On the origin of gravity and the laws of Newton (Q715531): Difference between revisions

The author of this interesting paper considers the idea how one may start from basic principles and general assumptions and having in mind a heuristic argument to show that the Newton's law of gravitation arises in the theory in which space emerges through a holographic scenario. Starting from first principles, using only space independent concepts like energy, entropy and temperature, it is shown that Newton's laws appear naturally and unavoidably. The author argues that the main notion needed to derive gravity is information, i.e. it is the amount of information associated with matter and its location. The gravity is identified with an entropic force caused by changes in the information associated with the positions of material bodies. It is shown that the above mentioned force, given certain assumptions, takes the form of gravity. The most important assumption is that the information associated with a part of space obeys the holographic principle, that was noticed by \textit{L. Susskind} [J. Math. Phys. 36, No. 11, 6377--6396 (1995; Zbl 0850.00013)] and \textit{G. 't Hooft} [in: Approaches to quantum gravity. Toward a new understanding of space, time and matter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 13-25 (2009; Zbl 1185.83014)]. By reversing the logic that leads us from the laws of gravity to holography, we may obtain a simpler explanation of what gravity is. It turns out that the gravity can be described as being due to the change of closed strings, thus it could be explained from an emergent scenario. Finally, the author concludes that the holographic hypothesis provides a natural mechanism for gravity to emerge. It allows direct interactions between degrees of freedom associated with one material body and another, since all bodies inside a volume can be mapped on the same holographic screen.