Related papers: Holomorphic Simplicity Constraints for 4d Riemanni…
Within the framework of spinfoam models, we revisit the simplicity constraints reducing topological BF theory to 4d Riemannian gravity. We use the reformulation of SU(2) intertwiners and spin networks in term of spinors, which has come out…
The spinfoam framework is a proposal for a regularized path integral for quantum gravity. Spinfoams define quantum space-time structures describing the evolution in time of the spin network states for quantum geometry derived from Loop…
Loop quantum gravity has provided us with a canonical framework especially devised for background independent and diffeomorphism invariant gauge field theories. In this quantization the fundamental excitations are called spin network…
In the context of loop quantum gravity and spinfoam models, the simplicity constraints are essential in that they allow to write general relativity as a constrained topological BF theory. In this work, we apply the recently developed U(N)…
Spinfoam models provide a covariant formulation of the dynamics of loop quantum gravity. They are non-perturbatively defined in the group field theory (GFT) framework: the GFT partition function defines the sum of spinfoam transition…
We revise imposition of various constraints in spin foam models of 4-dimensional general relativity. We argue that the usual simplicity constraint must be supplemented by a constraint on holonomies and together they must be inserted…
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 introduce a vertex amplitude for 4d loop quantum gravity. We derive it from a conventional quantization of a Regge discretization of euclidean general relativity. This yields a spinfoam sum that corrects some difficulties of the…
We explore how to extract effective dynamics from loop quantum gravity and spinfoams truncated to a finite fixed graph, with the hope of modeling symmetry-reduced gravitational systems. We particularize our study to the 2-vertex graph with…
Spinfoams provide a framework for the dynamics of loop quantum gravity that is manifestly covariant under the full four-dimensional diffeomorphism symmetry group of general relativity. In this way they complete the ideal of…
We perform a quantization of the loop gravity phase space purely in terms of spinorial variables, which have recently been shown to provide a direct link between spin network states and simplicial geometries. The natural Hilbert space to…
In the spinfoam framework for quantum gravity, we investigate the conditions to have a physical quantum state for the Barrett-Crane model for the 4d quantum gravity path integral. More precisely, we look at the simplest case of a single…
In the quest of a physical theory of quantum gravity, spin foam models, or in short spinfoams, propose a well-defined path integral summing over quantized discrete space-time geometries. At the crossroad of topological quantum field theory,…
Starting from Ooguri's construction for $BF$ theory in three (and four) dimensions, we show how to construct a well defined theory with an infinite number of degrees of freedom. The spin network states that are kept invariant by the…
We discuss the extension of loop quantum gravity to topspin networks, a proposal which allows topological information to be encoded in spin networks. We will show that this requires minimal changes to the phase space, C*-algebra and Hilbert…
This is my Th\`ese d'Habilitation (HDR) on the topic of spinfoam models for quantum gravity, which I presented in l'Ecole Normale Sup\'erieure de Lyon on december 16 2010. The spinfoam framework is a proposal for a regularized path integral…
The simplicity constraint is studied in the context of 4d spinfoam models with cosmological constant. We find that the quantum simplicity constraint is realized as the 2d surface defect in SL(2,$\mathbb{C}$) Chern-Simons theory in the…
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.…
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…
Loop Quantum Gravity is now a well established approach to quantum gravity. One of the main challenges still faced by the theory is constructing a consistent dynamics which would lead back to the standard dynamics of the gravitational field…