Related papers: Covariant singularities in Quantum Field Theory an…
General relativity is a covariant theory of two transverse, traceless graviton degrees of freedom. According to a theorem of Hojman, Kuchar, and Teitelboim, modifications of general relativity must either introduce new degrees of freedom or…
We study the quantization of spherically symmetric vacuum spacetimes within loop quantum gravity. In particular, we give additional details about our previous work in which we showed that one could complete the quantization the model and…
Recent results show that important singularities in General Relativity can be naturally described in terms of finite and invariant canonical geometric objects. Consequently, one can write field equations which are equivalent to Einstein's…
Effective field theories consistent with quantum gravity obey surprising finiteness constraints, appearing in several distinct but interconnected forms. In this work we develop a framework that unifies these observations by proposing that…
We describe a theory of quantum gravity which is based on the assumption that the spacetime structure at small distances is given by a piecewise linear (PL) 4-manifold corresponding to a triangulation of a smooth 4-manifold. The fundamental…
We construct perturbative quantum gravity in a generally covariant way. In particular our construction is background independent. It is based on the locally covariant approach to quantum field theory and the renormalized Batalin-Vilkovisky…
A new method for nonperturbative investigations of quantum gravity is presented in which the simplicial path integral is approximated by the partition function of a spin system. This facilitates analytical and numerical computations…
The field equations in modified gravity theories possess an important decoupling property with respect to certain classes of nonholonomic frames. This allows us to construct generic off--diagonal solutions depending on all spacetime…
We investigate path integral quantization of two versions of unimodular gravity. First a fully diffeomorphism-invariant theory is analyzed, which does not include a unimodular condition on the metric, while still being equivalent to other…
Phase spaces with nontrivial geometry appear in different approaches to quantum gravity and can also play a role in e.g. condensed matter physics. However, so far such phase spaces have only been considered for particles or strings. We…
Some typical quantization ambiguities of quantum geometry are studied within isotropic models. Since this allows explicit computations of operators and their spectra, one can investigate the effects of ambiguities in a quantitative manner.…
The mutual conceptual incompatibility between GR and QM/QFT is generally seen as the most essential motivation for the development of a theory of Quantum Gravity (QG). It leads to the insight that, if gravity is a fundamental interaction…
Semiclassical gravity couples classical gravity to the quantized matter in meanfield approximation. The meanfield coupling is problematic for two reasons. First, it ignores the quantum fluctuation of matter distribution. Second, it violates…
A pedagogical introduction to some of the main ideas and results of field theories on quantized spacetimes is presented, with emphasis on what such field theories may teach us about the problem of quantizing gravity. We examine to what…
An important task faced by all approaches of quantum gravity is to incorporate superpositions and quantify quantum uncertainties of spacetime causal relations. We address this task in 2D. By identifying a global $Z_2$ symmetry of 1+1D…
The effort to discover a quantum theory of gravity is motivated by the need to reconcile the incompatibility between quantum theory and general relativity. Here, we present an alternative approach by constructing a consistent theory of…
In this paper, we study implications of the geometrical nature of space- time for some of the basic tenets of quantum mechanics. That is, we study two different implications of the principle of general covariance; first we quantize a…
We describe an approach to the quantization of (2+1)--dimensional gravity with topology R x T^2 and negative cosmological constant, which uses two quantum holonomy matrices satisfying a q--commutation relation. Solutions of diagonal and…
Motivated by the question whether quantum gravity can "smear out" the classical singularity we analyze a certain quantum space and its quantum-mechanical completeness. Classical singularity is understood as a geodesic incompleteness, while…
We prove that semiclassical gravity in conformally static, globally hyperbolic spacetimes with a massless, conformally coupled Klein-Gordon field is well posed, when viewed as a coupled theory for the dynamical conformal factor of the…