Related papers: Don't Throw the Baby Out with the Bath Water
We review aspects of loop quantum gravity in a pedagogical manner, with the aim of enabling a precise but critical assessment of its achievements so far. We emphasise that the off-shell (`strong') closure of the constraint algebra is a…
We put forward a finite theory of quantum scattering of fundamental particles without using auxiliary particles. It suggests that to avoid ultraviolet divergencies and model faster-than-light effects it suffices to appropriately change only…
We consider the role of matter in the non-projectable version of Horava-Liftshitz gravity at both a classical and a quantum level. At the classical level, we construct general forms of matter Lagrangians consistent with the reduced symmetry…
We highlight how the existence of an ultraviolet completion for interacting Standard-Model type matter puts constraints on the viable microscopic dynamics of asymptotically safe quantum gravity within truncated Renormalization Group flows.…
The formalism to treat quantization and evolution of cosmological perturbations of multiple fluids is described. We first construct the Lagrangian for both the gravitational and matter parts, providing the necessary relevant variables and…
Effective equations are often useful to extract physical information from quantum theories without having to face all technical and conceptual difficulties. One can then describe aspects of the quantum system by equations of classical type,…
These lectures discuss an S-matrix approach to quantum gravity, and its relation to more local spacetime approaches. Prominent among the problems of quantum gravity are those of unitarity and observables. In a unitary theory with solutions…
The ``Swampland Program'' aims to discriminate consistent-looking effective field theories that do not admit a UV completion in quantum gravity from those that do. While most often developed under the umbrella of string theory, several…
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…
Asymptotic safety (an ultraviolet fixed point with finite-dimensional critical surface) offers the possibility that a predictive theory of quantum gravity can be obtained from the quantization of classical general relativity. However, it is…
There ought to exist a reformulation of quantum theory which does not depend on classical time. To achieve such a reformulation, we introduce the concept of an atom of space-time-matter (STM). An STM atom is a classical non-commutative…
Although general relativity is a predictively successful theory, it treats matter as classical rather than as quantum. For this reason, it will have to be replaced by a more fundamental quantum theory of gravity. Attempts to formulate a…
General Relativity resembles a very elegant crystal glass: If we touch its principles, that is, its Lagrangian, there is a risk of breaking everything. Or, if we will, it is like a short blanket: Curing some problems creates new problems.…
We explore asymptotic safety of gravity-matter systems, discovering indications for a near-perturbative nature of these systems in the ultraviolet. Our results are based on the dynamical emergence of effective universality at the…
I give a brief overview of some Quantum-Gravity-Phenomenology research lines, focusing on studies of cosmic rays and gamma-ray bursts that concern the fate of Lorentz symmetry in quantum spacetime. I also stress that the most valuable…
Loop quantum gravity is a mature theory. To proceed to explicit calculations in cosmology, it is necessary to make assumptions and simplifications based on the symmetries of the cosmological setting. Symmetry reduction is especially…
I review the lattice approach to quantum gravity, and how it relates to the non-trivial ultraviolet fixed point scenario of the continuum theory. After a brief introduction covering the general problem of ultraviolet divergences in gravity…
Quantum gravity is expected to be necessary in order to understand situations where classical general relativity breaks down. In particular in cosmology one has to deal with initial singularities, i.e. the fact that the backward evolution…
We study a class of theories in which space-time is treated classically, while interacting with quantum fields. These circumvent various no-go theorems and the pathologies of semi-classical gravity, by being linear in the density matrix and…
Despite the ultraviolet problems with canonical quantum gravity, as an effective field theory its infrared phenomena should enjoy fully quantum mechanical unitary time evolution. Currently this is not possible, the impediment being what is…