Related papers: Numerical evidence of regularized correlations in …

We show how Feynman amplitudes of standard QFT on flat and homogeneous space can naturally be recast as the evaluation of observables for a specific spin foam model, which provides dynamics for the background geometry. We identify the…

Spin foams arise from a quantization of classical gravity expressed via the Plebanski action. Key open questions related to the continuum limit of spin foams are whether general relativity is reproduced and what type of corrections could…

This is a review of the present status of loop and spin foam approaches to quantization of four-dimensional general relativity. It aims at raising various issues which seem to challenge some of the methods and the results often taken as…

We study the issue of coupling among 4-simplices in the context of spin foam models obtained from a group field theory formalism. We construct a generalisation of the Barrett-Crane model in which an additional coupling between the normals…

Spin foam models for quantum gravity are derived from lattice path integrals. The setting involves variables from both lattice BF theory and Regge calculus. The action consists in a Regge action, which depends on areas, dihedral angles and…

Spin foam vertex amplitudes are the key ingredient of spin foam models for quantum gravity. These fall into the realm of discretized path integral, and can be seen as generalized lattice gauge theories. They can be seen as an attempt at a…

We develop a numerical method to investigate the semiclassical limit of spin foam amplitudes with many vertices. We test it using the Ponzano-Regge model, a spin foam model for three-dimensional euclidean gravity, and a transition amplitude…

We present a simplicial model for gravity written in terms of a discretized Lorentz connection and a discretized tetrad field. The continuum limit of its action is Holst's action for general relativity. With the intention of using it to…

Local flatness is a property shared by all the spin foam models. It ensures that the theory's fundamental building blocks are flat by requiring locally trivial parallel transport. In the context of simplicial Lorentzian spin foam theory, we…

Any approach to pure quantum gravity must eventually face the question of coupling quantum matter to the theory. In the past, several ways of coupling matter to spin foam quantum gravity have been proposed, but the dynamics of the coupled…

The most common spin foam models of gravity are widely believed to be discrete path integral quantizations of the Plebanski action. However, their derivation in present formulations is incomplete and lower dimensional simplex amplitudes are…

We investigate a formulation of continuum 4d gravity in terms of a constrained topological (BF) theory, in the spirit of the Plebanski formulation, but involving only linear constraints, of the type used recently in the spin foam approach…

We provide the Barrett-Crane spin foam model for quantum gravity with a discrete action principle, consisting in the usual BF term with discretized simplicity constraints which in the continuum turn topological BF theory into gravity. The…

We present a rigorous regularization of Rovellis's generalized projection operator in canonical 2+1 gravity. This work establishes a clear-cut connection between loop quantum gravity and the spin foam approach in this simplified setting.…

We study four-dimensional simplicial gravity through numerical simulation with special attention to the existence of singular vertices, in the strong coupling phase, that are shared by abnormally large numbers of four-simplices. We attempt…

These notes are a didactic overview of the non perturbative and background independent approach to a quantum theory of gravity known as loop quantum gravity. The definition of real connection variables for general relativity, used as a…

We discuss motivation and goals of renormalization analyses of group field theory models of simplicial 4d quantum gravity, and review briefly the status of this research area. We present some new computations of perturbative GFT (spin foam)…

Using numerical calculations, we compare three versions of the Barrett-Crane model of 4-dimensional Riemannian quantum gravity. In the version with face and edge amplitudes as described by De Pietri, Freidel, Krasnov, and Rovelli, we show…

Starting from Plebanski formulation of gravity as a constrained BF theory we propose a new spin foam model for 4d Riemannian quantum gravity that generalises the well-known Barrett-Crane model and resolves the inherent to it ultra-locality…

The quantum geometry arising in Loop Quantum Gravity has been known to semi-classically lead to generalizations of length-geometries. There have been several attempts to interpret these so called twisted geometries and understand their role…