Related papers: Barrett-Crane spin foam model from generalized BF-…
Spin foams are candidate state-sum models for transition amplitudes in quantum gravity. An active research subject is to identify the possible divergences of spin foam models, or alternatively to show that models are finite. We will discuss…
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 consider a brane world scenario in which the bulk action is assumed to have the form of a generic function of the Ricci scalar $f(\mathcal{R})$ and derive the resulting Einstein field equations on the brane. In a constant curvature bulk…
We discuss in detail the uniform discretization approach to the quantization of totally constrained theories. This approach allows to construct the continuum theory of interest as a well defined, controlled, limit of well behaved discrete…
This is a PhD thesis on a categorical generalization of the $BF$ model called the $BFCG$ theory. The new theory is equivalent to General Relativity at the classical level but, at the quantum level, seeks to address the problem of the…
We revise imposition of various constraints in spin foam models of 4-dimensional general relativity. We argue that the usual simplicity constraint must be supplemented by a constraint on holonomies and together they must be inserted…
The quantization of gauge-affine gravity within the superfiber bundle formalism is proposed. By introducing an even pseudotensorial 1-superform over a principal superfibre bundle with superconnection, we obtain the geometrical…
We present an introduction to Group Field Theory models, motivating them on the basis of their relationship with discretized BF models of gravity. We derive the Feynmann rules and compute quantum corrections in the coherent states basis.
Besides the String Theory context, the quantum General Relativity can be studied by the use of constrained topological field theories. In the celebrated Plebanski formalism, the constraints connecting topological field theories and gravity…
We construct a generalised formalism for group field theories, in which the domain of the field is extended to include additional proper time variables, as well as their conjugate mass variables. This formalism allows for different types of…
We give a general definition of spin foam models, and then of models of 4d quantum gravity based on constraining BF theory. We highlight the construction and quantization ambiguities entering model building, among which the choice of…
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…
We introduce a new spinorial, BF-like action for the Einstein gravity. This is a first, up to our knowledge, 2-form action which describes the real, Lorentzian gravity and uses only the self-dual connection. In the generic case, the…
We study the state-sum models of quantum gravity based on a representation 2-category of the Poincare 2-group. We call them spin-cube models, since they are categorical generalizations of spin-foam models. A spin-cube state sum can be…
The Barrett-Crane spin foam model for quantum gravity provides an excellent setting for testing analytical and numerical tools used to probe spinfoam models. Here, we complete the report on the numerical analysis of the single 4-simplex…
Using the Cartan formulation of General Relativity, we construct a well defined lattice-regularized theory capable to describe large non-perturbative quantum fluctuations of the frame field (or the metric) and of the spin connection. To…
We prove that a certain spinfoam model for euclidean quantum general relativity, recently defined, is finite: all its all Feynman diagrams converge. The model is a variant of the Barrett-Crane model, and is defined in terms of a field…
In this paper, a new generalised gravity-matter coupled theory of gravity is presented. This theory is constructed by assuming an action with an arbitrary function $f(T,B,L_m)$ which depends on the scalar torsion $T$, the boundary term…
Spinfoam theories are hoped to provide the dynamics of non-perturbative loop quantum gravity. But a number of their features remain elusive. The best studied one -the euclidean Barrett-Crane model- does not have the boundary state space…
In this paper explore the relation between covariant and canonical approaches to quantum gravity and $BF$ theory. We will focus on the dynamical triangulation and spin-foam models, which have in common that they can be defined in terms of…