Former head of the CLPS, Jean Paul Van Bendegem, has invited David Crouse of Clarkson University, US, to give a lecture on discrete spacetime.
Summary: In this talk, the history of the concept of whether space and time are continuous or made up of fundamental building blocks will be presented. Namely, are space and time atomized or discretized at the Planck scale. We discuss the past leading models of discrete spacetime and the common problems typically associated with the concept. We then discuss a new model that strives to address all the problems and place the concept of discrete spacetime on a firm foundation. In particular, we will show that the new model—the Isotropic Model—addresses the problems of: adherence to the laws of special relativity, resolves the Weyl-tile problem, resolves Zeno’s stadium paradox, and avoids the anisotropy problems common to most other models of discrete spacetime. New physical phenomena and predictions will be discussed.