Related papers: Exotic Smoothness and Quantum Gravity

We consider quantum transition amplitudes, partition functions and observables for 3D spin foam models within $SU(2)$ quantum group deformation symmetry, where the deformation parameter is a complex fifth root of unity. By considering…

Spin Foam and Loop approaches to Quantum Gravity reformulate Einstein's theory of relativity in terms of connection variables. The metric properties are encoded in face bivectors/conjugate fluxes that are required to satisfy certain…

We study the geometry and topology of exotic Springer fibers for orbits corresponding to one-row bipartitions from an explicit, combinatorial point of view. This includes a detailed analysis of the structure of the irreducible components…

We extend the correspondence between universal statistical features of large-$c$ 2d CFTs and surgery methods in pure AdS$_3$ quantum gravity. In particular, we introduce a method that we call RMT surgery, which relates a large class of…

A short survey of exotic smooth structutes on 4-manifolds is given with a special emphasis on the corresponding cork structures. Along the way we discuss some of the more recent results in this direction, obtained jointly with R.Matveyev,…

We derive a spacetime formulation of quantum general relativity from (hamiltonian) loop quantum gravity. In particular, we study the quantum propagator that evolves the 3-geometry in proper time. We show that the perturbation expansion of…

We define an operation on homology ${B}^4$ which we call an $n$-twist annulus modification. We give a new construction of smoothly slice knots and exotically slice knots via $n$-twist annulus modifications. As an application, we present a…

We provide a systematic description of the solid angle function as a means of constructing a knotted field for any curve or link in $\mathbb{R}^3$. This is a purely geometric construction in which all of the properties of the entire knotted…

We describe a kinetic theory approach to quantum gravity -- by which we mean a theory of the microscopic structure of spacetime, not a theory obtained by quantizing general relativity. A figurative conception of this program is like…

The canonical ``loop'' formulation of quantum gravity is a mathematically well defined, background independent, non perturbative standard quantization of Einstein's theory of General Relativity. Some among the most meaningful results of the…

Seiberg-Witten theory leads to a delicate interplay between Riemannian geometry and smooth topology in dimension four. In particular, the scalar curvature of any metric must satisfy certain non-trivial estimates if the manifold in question…

We connect topological changes that can occur in $3$-space via surgery, with black hole formation, the formation of wormholes and new generalizations of these phenomena, including relationships between quantum entanglement and wormhole…

An anisotropic elastic material is referred to as exotic when, under specific loadings, its mechanical response exhibits a higher degree of symmetry than that prescribed by its intrinsic material symmetry. Such materials, which may be…

We show that the smooth $4$-manifold $M$ obtained by attaching a $2$-handle to $B^4$ along a certain knot $K\subset \partial B^4$ admits infinitely many absolutely exotic copies $M_n$, $n=0,1,2..$, such that each copy $M_n$ is obtained by…

In loop quantum gravity, the area element of embedded spatial surfaces is given by a well-defined operator. We further characterize the quantized geometry of such surfaces by proposing definitions for operators quantizing scalar curvature…

In a recent paper, algebraic descriptions for all non-relativistic spins were derived by elementary means directly from the Lie algebra $\specialorthogonalliealgebra{3}$, and a connection between spin and the geometry of Euclidean…

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…

One of the emerging problems in algebraic geometry is to characterize the affine $n$-space $\mathbb{A}^n$ among smooth affine schemes up to $\mathbb{A}^1$-contractibility. Recent efforts show that this characterization holds in dimensions…

To a pair of elliptic curves, one can naturally attach two K3 surfaces: the Kummer surface of their product and a double cover of it, called the Inose surface. They have prominently featured in many interesting constructions in algebraic…

We investigate a particular realization of generalized q-differential calculus of exterior forms on a smooth manifold based on the assumption that the N-th power (N>2) of exterior differential is equal to zero. It implies the existence of…