Related papers: The Affine Quantum Gravity Program
In the recently introduced gauge theory of translations, dubbed Coincident General Relativity, gravity is described with neither torsion nor curvature in the spacetime affine geometry. The action of the theory enjoys an enhanced symmetry…
An ultralocal form of any classical field theory eliminates all spatial derivatives in its action functional, e.g., in its Hamiltonian functional density. It has been applied to covariant scalar field theories and even to Einstein's general…
We emphasize that a specific aspect of quantum gravity is the absence of a super-selection rule that prevents a linear superposition of different gravitational charges. As an immediate consequence, we obtain a tiny, but observable,…
One of the most important issues in quantum gravity is to identify its semi-classical regime. First the issue is to define for we mean by a semi-classical theory of quantum gravity, then we would like to use it to extract physical…
Non-Abelian Gauss law is interpreted in terms of area bits described in a local frame which fit together into closed surfaces and the Non-Abelian Stokes law in terms of length bits described in a local frame which fit together into closed…
Affine variables, which have the virtue of preserving the positive-definite character of matrix-like objects, have been suggested as replacements for the canonical variables of standard quantization schemes, especially in the context of…
The basic features of the complex canonical formulation of general relativity and the recent developments in the quantum gravity program based on it are reviewed. The exposition is intended to be complementary to the review articles…
Quantum gravity is made more difficult in part by its constraint structure. The constraints are classically first-class; however, upon quantization they become partially second-class. To study such behavior, we focus on a simple problem…
If quantum gravity respects the principles of quantum mechanics, suitably generalized, it may be that a more viable approach to the theory is through identifying the relevant quantum structures rather than by quantizing classical spacetime.…
We consider the most general 11 parameter parity even quadratic Metric-Affine Theory whose action consists of the usual Einstein-Hilbert plus the 11 quadratic terms in torsion, non-metricity as well as their mixing. By following a certain…
Recent developments in gravitational path integrals indicate that the nonperturbative physical Hilbert space of a closed universe is one-dimensional within each superselection sector. This raises a basic puzzle: how can a unique…
We recall a classical theory of torsion gravity with an asymmetric metric, sourced by a Nambu-Goto + Kalb-Ramond string . We explain why this is a significant gravitational theory, and in what sense classical general relativity is an…
Canonical quantization (CQ) is built around $[Q,P]=i\hbar1\!\!1$, while affine quantization (AQ) is built around $[Q,D]=i\hbar\,Q$, where $D\equiv(PQ+QP)/2$. The basic CQ operators must fit $-\infty< P, Q <\infty$, while the basic AQ…
Whether gravity must be quantized remains one of the biggest open problems in fundamental physics. Classical-quantum hybrid theories have recently attracted attention as a possible framework in which gravity is treated classically yet…
Affine variational principle for General Relativity, proposed in 1978 by one of us (J.K.), is a good remedy for the non-universal properties of the standard, metric formulation, arising when the matter Lagrangian depends upon the metric…
One of the main technical obstacles in constructing a consistent theory of quantum gravity is that the metric itself defines the causal structure required for quantization. This motivates implementing quantum aspects of gravity through an…
In quantum models of gravity, it is surmized that configurations with degenerate coframes could occur during topology change of the underlying spacetime structure. However, the coframe is not the true Yang--Mills type gauge field of the…
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,…
Vielbeins are necessary when coupling General Relativity (GR) to fermionic matter. This enhances the gauge group of GR to include local Lorentz transformations. In view of a reduced phase space formulation of quantum gravity, in this work…
We describe a simple gauge-fixing that leads to a construction of a quantum Hilbert space for quantum gravity in an asymptotically Anti de Sitter spacetime, valid to all orders of perturbation theory. The construction is motivated by a…