Related papers: Spacetime foam
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…
The behavior of bosonic systems in the presence of space-time foam is analyzed within the simplistic model of a set of scalar fields on a flat background. We discuss the formula for the path integral which allows to account for the all…
The spin foam framework provides a way to define the dynamics of canonical loop quantum gravity in a spacetime covariant way, by using a path integral over histories of quantum states which can be interpreted as `quantum space-times'. This…
A mathematical formalism for treating spacetime topology as a quantum observable is provided. We describe spacetime foam entirely in algebraic terms. To implement the correspondence principle we express the classical spacetime manifold of…
It has been recently shown that a certain non-topological spin foam model can be obtained from the Feynman expansion of a field theory over a group. The field theory defines a natural ``sum over triangulations'', which removes the cut off…
Spacetime is composed of a fluctuating arrangement of bubbles or loops called spacetime foam, or quantum foam. We use the holographic principle to deduce its structure, and show that the result is consistent with gedanken experiments…
This is an introduction to spin foam models for non-perturbative quantum gravity, an approach that lies at the point of convergence of many different research areas, including loop quantum gravity, topological quantum field theories, path…
In loop quantum gravity we now have a clear picture of the quantum geometry of space, thanks in part to the theory of spin networks. The concept of `spin foam' is intended to serve as a similar picture for the quantum geometry of spacetime.…
The space-time foam formulas, quoted below in Eqs (1) and (3), express the minimal amount of quantum uncertainty to be introduced into the structure of the Einsteinian space-time in order to make that structure compatible with quantum…
Spin foam models are a new approach to a formulation of quantum gravity which is fully background independent, non-perturbative, and covariant, in the spirit of path integral formulations of quantum field theory. In this thesis we describe…
Spacetime undergoes quantum fluctuations, giving rise to spacetime foam, a.k.a. quantum foam. We discuss some properties of spacetime foam, and point out the conceptual interconnections in the physics of quantum foam, black holes, and…
It is found that the existence of spacetime foam leads to a situation in which the number of fundamental quantum bosonic fields is a variable quantity. The general aspects of an exact theory that allows for a variable number of fields are…
An approximate model of the spacetime foam is offered in which a quantum handle (wormhole) is a 5D wormhole-like solution. Neglecting the linear sizes of the wormhole throat we can introduce a spinor field for an approximate and effective…
In a novel application of the tools of topological data analysis (TDA) to nonperturbative quantum gravity, we introduce a new class of observables that allows us to assess whether quantum spacetime really resembles a ``quantum foam" near…
We describe a class of spin foam models of four-dimensional quantum gravity which is based on the integration of the tetrad one-forms in the path integral for the Palatini action of General Relativity. In the Euclidian gravity case this…
A simple model of spacetime foam, made by spherically symmetric wormholes, with or without a cosmological term is proposed. The black hole area quantization and its consequences are examined in this context. We open the possibility of…
The goal of spin foam models is to provide a viable path integral formulation of quantum gravity. Because of background independence, their underlying framework has certain novel features that are not shared by path integral formulations of…
The spectral dimension has proven to be a very informative observable to understand the properties of quantum geometries in approaches to quantum gravity. In loop quantum gravity and its spin foam description, it has not been possible so…
While the use of spin networks has greatly improved our understanding of the kinematical aspects of quantum gravity, the dynamical aspects remain obscure. To address this problem, we define the concept of a `spin foam' going from one spin…
An effective model for the spacetime foam is constructed in terms of nonlocal interactions in a classical background. In the weak-coupling approximation, the evolution of the low-energy density matrix is determined by a master equation that…