Related papers: A New Spin Foam Model for 4d Gravity
We define a four-dimensional spin-foam perturbation theory for the ${\rm BF}$-theory with a $B\wedge B$ potential term defined for a compact semi-simple Lie group $G$ on a compact orientable 4-manifold $M$. This is done by using the formal…
Spin foam models, an approach to defining the dynamics of loop quantum gravity, make use of the Plebanski formulation of gravity, in which gravity is recovered from a topological field theory via certain constraints called simplicity…
We present a new group field theory describing 3d Riemannian quantum gravity coupled to matter fields for any choice of spin and mass. The perturbative expansion of the partition function produces fat graphs colored with SU(2) algebraic…
We present the construction of a new state sum model for $4d$ Lorentzian quantum gravity based on the description of quantum simplicial geometry in terms of edge vectors. Quantum states and amplitudes for simplicial geometry are built from…
Spherical reduction of generic four-dimensional theories is revisited. Three different notions of "spherical symmetry" are defined. The following sectors are investigated: Einstein-Cartan theory, spinors, (non-)abelian gauge fields and…
We show how super BF theory in any dimension can be quantized as a spin foam model, generalizing the situation for ordinary BF theory. This is a first step toward quantizing supergravity theories. We investigate in particular 3-dimensional…
The goal of this paper is to introduce a systematic approach to spin foams. We define operator spin foams, that is foams labelled by group representations and operators, as the main tool. An equivalence relation we impose in the set of the…
Lattice Gauge Theory in 4-dimensional Euclidean space-time is generalized to ribbon categories which replace the category of representations of the gauge group. This provides a framework in which the gauge group becomes a quantum group…
In the tetrad formulation of gravity, the so-called simplicity constraints play a central role. They appear in the Hamiltonian analysis of the theory, and in the Lagrangian path integral when constructing the gravity partition function from…
This thesis discusses the topological aspects of quantum gravity, focusing on the connection between 2D quantum gravity and 2D topological gravity. The mathematical background for the discussion is presented in the first two chapters. The…
We review the dual transformation from pure lattice gauge theory to spin foam models with an emphasis on a geometric viewpoint. This allows us to give a simple dual formulation of SU(N) Yang-Mills theory, where spin foam surfaces are…
BF theory is a topological theory that can be seen as a natural generalization of 3-dimensional gravity to arbitrary dimensions. Here we show that the coupling to point particles that is natural in three dimensions generalizes in a direct…
Just as 3d state sum models, including 3d quantum gravity, can be built using categories of group representations, "2-categories of 2-group representations" may provide interesting state sum models for 4d quantum topology, if not quantum…
In this paper we consider a model for gravity in 4-dimensional space-time originally proposed by Chamseddine, which may be derived by dimensional reduction and truncation from a 5-dimensional Chern-Simons theory. Its topological origin…
Spin foam models are the path integral counterparts to loop quantized canonical theories. In the last few years several spin foam models of gravity have been proposed, most of which live on finite simplicial lattice spacetime. The lattice…
We derive the modified Friedmann equations for a generalization of the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) model in which the brane has one additional compact dimension. The main new feature is the emission of gravitational waves into the bulk.…
We present a spinfoam formulation of Lorentzian quantum General Relativity. The theory is based on a simple generalization of an Euclidean model defined in terms of a field theory over a group. The model is an extension of a recently…
Building on recent advances in defining Wilsonian RG flows, and in particular the notion of scales, for background-independent theories, we present a first investigation of the renormalization of the 4d spin foam path integral for quantum…
In the spinfoam framework for quantum gravity, we investigate the conditions to have a physical quantum state for the Barrett-Crane model for the 4d quantum gravity path integral. More precisely, we look at the simplest case of a single…
Spin foam models are an approach to quantum gravity based on the concept of sum over states, which aims to describe quantum spacetime dynamics in a way that its parent framework, loop quantum gravity, has not as of yet succeeded. Since…