Related papers: Toward matter dynamics in spin foam quantum gravit…
An effective field theory for matter coupled to three-dimensional quantum gravity was recently derived in the context of spinfoam models in hep-th/0512113. In this paper, we show how this relates to group field theories and generalized…
The most common spin foam models of gravity are widely believed to be discrete path integral quantizations of the Plebanski action. However, their derivation in present formulations is incomplete and lower dimensional simplex amplitudes are…
We investigate a formulation of continuum 4d gravity in terms of a constrained topological (BF) theory, in the spirit of the Plebanski formulation, but involving only linear constraints, of the type used recently in the spin foam approach…
This paper is twofold. First of all a complete unified picture of $n$-dimensional quantum gravity is proposed in the following sense: In spin foam models of quantum gravity the evaluation of spin networks play a very important role. These…
Emergent modified gravity presents a new set of generally covariant gravitational theories in which the space-time metric is not directly given by one of the fundamental fields. A metric compatible with the modified dynamics of gravity is…
The canonical ``loop'' formulation of quantum gravity is a mathematically well defined, background independent, non perturbative standard quantization of Einstein's theory of General Relativity. Some among the most meaningful results of the…
We propose a spin foam model for pure gauge fields coupled to Riemannian quantum gravity in four dimensions. The model is formulated for the triangulation of a four-manifold which is given merely combinatorially. The Riemannian…
The new information-theoretic Process Physics has shown that space is a quantum foam system with gravity being, in effect, an inhomogeneous in-flow of the quantum foam into matter. The theory predicts that absolute motion with respect to…
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…
Loop quantum gravity envisions a small scale structure of spacetime that is markedly different from that of the classical spacetime continuum. This has ramifications for the excitation of matter fields and for their coupling to gravity.…
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…
Exactly soluble models can serve as excellent tools to explore conceptual issues in non-perturbative quantum gravity. In perturbative approaches, it is only the two radiative modes of the linearized gravitational field that are quantized.…
A possible ground state of Quantum Gravity is Wheeler's ``space-time foam'', which can be modeled as a ``Planck-lattice'', a space-time cubic lattice of lattice constant $a_P\simeq 10^{33}$cm, the Planck length. I analyse the structure of…
Spin foams of 4d gravity were recently extended from complexes with purely spacelike surfaces to complexes that also contain timelike surfaces. In this article, we express the associated partition function in terms of vertex amplitudes and…
We propose a regularized lattice model for quantum gravity purely formulated in terms of fermions. The lattice action exhibits local Lorentz symmetry, and the continuum limit is invariant under general coordinate transformations. The metric…
A Kaluza-Klein like approach for a 4d spin foam model is considered. By applying this approach to a model based on group field theory in 4d (TOCY model), and using the Peter-Weyl expansion of the gravitational field, reconstruction of new…
We study the coupling of massive fermions to the quantum mechanical dynamics of spacetime emerging from the spinfoam approach in three dimensions. We first recall the classical theory before constructing a spinfoam model of quantum gravity…
We review the canonical analysis of the Palatini action without going to the time gauge as in the standard derivation of Loop Quantum Gravity. This allows to keep track of the Lorentz gauge symmetry and leads to a theory of Covariant Loop…
Loop quantum gravity, a non-perturbative and manifestly background free, quantum theory of gravity implies that at the kinematical level the spatial geometry is discrete in a specific sense. The spirit of background independence also…
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…