Related papers: Exotic Smoothness and Quantum Gravity
In this article, we construct an orbifold quantum cohomology twisted by a flat gerbe. Then we compute these invariants in the case of a smooth manifold and a discrete torsion on a global quotient orbifold.
Dynamical quantum field theories (QFTs), such as those in which spacetimes are equipped with a metric and/or a field in the form of a smooth map to a target manifold, can be formulated axiomatically using the language of…
We explore the sum over topologies in AdS$_3$ quantum gravity and its relationship with the statistical interpretation of the boundary theory. We formulate a statistical version of the conformal bootstrap that systematizes the universal…
Finite-order invariants of knots in arbitrary 3-manifolds (including non-orientable ones) are constructed and studied by methods of the topology of discriminant sets. Obstructions to the integrability of admissible weight systems to…
We count the number of isotopy classes of closed, connected, orientable, essential surfaces embedded in the exterior B of the knot K13n586.The main result is that the count of surfaces by genus is equal to the Euler totent function. This is…
We show how to construct absolutely exotic smooth structures on compact 4-manifolds with boundary, including contractible manifolds. In particular, we prove that any compact smooth 4-manifold W with boundary that admits a relatively exotic…
Spin networks are at the core of quantum gravity. Our aim is to plug the mathematical community at large into the procedures turn to create a finite quantum theory of general relativity. For this, because of the different cultural…
Recent work on the loop representation of quantum gravity has revealed previously unsuspected connections between knot theory and quantum gravity, or more generally, 3-dimensional topology and 4-dimensional generally covariant physics. We…
We consider the action of symplectic monodromy on chain-level enhancements of quantum cohomology. First, we construct a family version of $A_\infty$-structure on quantum cohomology (this should morally correspond to Hochschild cohomology of…
This manuscript is the first in a series of instalments that investigate spherically symmetric solutions within the effective dynamics program of Loop Quantum Gravity. The choice of lattice is adapted such that it remains invariant under a…
Many approaches to quantum gravity require replacing the traditional black hole geometry with an Exotic Compact Object (ECO), which has a large but not infinite redshift at its surface. We argue that near the ECO surface, the vacuum…
The phenomenology for the deep spatial geometry of loop quantum gravity is discussed. In the context of a simple model of an atom of space, it is shown how purely combinatorial structures can affect observations. The angle operator is used…
In previous work, we proposed a general framework of positive topological field theories (TFTs) based on Eilenberg's notion of summation completeness for semirings. In the present paper, we apply this framework in constructing explicitly a…
We review recent work in the lattice approach to random surfaces and quantum gravity. Our task is made somewhat easier by some very interesting results, particularly in four dimensions, that have appeared recently and which are reported…
We prove a surgery formula for the ordinary Seiberg-Witten invariants of smooth $4$-manifolds with $b_1 =1$. Our formula expresses the Seiberg-Witten invariants of the manifold after the surgery, in terms of the original Seiberg-Witten…
Wall-type stabilization problems investigate the collapse of exotic 4-dimensional phenomena under stabilization operations (e.g., taking connected sums with $S^2 \times S^2$). We propose an elementary approach to these problems, providing a…
We explore different (and complementary) views of spinors and their exotic counterparts, linking the very existence of the later to the presence of black holes. Moreover, we investigate the effects of the exotic term in the Hawking…
This article is the second of two in which we develop a geometric framework for analysing silent and anisotropic big bang singularities. In the present article, we record geometric conclusions obtained by combining the geometric framework…
Fintushel-Stern's knot surgery gave many pairs of exotic manifolds, which are homeomorphic but non-diffeomorphic. We show that if an elliptic fibration has two parallel, oppositely oriented vanishing circles (for example $S^2\times S^2$ or…
We study a deformation of infinitesimal diffeomorphisms of a smooth manifold. The deformation is based on a general twist. This leads to a differential geometry on a noncommutative algebra of functions whose product is a star-product. The…