What can classical gravity tell us about quantum structure of spacetime?

Abstract

Several features of classical gravity, combined with the existence of Davies-Unruh temperature of horizon s, support the following paradigm: Gravitational field equations in a wide class of theories, including Einstein ’s theory, should be viewed as describing the thermodynamic limit of the statistical mechanics of (as yet unknown) atoms of spacetime. I present the conceptual evidence for this emergent paradigm and discuss several facets of this approach.