Related papers: Four-Dimensional Spin Foam Perturbation Theory

We formulate the spin foam perturbation theory for three-dimensional Euclidean Quantum Gravity with a cosmological constant. We analyse the perturbative expansion of the partition function in the dilute-gas limit and we argue that the Baez…

We study perturbation theory for spin foam models on triangulated manifolds. Starting with any model of this sort, we consider an arbitrary perturbation of the vertex amplitudes, and write the evolution operators of the perturbed model as…

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 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.…

It is well known that, in the first-order formalism, pure three-dimensional gravity is just the BF theory. Similarly, four-dimensional general relativity can be formulated as BF theory with an additional constraint term added to the…

We review briefly the spin foam formalism for constructing path integrals for the BF and related theories. Then we describe how the path integral for the string theory on a group manifold can be defined as a two-dimensional spin foam state…

3-dimensional BF theory with gauge group $G$ (= Chern-Simons theory with non-compact gauge group $TG$) is a deceptively simple yet subtle topological gauge theory. Formally, its partition function is a sum/integral over the moduli space…

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 show that the degenerate sector of Spin(4) Plebanski formulation of four-dimensional gravity is exactly solvable and describes covariantly embedded SU(2) BF theory. This fact ensures that its spin foam quantization is given by the SU(2)…

We propose a spin foam model for pure gauge fields coupled to Riemannian quantum gravity in four dimensions. The model is formulated for the triangulation of a four-manifold which is given merely combinatorially. The Riemannian…

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…

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 construct a class of spin foam models describing matter coupled to gravity, such that the gravitational sector is described by the unitary irreducible representations of the appropriate symmetry group, while the matter sector is…

Starting from a Lie group G whose Lie algebra is equipped with an invariant nondegenerate symmetric bilinear form, we show that 4-dimensional BF theory with cosmological term gives rise to a TQFT satisfying a generalization of Atiyah's…

We construct a generalization of pure lattice gauge theory (LGT) where the role of the gauge group is played by a tensor category. The type of tensor category admissible (spherical, ribbon, symmetric) depends on the dimension of the…

We give a general definition of spin foam models, and then of models of 4d quantum gravity based on constraining BF theory. We highlight the construction and quantization ambiguities entering model building, among which the choice of…

We consider Riemannian 4d BF lattice gauge theory, on a triangulation of spacetime. Introducing the simplicity constraints which turn BF theory into simplicial gravity, some geometric quantities of Regge calculus, areas, and 3d and 4d…

Scalar field theories with quartic interactions are of central interest in the study of second-order phase transitions. For three-dimensional theories, numerous studies make use of the fixed-dimensional perturbative computation of [B.…

String and particle braiding statistics are examined in a class of topological orders described by discrete gauge theories with a gauge group $G$ and a 4-cocycle twist $\omega_4$ of $G$'s cohomology group…

In 4 dimensions, general relativity can be formulated as a constrained $BF$ theory; we show that the same is true in 2 dimensions. We describe a spinfoam quantization of this constrained BF-formulation of 2d riemannian general relativity,…