I am the founder of the general boundary formulation of quantum theory and more recently of the positive formalism. This is a research program aimed at unifying the foundations of quantum field theory, quantum information theory and (tentatively) quantum gravity, but also of classical statistical physics. At this stage, the positive formalism is used as the basis for a probability interpretation of loop quantum gravity, but it also integrates with categorical approaches to quantum theory, the process matrix formalism, the operator-tensor formulation of quantum theory, general probabilistic theories and many other approaches.
Some questions I am currently interested in:
- Can we understand better the essence of quantum theory? (in contrast to classical theory)
- Can time emerge in a quantum theory without background metric?
- Is a manifestly local description of quantum field theory possible?
- Is there a spectrum of realistic theories between classical and quantum?
Robert is faculty member at the Centro de Ciencias Matemáticas in Morelia, which is part of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.