Related papers: Discrete Gravity Models and Loop Quantum Gravity: …

We provide the Barrett-Crane spin foam model for quantum gravity with a discrete action principle, consisting in the usual BF term with discretized simplicity constraints which in the continuum turn topological BF theory into gravity. The…

I review the formalism of loop quantum gravity, in both its real and complex formulations, and spin foam theory which is its path integral counterpart. Spin networks for non-compact groups are introduced (following hep-th/0205268) to deal…

The review paper "Discrete Structures in Physics", written in 2000, describes how Regge's discretization of Einstein's theory has been applied in classical relativity and quantum gravity. Here, developments since 2000 are reviewed briefly,…

Twisted geometry is a piecewise-flat geometry less rigid than Regge geometry. In Loop Gravity, it provides the classical limit for each step of the truncation utilized in the definition of the quantum theory. We define the torsionless…

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…

A debate has appeared in the literature on loop quantum gravity and spin foams, over whether the secondary simplicity constraints, reducing the connection to be Levi-Civita, should imply the shape matching conditions, reducing twisted…

A discrete theory of gravity locally invariant under the Poincar\'e group is considered as in a companion paper. We define a first order theory, in the sense of Palatini, on the metric-dual Voronoi complex of a simplicial complex. We follow…

The gauge gravity action for general relativity in any dimension using a connection for the Euclidean or Poincar\'e group and a symmetry-breaking scalar field is written using a particularly simple matrix technique. A discrete version of…

These notes are a didactic overview of the non perturbative and background independent approach to a quantum theory of gravity known as loop quantum gravity. The definition of real connection variables for general relativity, used as a…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

A model for quantum gravity in one (time) dimension is discussed, based on Regge's discrete formulation of gravity. The nature of exact continuous lattice diffeomorphisms and the implications for a regularized gravitational measure are…

A number of approaches to 4D quantum gravity, such as holography and loop quantum gravity, propose areas instead of lengths as fundamental variables. The Area Regge action, which can be defined for general 4D triangulations, is a natural…

Several proposals for Quantum Gravity involve length and area operators with discrete eigenvalues. I show that the analyses of some simple procedures for the measurement of areas and lengths suggest that this discreteness characterizing the…

Group Field Theories, a generalization of matrix models for 2d gravity, represent a 2nd quantization of both loop quantum gravity and simplicial quantum gravity. In this paper, we construct a new class of Group Field Theory models, for any…

In this article we give a systematic definition of the recently introduced spin foam models for four dimensional quantum gravity reviewing the main results on their semiclassical limit on fixed discretizations.

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…

A number of approaches to four-dimensional quantum gravity, such as loop quantum gravity and holography, situate areas as their fundamental variables. However, this choice of kinematics can easily lead to gravitational dynamics peaked on…