Related papers: Spin Foam Models of Quantum Spacetime
A number of background independent quantizations procedures have recently been employed in 4d nonperturbative quantum gravity. We investigate and illustrate these techniques and their relation in the context of a simple 2d topological…
Understanding the large-scale physics is crucial for the spin foam approach to quantum gravity. We tackle this challenge from a statistical physics perspective using simplified, yet feature-rich models. In particular, this allows us to…
We present a new group field theory model, generalising the Boulatov model, which incorporates both 3-dimensional gravity and matter coupled to gravity. We show that the Feynman diagram amplitudes of this model are given by Riemannian…
The problem of finding the quantum theory of the gravitational field, and thus understanding what is quantum spacetime, is still open. One of the most active of the current approaches is loop quantum gravity. Loop quantum gravity is a…
This is a review of the present status of loop and spin foam approaches to quantization of four-dimensional general relativity. It aims at raising various issues which seem to challenge some of the methods and the results often taken as…
We consider a model of Quantum Gravity phenomenology, based on the idea that space-time may have some unknown granular structure that respects the Lorentz symmetry. The proposal involves non-trivial couplings of curvature to matter fields…
In this work we study a Spin Foam model for 4d Riemannian gravity, and propose a new way of imposing the simplicity constraints that uses the recently developed holomorphic representation. Using the power of the holomorphic integration…
$BF$ gravity comprises all the formulations of gravity that are based on deformations of $BF$ theory. Such deformations consist of either constraints or potential terms added to the topological $BF$ action that turn some of the gauge…
General relativity is a background-independent theory of a dynamical classical spacetime geometry. Quantum theory is formulated in a classical spacetime, as an intrinsically probabilistic, contextual theory of non-classical, interfering…
We construct a cosmological model based on a free particle model which is constrained on an embedded toroidal brane, with a general rotation around a specific axis in the bulk space. Some related issues such as the rotation axis of the…
Barrett and Crane have proposed a model of simplicial Euclidean quantum gravity in which a central role is played by a class of Spin(4) spin networks called "relativistic spin networks" which satisfy a series of physically motivated…
In a novel application of the tools of topological data analysis (TDA) to nonperturbative quantum gravity, we introduce a new class of observables that allows us to assess whether quantum spacetime really resembles a ``quantum foam" near…
Quantum gravity has been so elusive because we have tried to approach it by two paths which can never meet: quantum mechanics and general relativity. These contradict each other not only in superdense regimes, but also in the vacuum. We…
We define a four-dimensional spin-foam perturbation theory for the ${\rm BF}$-theory with a $B\wedge B$ potential term defined for a compact semi-simple Lie group $G$ on a compact orientable 4-manifold $M$. This is done by using the formal…
Calculations in Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) and spin-foams theory rely heavily on group theory of SU(2) and SL(2,C). Even though many monographs exist devoted to this theory, the different tools needed (e.g. representation theory, harmonic…
In this article we review the foundations and the present status of loop quantum gravity. It is short and relatively non-technical, the emphasis is on the ideas, and the flavor of the techniques. In particular, we describe the kinematical…
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…
Three-dimensional N-vector spin models may define universality classes for such diverse phenomena as i) the superfluid transition in liquid helium (currently investigated in the micro-gravity environment of the Space Shuttle) and ii) the…
Effective spin foams provide the computationally most efficient spin foam models yet and are therefore ideally suited for applications e.g. to quantum cosmology. We provide here the first effective spin foam computations of a finite time…
It is well known that, in the first-order formalism, pure three-dimensional gravity is just the BF theory. Similarly, four-dimensional general relativity can be formulated as BF theory with an additional constraint term added to the…