Related papers: Spin foams with timelike surfaces

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…

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…

We study the behavior of holonomy spin foam partition functions, a form of lattice gauge gravity, on generic 4d-triangulations using micro local analysis. To do so we adapt tools from the renormalization theory of quantum field theory on…

We study the semi-classical limit of the recently proposed coherent spin foam model for (2+1) Lorentzian quantum gravity. Specifically, we analyze the gluing equations derived from the stationary phase approximation of the vertex amplitude.…

A key point in the spin foam approach to quantum gravity is the implementation of simplicity constraints in the partition functions of the models. Here, we discuss the imposition of these constraints in a phase space setting corresponding…

This work is developed in the context of Lorentzian spin-foams with space- and time-like boundaries. It is argued that the equations describing the semiclassical regime of the various spin-foam amplitudes admit a common biquaternionic…

A surface theoretic view of non-perturbative quantum gravity as "spin-foams" was proposed by Baez. A possibility of constructing such a model was studied some time ago based on (2+1) dimensional general relativity as a reformulation of the…

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…

The first computation of a spin foam dynamics that provides a test of the quantum equations of motions of gravity is presented. Specifically, a triangulation that includes an inner edge is treated. The computation leverages the recently…

In this article we give a systematic definition of the recently introduced spin foam models for four dimensional quantum gravity reviewing the main results on their semiclassical limit on fixed discretizations.

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…

Numerical methods in spin-foam models have significantly advanced in the last few years, yet challenges remain in efficiently extracting results for amplitudes with many quantum degrees of freedom. In this paper we sketch a proposal for a…

We construct an effective cosmological spin-foam model for a (2+1) dimensional spatially flat universe, discretized on a hypercubical lattice, containing both space- and time-like regions. Our starting point is the recently proposed…

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.…

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…

A Kaluza-Klein like approach for a 4d spin foam model is considered. By applying this approach to a model based on group field theory in 4d (TOCY model), and using the Peter-Weyl expansion of the gravitational field, reconstruction of new…

The large $j$ asymptotic behavior of $4$-dimensional spin foam amplitude is investigated for the extended spin foam model (Conrady-Hnybida extension) on a simplicial complex. We study the most general situation in which timelike tetrahedra…

In this article we review the present status of the spin foam formulation of non-perturbative (background independent) quantum gravity. The article is divided in two parts. In the first part we present a general introduction to the main…

A construction of the 2d and 4d fuzzy de Sitter hyperboloids is carried out by using a (vector) coherent state quantization. We get a natural discretization of the dS "time" axis based on the spectrum of Casimir operators of the respective…

Just as 3d state sum models, including 3d quantum gravity, can be built using categories of group representations, "2-categories of 2-group representations" may provide interesting state sum models for 4d quantum topology, if not quantum…