Related papers: Turaev-Viro amplitudes from 2+1 Loop Quantum Gravi…

A covariant spin-foam formulation of quantum gravity has been recently developed, characterized by a kinematics which appears to match well the one of canonical loop quantum gravity. In this paper we reconsider the implementation of the…

Loop quantum cosmology is a symmetry reduced quantization of cosmological spacetimes based on loop quantum gravity. While it has been successful in resolution of various cosmological singularities and connecting Planck scale physics to…

In Loop Quantum Gravity, tremendous progress has been made using the Ashtekar-Barbero variables. These variables, defined in a gauge-fixing of the theory, correspond to a parametrization of the solutions of the so-called simplicity…

We apply the recently suggested strategy to lift state spaces and operators for (2+1)-dimensional topological quantum field theories to state spaces and operators for a (3+1)-dimensional TQFT with defects. We start from the…

We present a complete quantization of Lorentzian D=1+2 gravity with cosmological constant, coupled to a set of topological matter fields. The approach of Loop Quantum Gravity is used thanks to a partial gauge fixing leaving a residual gauge…

We argue that a conformally invariant extension of general relativity coupled to the Standard Model is the fundamental theory that needs to be quantized. We show that it can be treated by loop quantum gravity techniques. Through a gauge…

We consider the world-line quantisation of a system invariant under the symmetries of reciprocal relativity. Imposition of the first class constraint, the generator of local time reparametrisations, on physical states enforces…

We consider quantum transition amplitudes, partition functions and observables for 3D spin foam models within $SU(2)$ quantum group deformation symmetry, where the deformation parameter is a complex fifth root of unity. By considering…

We describe how a spin-foam state sum model can be reformulated as a quantum field theory of spin networks, such that the Feynman diagrams of that field theory are the spin-foam amplitudes. In the case of open spin networks, we obtain a new…

We investigate the Chung-Fukuma-Shapere theory, or Kuperberg theory, of three-dimensional lattice topological field theory. We construct a functor which satisfies the Atiyah's axioms of topological quantum field theory by reformulating the…

Spin foam models of quantum gravity are based on Plebanski's formulation of general relativity as a constrained BF theory. We give an alternative formulation of gravity as BF theory plus a certain potential term for the B-field. When the…

Despite the fact that quantum gravity is non-renormalisable, a consistent and mathematically rigorous construction of a perturbation series is possible. This is based on the use of the Batalin-Vilkovisky-Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin formalism…

We study a model of 3d gravity relevant to the open sector of a CFT ensemble. The quantum theory is the open Virasoro TQFT, obtained by restricting the full open-closed Virasoro TQFT to a subclass of admissible manifolds. We show that it…

As a canonical and generally covariant gauge theory, loop quantum gravity requires special techniques to derive effective actions or equations. If the proper constructions are taken into account, the theory, in spite of considerable…

We compute the one-loop contributions of the chronological products for massless gravity in the second order of the perturbation theory. We prove that the loop contributions are coboundaries i.e. expressions which give zero when averaged on…

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…

Motivated by suggestions of Paolo Cotta-Ramusino's work at the physical level of rigor relating BF theory to the Donaldson polynomials, we provide a construction applicable to the Turaev/Viro and Crane/Yetter invariants of *a priori* finer…

For the special case of the quantum group $SL_q (2,{\bf C})\ (q= \exp \pi i/r,\ r\ge 3)$ we present an alternative approach to quantum gauge theories in two dimensions. We exhibit the similarities to Witten's combinatorial approach which is…

The non-perturbative validity of covariant BRST-quantization of gauge theories on compact Euclidean space-time manifolds is reviewed. BRST-quantization is related to the construction of a Topological Quantum Field Theory (TQFT) of Witten…

The most common spin foam models of gravity are widely believed to be discrete path integral quantizations of the Plebanski action. However, their derivation in present formulations is incomplete and lower dimensional simplex amplitudes are…