Related papers: A 2-categorical state sum model

We show that General Relativity can be formulated as a constrained topological theory for flat 2-connections associated to the Poincar\'e 2-group. Matter can be consistently coupled to gravity in this formulation. We also show that the edge…

The search for classical or quantum combinatorial invariants of compact n-dimensional manifolds (n=3,4) plays a key role both in topological field theories and in lattice quantum gravity. We present here a generalization of the partition…

In part I of [1] we have developed the tensor and spin representation of SO(4) in order to apply it to the simplicial decomposition of the Barrett-Crane model. We attach to each face of a triangle the spherical function constructed from the…

Lattice Gauge Theory in 4-dimensional Euclidean space-time is generalized to ribbon categories which replace the category of representations of the gauge group. This provides a framework in which the gauge group becomes a quantum group…

We show how Feynman amplitudes of standard QFT on flat and homogeneous space can naturally be recast as the evaluation of observables for a specific spin foam model, which provides dynamics for the background geometry. We identify the…

A group-category is an additively semisimple category with a monoidal product structure in which the simple objects are invertible. For example in the category of representations of a group, 1-dimensional representations are the invertible…

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…

In this mostly expository article, elements of higher category theory essential to the construction of a class of four dimensional quantum geometric models are reviewed. These models improve current state sum models for Quantum Gravity,…

A realistic measurement-free theory for the quantum physics of multiple qubits is proposed. This theory is based on a symbolic representation of a fractal state-space geometry which is invariant under the action of deterministic and locally…

We define a Turaev-Viro-Barrett-Westbury state sum model of triangulated 3-manifolds with surface, line and point defects. Surface defects are oriented embedded 2d PL submanifolds and are labeled with bimodule categories over spherical…

Motivated by the construction of spectral manifolds in noncommutative geometry, we introduce a higher degree Heisenberg commutation relation involving the Dirac operator and the Feynman slash of scalar fields. This commutation relation…

In this second part of a two paper series we discuss the properties and physical interpretation of the generalized Kodama states. We first show that the states are the three dimensional boundary degrees of freedom of two familiar…

We study the transition amplitudes in state-sum models of quantum gravity in D=2,3,4 spacetime dimensions by using the field theory over a Lie group formulation. By promoting the group theory Fourier modes into creation and annihilation…

In this easy introduction to higher gauge theory, we describe parallel transport for particles and strings in terms of 2-connections on 2-bundles. Just as ordinary gauge theory involves a gauge group, this generalization involves a gauge…

A "2-group" is a category equipped with a multiplication satisfying laws like those of a group. Just as groups have representations on vector spaces, 2-groups have representations on "2-vector spaces", which are categories analogous to…

Boulatov and Ooguri have generalized the matrix models of 2d quantum gravity to 3d and 4d, in the form of field theories over group manifolds. We show that the Barrett-Crane quantum gravity model arises naturally from a theory of this type,…

Bound and scattering state Schr\"odinger functions of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics as representation matrix elements of space and time are embedded into residual representations of spacetime as generalizations of Feynman propagators.…

In [22], Crane and Sheppard considered the structure of the Poincare group as a 2-Group, and derived important information about its representations in a 2-Category suited for representations of non-compact 2-groups, following a lead of…

A 2-group is a "categorified" version of a group, in which the underlying set G has been replaced by a category and the multiplication map has been replaced by a functor. Various versions of this notion have already been explored; our goal…

This survey covers some of the results contained in the papers by Costantino, Geer and Patureau (https://arxiv.org/abs/1202.3553) and by Blanchet, Costantino, Geer and Patureau (https://arxiv.org/abs/1404.7289). In the first one the authors…