Related papers: Gauge symmetries in spinfoam gravity: the case for…
Spin Foam Models (SFMs) are covariant formulations of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) in 4 dimensions. This work studies the perturbations of SFMs on a flat background. It demonstrates for the first time that smooth curved spacetime geometries…
Loop Quantum Gravity is widely developed using canonical quantization in an effort to find the correct quantization for gravity. Affine quantization, which is like canonical quantization augmented bounded in one orientation, e.g., a…
Tunneling processes offer a promising path for finding signatures of quantum gravity. While tunneling of geometry has long been recognized in the literature, few detailed analyses in covariant Loop Quantum Gravity have been carried out. We…
We study a generalized action for gravity as a constrained BF theory, and its relationship with the Plebanski action. We analyse the discretization of the constraints and the spin foam quantization of the theory, showing that it leads…
Several approaches to the dynamics of loop quantum gravity involve discretizing the equations of motion. The resulting discrete theories are known to be problematic since the first class algebra of constraints of the continuum theory…
The first order formalism for 3D Yang-Mills theory is considered and two different formulations are introduced, in which the gauge theory appears to be a deformation of the topological BF theory. We perform the quantization and the…
This paper introduces a general perturbative quantization scheme for gauge theories on manifolds with boundary, compatible with cutting and gluing, in the cohomological symplectic (BV-BFV) formalism. Explicit examples, like abelian BF…
We will examine the issue of diffeomorphism symmetry in simplicial models of (quantum) gravity, in particular for Regge calculus. We find that for a solution with curvature there do not exist exact gauge symmetries on the discrete level.…
In this paper we tackle the issue of causality in quantum gravity, in the context of 3d spin foam models. We identify the correct procedure for implementing the causality/orientation dependence restriction that reduces the path integral for…
We extend the general framework of perturbative quantum field theory developped for the pure Yang-Mills model to gravity. First we present a variant of the elimination procedure of the anomalies in the second order of perturbation theory.…
The current understanding of renormalization in quantum gravity (QG) is based on the fact that UV divergences of effective actions in the covariant QG models are covariant local expressions. This fundamental statement plays a central role…
Spin foam models, loop quantum gravity and group field theory are discussed as quantum gravity candidate theories and usually involve a continuous Lie group. We advocate here to consider quantum gravity inspired models with finite groups,…
After introducing the covariant phase space calculus, Noether's theorems are discussed, with particular emphasis on Noether's second theorem and the role of gauge symmetries. This is followed by the enunciation of the theory of asymptotic…
The mutual conceptual incompatibility between GR and QM/QFT is generally seen as the most essential motivation for the development of a theory of Quantum Gravity (QG). It leads to the insight that, if gravity is a fundamental interaction…
The present thesis is divided into two main research areas: Classical Cosmology and (Loop) Quantum Gravity. The first part concerns cosmological models with one phantom and one scalar field, that provide the `super-accelerated' scenario not…
We investigate a formulation of continuum 4d gravity in terms of a constrained BF theory, in the spirit of the Plebanski formulation, but involving only linear constraints, of the type used recently in the spin foam approach to quantum…
The quest for a consistent theory which describes the quantum microstructure of spacetime seems to require some departure from the paradigms that have been followed in the construction of quantum theories for the other fundamental…
Group field theories are a generalization of matrix models which provide both a second quantized reformulation of loop quantum gravity as well as generating functions for spin foam models. While states in canonical loop quantum gravity, in…
It is argued that quantum gravity has an interpretation as a topological field theory provided a certain constraint from the path intergral measure is respected. The constraint forces us to couple gauge and matter fields to gravity for…
Treating the gravitational force on the same footing as the electroweak and strong forces, we present a quantum field theory of gravity based on spin and scaling gauge symmetries. A biframe spacetime is initiated to describe such a quantum…