Related papers: Real observers solving imaginary problems
The one-loop Euclidean partition function on the sphere is known to exhibit a nontrivial phase for massless fields of spin greater than one. Such a phase appears to be in tension with a state counting interpretation of the partition…
Euclidean quantum gravity is reconsidered, in the conformal mode approximation. Applying techniques from glass theory, we argue that the Euclidean partition function hides metastable states, which can be counted. This may reconcile…
We compute the phase of the Euclidean gravity partition function on manifolds of the form $S^p \times M_q$. We find that the total phase is equal to the phase in pure gravity on $S^p$ times an extra phase that arises from negative mass…
We study a system of two pointlike particles coupled to three dimensional Einstein gravity. The reduced phase space can be considered as a deformed version of the phase space of two special-relativistic point particles in the centre of mass…
We calculate the partition function for "composite particles". For any finite number of states d, and in the following two cases: 1)all states have the same energy, 2)the energy is linearly distributed over the states, we transform the…
We present a complete quantization of Lorentzian D=1+2 gravity with cosmological constant, coupled to a set of topological matter fields. The approach of Loop Quantum Gravity is used thanks to a partial gauge fixing leaving a residual gauge…
A quantum mechanical observer might be describable as having a reference system that is a superposition of classical inertial reference frames. The present paper suggests a possible weighting function in such superpositions, determined by…
We develop a new perspective on the discretization of the phase space structure of gravity in 2+1 dimensions as a piecewise-flat geometry in 2 spatial dimensions. Starting from a subdivision of the continuum geometric and phase space…
We consider quantum Einstein gravity in three dimensional de Sitter space. The Euclidean path integral is formulated as a sum over geometries, including both perturbative loop corrections and non-perturbative instanton corrections coming…
Motivated by the prospect of constraining microscopic models, we calculate the exact one-loop corrected de Sitter entropy (the logarithm of the sphere partition function) for every effective field theory of quantum gravity, with particles…
We extend here the canonical treatment of spherically symmetric (quantum) gravity to the most simple matter coupling, namely spherically symmetric Maxwell theory with or without a cosmological constant. The quantization is based on the…
The purpose of this paper is twofold: On the one hand, after a thorough review of the matter free case, we supplement the derivations in our companion paper on 'loop quantum gravity without the Hamiltonian constraint' with calculational…
In [1,2] we established and discussed the algebra of observables for $2+1$ gravity at both the classical and quantum level, and gave a systematic discussion of the reduction of the expected number of independent observables to $6g - 6 (g >…
Motivated by recent works on the connection between 2D quantum gravity and timelike Liouville theory, we revisit the latter and clarify some aspects of the computation of its partition function: We present a detailed computation of the…
Taking (2+1)-dimensional pure Einstein gravity for arbitrary genus $g$ as a model, we investigate the relation between the partition function formally defined on the entire phase space and the one written in terms of the reduced phase…
We study the Euclidean path integral of two-dimensional quantum gravity with positive cosmological constant coupled to conformal matter with large and positive central charge. The problem is considered in a semiclassical expansion about a…
Recently, the research community has been exploring fractional calculus to address problems related to cosmology; in this approach, the gravitational action integral is altered, leading to a modified Friedmann equation, then the resulting…
While the Euclidean two-dimensional gravitational path integral is in general highly fluctuating, it admits a semiclassical two-sphere saddle if coupled to a matter CFT with large and positive central charge. In Weyl gauge this gravity…
Treating general relativity as an effective field theory, we compute the leading-order quantum corrections to the orbits and gravitational-wave emission of astrophysical compact binaries. These corrections are independent of the (unknown)…
The spinor representation of spin-1/2 states can equally well be mapped to a single unit quaternion, yielding a new perspective despite the equivalent mathematics. This paper first demonstrates a useable map that allows Bloch-sphere…