A Mathematical Approach to Physical Realism
I propose to ask mathematics itself for the possible behaviour of nature, with the focus on starting with a most simple realistic model, employing a philosophy of investigation rather than invention when looking for a unified theory of physics. Doing a ‘mathematical experiment’ of putting a least set of conditions on a general time-dependent manifold results in mathematics itself inducing a not too complex 4-dimensional object similar to our physical spacetime, with candidates for gravitational and electromagnetic fields emerging on the tangent bundle. This suggests that the same physics might govern spacetime not only on a macroscopic scale, but also on the microscopic scale of elementary particles, with possible junctions to quantum mechanics.