Related papers: Effective Spin Foam Models for Four-Dimensional Qu…

The goal of spin foam models is to provide a viable path integral formulation of quantum gravity. Because of background independence, their underlying framework has certain novel features that are not shared by path integral formulations of…

We give a short review of the spin foam models of quantum gravity, with an emphasis on the Barret-Crane model. After explaining the shortcomings of the Barret-Crane model, we briefly discuss two new approaches, one based on the 3d spin foam…

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,…

We give an introductory account to the renormalization of models without metric background. We sketch the application to certain discrete models of quantum gravity such as spin foam models.

We extend the lattice gauge theory-type derivation of the Barrett-Crane spin foam model for quantum gravity to other choices of boundary conditions, resulting in different boundary terms, and re-analyze the gluing of 4-simplices in this…

Spin Foam Models are supposed to be discretised path integrals for quantum gravity constructed from the Plebanski-Holst action. The reason for there being several models currently under consideration is that no consensus has been reached…

Starting from Plebanski formulation of gravity as a constrained BF theory we propose a new spin foam model for 4d Riemannian quantum gravity that generalises the well-known Barrett-Crane model and resolves the inherent to it ultra-locality…

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…

Spacetime foam is analyzed within the simplistic model of a set of scalar fields on a flat background. We suggest the formula for the path integral which allows to account for the all possible topologies of spacetime. We show that 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…

A key point in the spin foam approach to quantum gravity is the implementation of simplicity constraints in the partition functions of the models. Here, we discuss the imposition of these constraints in a phase space setting corresponding…

This review is devoted to the analysis of the mutual consistency of the spin foam and canonical loop quantizations in three and four spacetime dimensions. In the three-dimensional context, where the two approaches are in good agreement, we…

It has been shown in [1] that a class of restricted spin foam models can feature a reduced spectral dimension of space-time. However, it is still an open question how curvature affects the flow of the spectral dimension. To answer this…

In quantum gravity, we envision renormalization as the key tool for bridging the gap between microscopic models and observable scales. For spin foam quantum gravity, which is defined on a discretisation akin to lattice gauge theories, the…

In this paper we tackle the issue of causality in quantum gravity, in the context of 3d spin foam models. We identify the correct procedure for implementing the causality/orientation dependence restriction that reduces the path integral for…

In this article we lay foundations for a formal relationship of spin foam models of gravity and BF theory to their continuum canonical formulations. First the derivation of the spin foam model of the BF theory from the discrete BF theory…

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,…

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…

Within the discrete gauge theory which is the basis of spin foam models, the problem of macroscopically faithful coarse graining is studied. Macroscopic data is identified; it contains the holonomy evaluation along a discrete set of loops…

The Spin Foam approach to quantum gravity aims at providing a covariant path-integral formulation of canonical Loop Quantum Gravity. Since spin foam amplitudes are defined through discretisations of spacetime, understanding the continuum…