The aim of this book is to give graduate students an overview of quantum gravity but it also covers related topics from astrophysics. Some well-written contributions can serve as an introduction into basic conceptual concepts like time in quantum gravity or the emergence of a classical world from quantum cosmology. This makes the volume attractive to philosophers of science, too. Other topics are black holes, gravitational waves and non-commutative extensions of physical theories.

Inhalt

Are We at the Dawn of Quantum-Gravity Phenomenology?.- Classical and Quantum Physics of Isolated Horizons: A Brief Overview.- Old and New Processes of Vorton Formation.- Anti-de Sitter Supersymmetry.- Combinatorial Dynamics and Time in Quantum Gravity.- Non-commutative Extensions of Classical Theories in Physics.- Conceptual Issues in Quantum Cosmology.- Single-Exterior Black Holes.- Dirac-Bergmann Observables for Tetrad Gravity.- Meaning of Noncommutative Geometry and the Planck-Scale Quantum Group.- Loop Quantum Gravity and the Meaning of Diffeomorphism Invariance.- Black Holes in String Theory.- Gravitational waves and massless particle fields.