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According to the argument in this post, a theory of Quantum Gravity should not be compatible with the notion of time evolution. This is also called "The Problem of time".

However, the target spacetime formulation of string theory does have a notion of universal background time given by the target spacetime. So it seems like it does not address the problem of time. The CFT part of AdS/CFT is also a QFT with a well-defined universal time.

So does String theory not address this problem? If no, then what does it say about it?

Qmechanic
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Ryder Rude
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1 Answers1

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There is not necessarily a problem of time in String Theory. The problem of time arises when solving the canonical quantization of gravity, i.e., the Wheeler-de Witt equation. String theory provides a different explanation of gravity than canonical quantization. So there may or may not be fundamental time evolution in the ultimate string theory, if such a theory is ever found.

Travis
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