Related papers: Degenerate Plebanski Sector and Spin Foam Quantiza…
In seven dimensions any spin manifold admits an SU(2) structure and therefore very general M-theory compactifications have the potential to allow for a reduction to N=4 gauged supergravity. We perform this general SU(2) reduction and give…
BF theory is a topological theory that can be seen as a natural generalization of 3-dimensional gravity to arbitrary dimensions. Here we show that the coupling to point particles that is natural in three dimensions generalizes in a direct…
The spectral dimension has proven to be a very informative observable to understand the properties of quantum geometries in approaches to quantum gravity. In loop quantum gravity and its spin foam description, it has not been possible so…
We present a new $BF$-type action for complex general relativity with or without a cosmological constant resembling Plebanski's action, which depends on an SO(3,$\mathbb{C}$) connection, a set of 2-forms, a symmetric matrix, and a 4-form.…
We provide a simple proof of the topological invariance of the Turaev-Viro model (corresponding to simplicial 3d pure Euclidean gravity with cosmological constant) by means of a novel diagrammatic formulation of the state sum models for…
Higher-spin gravity in three dimensions is efficiently formulated as a Chern-Simons gauge-theory, typically with gauge algebra sl(N)+sl(N). The classical and quantum properties of the higher-spin theory depend crucially on the embedding…
We discuss the second quantization of scalar field theory on the q-deformed fuzzy sphere S^2_{q,N} for q \in \R, using a path-integral approach. We find quantum field theories which are manifestly covariant under U_q(su(2)), have a smooth…
A new trigonometric degeneration of the Sklyanin algebra is found and the functional realization of its representations in space of polynomials in one variable is studied. A further contraction gives the standard quantum algebra…
We study seven-brane SU(5) GUT models of string phenomenology which can be consistently analyzed in a purely local framework. The requirement that gravity can decouple constrains the form of four-dimensional physics as well as the geometry…
A four-dimensional ${\rm SU}(4)$ confining Yang-Mills field, coupled to a fundamental fermion field and a bi-fundamental scalar field, has excitations with spin-2, but no other quantum numbers. These spin-2 excitations can be light or can…
In this work we study a Spin Foam model for 4d Riemannian gravity, and propose a new way of imposing the simplicity constraints that uses the recently developed holomorphic representation. Using the power of the holomorphic integration…
Quantum geometric maps, which relate SU(2) spin networks and Lorentz covariant projected spin networks, are an important ingredient of spin foam models (and tensorial group field theories) for 4-dimensional quantum gravity. We give a…
We pursue a uniform quantization of all twists of 4-dimensional N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, using the BV formalism, and we explore consequences for factorization algebras of observables. Our central result is the construction of…
Spherical reduction of generic four-dimensional theories is revisited. Three different notions of "spherical symmetry" are defined. The following sectors are investigated: Einstein-Cartan theory, spinors, (non-)abelian gauge fields and…
We discuss the supersymmetry and fermionic sector of the recently obtained consistent truncations of IIB supergravity containing massive modes. In particular, we present the general form of the five-dimensional N = 4 supersymmetry…
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.…
In Plebanski's self-dual formulation general relativity becomes SO(3) BF theory supplemented with the so-called simplicity (or metricity) constraints for the B-field. The main dynamical equation of the theory states that the curvature of…
The canonical ``loop'' formulation of quantum gravity is a mathematically well defined, background independent, non perturbative standard quantization of Einstein's theory of General Relativity. Some among the most meaningful results of the…
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)…
We construct global F-theory GUTs with SU(5) x U(1) gauge group defined by specifying a fully resolved Calabi-Yau fourfold and consistent four-form G-flux. Its specific U(1) charged matter spectrum allows the desired Yukawa couplings, but…