Related papers: Background Free Quantum Gravity based on Conformal…
We describe the definition and the role background independence and the closely related notion of diffeomorphism invariance play in modern string theory. These important concepts are transformed by a new understanding of gauge redundancies…
Globally conformal invariant quantum field theories in a D-dimensional space-time (D even) have rational correlation functions and admit an infinite number of conserved (symmetric traceless) tensor currents. In a theory of a scalar field of…
Local observables in (perturbative) quantum gravity are notoriously hard to define, since the gauge symmetry of gravity -- diffeomorphisms -- moves points on the manifold. In particular, this is a problem for backgrounds of high symmetry…
This series of lectures gives a simple and self-contained introduction to the non-perturbative and background independent loop approach of canonical quantum gravity. The Hilbert space of kinematical quantum states is constructed and a…
We study worldsheet conformal invariance for bosonic string propagating in a curved background using the hamiltonian formalism. In order to formulate the problem in a background independent manner we first rewrite the worldsheet theory in a…
For a four dimensional, unitary, diffeomorphism- and scale invariant quantum field theory without higher derivatives and a well defined scale current we argue that scale invariance implies conformal invariance. The proof relies on the…
We evaluate the phase diagram of quantum gravity within a fully diffeomorphism-invariant renormalisation group approach. The construction is based on the geometrical or Vilkovisky-DeWitt effective action. We also resolve the difference…
Flat Minkowski space (M$^4$) and AdS$_4$ can both be conformally mapped to the Einstein cylinder. The maps may be judiciously chosen so that some null generators of the $\mathcal{I}^+$ boundary of M$^4$ coincide with antipodally-terminating…
Scalar QFT on the boundary $\Im^+$ at null infinity of a general asymptotically flat 4D spacetime is constructed using the algebraic approach based on Weyl algebra associated to a BMS-invariant symplectic form. The constructed theory is…
Over the past five years, there has been significant progress on the problem of quantization of diffeomorphism covariant field theories with {\it local} degrees of freedom. The absence of a background space-time metric in these theories…
The concept of freely falling frames suggests that gravity exhibits a local Lorentz gauge symmetry and requires a background Minkowski reference frame. The gauge vector fields of a Yang-Mills-type theory can be constructed from the…
We propose an algebra of operators along an observer's worldline as a background-independent algebra in quantum gravity. In that context, it is natural to think of the Hartle-Hawking no boundary state as a universal state of maximum…
Within the functional renormalization group approach to Background Independent quantum gravity, we explore the scale dependent effective geometry of the de Sitter solution dS${}_4$. The investigation employs a novel approach whose essential…
In this paper free quantum theories are derived solely from their underlying symmetry group without reference to a Lagrangean or classical physics and then interactions are introduced by making use of automorphism of the symmetry algebra.…
The focus of this PhD thesis is on applications, new developments and extensions of the noncommutative gravity theory proposed by Julius Wess and his group. In part one we propose an extension of the usual symmetry reduction procedure to…
Perturbative quantum gravity starts from prescribing a background metric. That background metric is then used in order to carry out two separate steps: 1. One splits the non-perturbative metric into background and deviation from it…
According to Belinsky, Khalatnikov and Lifshitz, gravity near a space-like singularity reduces to a set of decoupled one-dimensional mechanical models at each point in space. We point out that these models fall into a class of conformal…
This is an introduction to the by now fifteen years old research field of canonical quantum general relativity, sometimes called "loop quantum gravity". The term "modern" in the title refers to the fact that the quantum theory is based on…
In this thesis we investigate various fundamental aspects of asymptotically safe quantum gravity, in particular the compatibility of Asymptotic Safety with the requirements for background independence and unitarity. The first part contains…
We discuss the conditions under which classically conformally invariant models in four dimensions can arise out of non-conformal (Einstein) gravity. As an `existence proof' that this is indeed possible we show how to derive N=4 super Yang…