Related papers: Spin Foams and Canonical Quantization

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…

We consider discretizations of the Einstein action of general relativity such that the resulting discrete equations of motion form a consistent constrained system. Upon ``spin foam'' quantization of the system, consistency allows a natural…

Spin foam models for quantum gravity are derived from lattice path integrals. The setting involves variables from both lattice BF theory and Regge calculus. The action consists in a Regge action, which depends on areas, dihedral angles and…

We construct a 2nd quantized reformulation of canonical Loop Quantum Gravity at both kinematical and dynamical level, in terms of a Fock space of spin networks, and show in full generality that it leads directly to the Group Field Theory…

Using numerical calculations, we compare three versions of the Barrett-Crane model of 4-dimensional Riemannian quantum gravity. In the version with face and edge amplitudes as described by De Pietri, Freidel, Krasnov, and Rovelli, we show…

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.…

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 quantum deformation of the Barrett-Crane Lorentzian spin foam model which is conjectured to be the discretization of Lorentzian Plebanski model with positive cosmological constant and includes therefore as a particular sector…

We show how super BF theory in any dimension can be quantized as a spin foam model, generalizing the situation for ordinary BF theory. This is a first step toward quantizing supergravity theories. We investigate in particular 3-dimensional…

While the use of spin networks has greatly improved our understanding of the kinematical aspects of quantum gravity, the dynamical aspects remain obscure. To address this problem, we define the concept of a `spin foam' going from one spin…

We generalize the idea of Vassiliev invariants to the spin network context, with the aim of using these invariants as a kinematical arena for a canonical quantization of gravity. This paper presents a detailed construction of these…

We present a spinfoam formulation of Lorentzian quantum General Relativity. The theory is based on a simple generalization of an Euclidean model defined in terms of a field theory over a group. The model is an extension of a recently…

Spin foam models are an approach to quantum gravity based on the concept of sum over states, which aims to describe quantum spacetime dynamics in a way that its parent framework, loop quantum gravity, has not as of yet succeeded. Since…

This thesis is developed in the context of the spin-foam approach to quantum gravity; all results are concerned with the Lorentzian theory and with semiclassical methods. A correspondence is given between Majorana 2-spinors and time-like…

D = 2+1 gravity with a cosmological constant has been shown by Bonzom and Livine to present a Barbero-Immirzi like ambiguity depending on a parameter. We make use of this fact to show that, for positive cosmological constant, the Lorentzian…

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 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 this article we review the foundations and the present status of loop quantum gravity. It is short and relatively non-technical, the emphasis is on the ideas, and the flavor of the techniques. In particular, we describe the kinematical…

We study non-perturbative quantization of 3d gravity with positive cosmological constant (de Sitter space being the prototype vacuum solution, whose Euclideanization of course gives the three sphere) on the background topology of lens…

The simplicial framework of Engle-Pereira-Rovelli-Livine spin-foam models is generalized to match the diffeomorphism invariant framework of loop quantum gravity. The simplicial spin-foams are generalized to arbitrary linear 2-cell…