Related papers: EPRL/FK Asymptotics and the Flatness Problem
Spin foam models are a new approach to a formulation of quantum gravity which is fully background independent, non-perturbative, and covariant, in the spirit of path integral formulations of quantum field theory. In this thesis we describe…
The first computation of a spin foam dynamics that provides a test of the quantum equations of motions of gravity is presented. Specifically, a triangulation that includes an inner edge is treated. The computation leverages the recently…
In the quest of a physical theory of quantum gravity, spin foam models, or in short spinfoams, propose a well-defined path integral summing over quantized discrete space-time geometries. At the crossroad of topological quantum field theory,…
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.…
Spin-foam models are hoped to provide a dynamics for loop quantum gravity. These start from the Plebanski formulation of gravity, in which gravity is obtained from a topological field theory, BF theory, through constraints, which, however,…
We study the quantum group deformation of the Lorentzian EPRL spin-foam model. The construction uses the harmonic analysis on the quantum Lorentz group. We show that the quantum group spin-foam model so defined is free of the infra-red…
Recently a quantum group deformation of EPRL spinfoam model was proposed in arXiv:1012.4216 by one of the authors, and in arXiv:1012.4784 by Fairbairn and Meusburger. It is interesting to study the high spin asymptotics of the quantum group…
In this article we review the present status of the spin foam formulation of non-perturbative (background independent) quantum gravity. The article is divided in two parts. In the first part we present a general introduction to the main…
We examine the four dimensional path integral for Euclidean quantum gravity in the context of the EPRL-FK spin foam model. The state sum is restricted to certain symmetric configurations which resembles the geometry of a flat homogeneous…
While the use of spin networks has greatly improved our understanding of the kinematical aspects of quantum gravity, the dynamical aspects remain obscure. To address this problem, we define the concept of a `spin foam' going from one spin…
Spin Foam Models (SFMs) are covariant formulations of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) in 4 dimensions. This work studies the perturbations of SFMs on a flat background. It demonstrates for the first time that smooth curved spacetime geometries…
Loop quantum gravity has provided us with a canonical framework especially devised for background independent and diffeomorphism invariant gauge field theories. In this quantization the fundamental excitations are called spin network…
The spinfoam framework is a proposal for a regularized path integral for quantum gravity. Spinfoams define quantum space-time structures describing the evolution in time of the spin network states for quantum geometry derived from Loop…
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.
We derive simplicity constraints for the quantization of general Lorentzian 4-geometries. Our method is based on the correspondence between coherent states and classical bivectors and the minimization of associated uncertainties. For…
Local flatness is a property shared by all the spin foam models. It ensures that the theory's fundamental building blocks are flat by requiring locally trivial parallel transport. In the context of simplicial Lorentzian spin foam theory, we…
We show that the EPRL/FK spin foam model of quantum gravity has an absolutely convergent partition function if the vertex amplitude is divided by an appropriate power $p$ of the product of dimensions of the vertex spins. This power is…
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…
We investigate the group field theory formulation of the EPRL/FK spin foam models. These models aim at a dynamical, i.e. non-topological formulation of 4D quantum gravity. We introduce a saddle point method for general group field theory…
Numerical methods in spin-foam models have significantly advanced in the last few years, yet challenges remain in efficiently extracting results for amplitudes with many quantum degrees of freedom. In this paper we sketch a proposal for a…