Related papers: Spacetime geometry from algebra: spin foam models …
We propose a mathematically concrete way of modelling the suggestion that in quantum gravity the spacetime disappears, replacing it with a discrete approximation to the causal path space described as an object in a model category. One of…
The goal of this work is two-fold. In the first part of this paper we regard classical Plebanski's action as a BF action supplemented by constraints. We introduce a spin foam model for Riemannian general relativity by systematically…
We construct a canonical formulation of general relativity for the case of a timelike foliation of spacetime. The formulation possesses explicit covariance with respect to Lorentz transformations in the tangent space. Applying the loop…
Spacetime is composed of a fluctuating arrangement of bubbles or loops called spacetime foam, or quantum foam. We use the holographic principle to deduce its structure, and show that the result is consistent with gedanken experiments…
In any attempt to build a quantum theory of gravity, a central issue is to unravel the structure of space-time at the smallest scale. Of particular relevance is the possible definition of coordinate functions within the theory and the study…
We construct a group field theory model for quantum gravity minimally coupled to relativistic scalar fields, defining as well a corresponding discrete gravity path integral (and, implicitly, a coupled spin foam model) in its Feynman…
We investigate gravity as a gauge theory in the language of fiber bundles with tools from algebraic geometry. Compelled by the construction of the Eilenberg-MacLane classifying space via Fox derivations in an integral group ring, the origin…
Over the last two years, the canonical approach to quantum gravity based on connections and triads has been put on a firm mathematical footing through the development and application of a new functional calculus on the space of gauge…
In this work we show that 3d Feynman amplitudes of standard QFT in flat and homogeneous space can be naturally expressed as expectation values of a specific topological spin foam model. The main interest of the paper is to set up a…
We describe a theory amalgamating quantum theory and general relativity through the identification of a continuous 4-dimensional spacetime arena constructed from the substructures of a generalised multi-dimensional form for proper time. In…
I will briefly discuss three cosmological models built upon three distinct quantum gravity proposals. I will first highlight the cosmological role of a vector field in the framework of a string/brane cosmological model. I will then present…
Spherical reduction of generic four-dimensional theories is revisited. Three different notions of "spherical symmetry" are defined. The following sectors are investigated: Einstein-Cartan theory, spinors, (non-)abelian gauge fields and…
In various background independent approaches, quantum gravity is defined in terms of a field propagation kernel: a sum over paths interpreted as a transition amplitude between 3-geometries, expected to project quantum states of the geometry…
The physics of quantum gravity is discussed within the framework of topological quantum field theory. Some of the principles are illustrated with examples taken from theories in which space-time is three dimensional.
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…
For a physical interpretation of a theory of quantum gravity, it is necessary to recover classical spacetime, at least approximately. However, quantum gravity may eventually provide classical spacetimes by giving spectral data similar to…
We study the cosmological sector of the Lorentzian Barrett-Crane (BC) model coupled to a free massless scalar field in its Group Field Theory (GFT) formulation, corresponding to the mean-field hydrodynamics obtained from coherent condensate…
Quantum theory is formulated as a probabilistic theory on a flat Minkowski space-time, while general theory of relativity is formulated on a curved manifold as a geometric theory. Bohmian Quantum Gravity approach indicates that one need to…
In general relativity (GR), spacetime geometry is no longer just a background arena but a physical and dynamical entity with its own degrees of freedom. We present an overview of approaches to quantum gravity in which this central feature…
In this work we start from the Higgs prototype model to introduce a new model, which makes a smooth transition between systems with well located minima and systems that support no minima at all. We implement this possibility using the…