Dear Professor Misner,

May I share with you my thoughts on your work, and then will ask you and your colleagues for your critical comments and suggestions.

In 1962, you and your colleagues published "The Dynamics of General Relativity" [Ref. 1], in which the task has been stated as follows: "Thus it is necessary that the metric field be separated into the parts carrying the true dynamical information and those parts characterizing the coordinate system."

In 1973, you briefly mentioned the complications that quantum physics is likely to introduce to the question of geodesic behavior ("Gravitation", p. 480).

In May 2004, we're still befuddled with what could "eventually redirect physics on a healthier track when we learn to recognise the physically relevant facts that presumably lie in front of our eyes." [Ref. 2]

Here's my recipe. The 'true dynamical information' [Ref. 1] is being stored in a hypothetical atemporal medium (global mode of spacetime),

http://God-does-not-play-dice.net/Jack.html

The complications that quantum physics is likely to introduce to the question of geodesic behavior are sorted out by the dynamics of *the* quantum state,

http://God-does-not-play-dice.net/Seevinck.html

It is strictly non-unitary,

http://God-does-not-play-dice.net/faq.html#QM

The atemporal medium (global mode of spacetime) keeps all *potential* events, the 'unknown unknown' included. It does not permit any singularity, 'absolute zero of time' included [Ref. 3], since the universe has a dual age: infinite in the global mode of spacetime, and finite in the local mode of spacetime,

http://God-does-not-play-dice.net/Schwarz.html

The local mode can be read by an inanimate physical clock, while the global mode can be experienced only with the human brain,

http://God-does-not-play-dice.net/Azbel.html#self

http://God-does-not-play-dice.net/Linder.html#note

The good news is that we "pass away" only in the local mode.

The bad news is that I have been given the chance to explain all this only on one tiny little poster at GR17 in Dublin,

http://God-does-not-play-dice.net/GR17.html

I have to compete with each and every physicist there, on one little poster during a brief evening poster session, and have only Einstein on my side.

Your critical comments and suggestions will be highly appreciated, and will be kept strictly confidential.

I need your help, because the competition at GR17 may not be fair: one poster vs. all your colleagues. All of them *en bloc*.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Kindest regards,

Dimi Chakalov
--
http://God-does-not-play-dice.net
 

References

[Ref. 1] R. Arnowitt, S. Deser, and C.W. Misner, The Dynamics of General Relativity, gr-qc/0405109 v1. In: Gravitation: an Introduction to Current Research, ed. by Louis Witten (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1962), Chapter 7, pp. 227-264.

"1. Introduction

"The general coordinate invariance underlying the theory of relativity creates basic problems in the analysis of the dynamics of the gravitational field. Usually, specification of the field amplitudes and their first time derivatives initially is appropriate to determine the time development of a field viewed as a dynamical entity. For general relativity, however, the metric field  g_µv  may be modified at any later time simply by carrying out a general coordinate transformation. Such an operation does not involve any observable changes in the physics, since it merely corresponds to a relabeling under which the theory is invariant. Thus it is necessary that the metric field be separated into the parts carrying the true dynamical information and those parts characterizing the coordinate system."
 

[Ref. 2] Enrique Alvarez, Quantum Gravity, gr-qc/0405107 v1

"It is not clear at all what is the problem in quantum gravity (cf. [3] or [8] for general reviews, written in the same spirit as the present one). The answers to the following questions are not known, and I believe it can do no harm to think about them before embarking in a more technical discussion.
...

"This is the reason why all efforts such as the one in the present workshop, aiming at making contact with experiment and/or observation are welcome, and will eventually redirect physics on a healthier track when we learn to recognise the physically relevant facts that presumably lie in front of our eyes."
 

[Ref. 3] Charles W. Misner, Absolute Zero of Time, Phys. Rev. 186, 1328-1333 (25 October 1969)

"The Universe is meaningfully infinitely old because infinitely many things have happened since the beginning."