outreach activity. We expect it to advance a coherent understanding of these phenomena, work towards verifiable predictions, and promote a research culture focusing on big questions and conceptual problems.
