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Quantum gauge theory in the connection representation uses functions of holonomies as configuration observables. Physical observables (gauge and diffeomorphism invariant) are represented in the Hilbert space of physical states; physical…
The different roles and natures of spacetime appearing in a quantum field theory and in classical physics are analyzed implying that a quantum theory of gravitation is not necessarily a quantum theory of curved spacetime. Developing an…
The relativistic conception of space and time is challenged by the quantum nature of physical observables. It has been known for a long time that Poincar\'e symmetry of field theory can be extended to the larger conformal symmetry. We use…
We study the apparent tension between locality and unitarity for symmetries in quantum field theory. This emerges in the context of categorical symmetries where symmetry operators are generically non-invertible. We argue that locality…
A central lesson of gravity is that local observables are ill-defined. Coordinates themselves are a redundancy of description, so any particular point in spacetime is only meaningful once defined relationally by clocks, rulers, or…
Diffeomorphism invariance is often considered to be a hallmark of the theory of general relativity (GR). But closer analysis reveals that this cannot be what makes GR distinctive. The concept of diffeomorphism invariance can be defined in…
We investigate the relationship between the generalized uncertainty principle in quantum gravity and the quantum deformation of the Poincar\'e algebra. We find that a deformed Newton-Wigner position operator and the generators of spatial…
Some of the most outstanding questions in the field of gravitation and geometry remain unsolved as a result of our limited understanding of the global structure of the spacetime geometry and the role played by global spacetime…
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…
Quantum theories of gravity are generally expected to have some degree of non-locality, with familiar local physics emerging only in a particular limit. Perturbative quantum gravity around backgrounds with isometries and compact Cauchy…
The canonical quantization of diffeomorphism invariant theories of connections in terms of loop variables is revisited. Such theories include general relativity described in terms of Ashtekar-Barbero variables and extension to Yang-Mills…
We study how the problem of observables is fully resolved for background independent theories defined on finite graphs. We argue the correct analogue of coordinate independence is the invariance under changes of graph labels, a kind of…
We propose a deepening of the relativity principle according to which the invariant arena for non-quantum physics is a phase space rather than spacetime. Descriptions of particles propagating and interacting in spacetimes are constructed by…
The Special Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics merge in the key principle of Quantum Field Theory, the Principle of Locality. We review some examples of its ``unreasonable effectiveness'' (which shows up best in the formulation of…
Loop quantum gravity is an approach to quantum gravity that starts from the Hamiltonian formulation in terms of a connection and its canonical conjugate. Quantization proceeds in the spirit of Dirac: First one defines an algebra of basic…
We investigate the action of diffeomorphisms in the context of Hamiltonian Gravity. By considering how the diffeomorphism-invariant Hilbert space of Loop Quantum Gravity should be constructed, we formulate a physical principle by demanding,…
We develop a new mathematical approach to diffeomorphism invariant quantum states for the quantisation of general field theories such as general relativity and modified gravity. Treating quantum fields as fibre bundles, we discuss operators…
We consider general relativity with a cosmological constant as a perturbative expansion around a completely solvable diffeomorphism invariant field theory. This theory is the $\Lambda\to\infty$ limit of general relativity. This allows an…
The recently introduced manifestly covariant canonical quantization scheme is applied to gravity. New diffeomorphism anomalies generating a multi-dimensional generalization of the Virasoro algebra arise. This does not contradict theorems…
We develop a quantum effective action for scalar-tensor theories of gravity which is both spacetime diffeomorphism invariant and field reparameterisation (frame) invariant beyond the classical approximation. We achieve this by extending the…