Related papers: Quantum Gravity in 2+1 Dimensions: The Case of a C…
General relativity becomes vastly simpler in three spacetime dimensions: all vacuum solutions have constant curvature, and the moduli space of solutions can be almost completely characterized. As a result, this lower dimensional setting…
We do not yet know how to quantize gravity in 3+1 dimensions, but in lower dimensions we face the opposite problem: many of the approaches originally developed for (3+1)-dimensional gravity can be successfully implemented in 2+1 dimensions,…
These lectures briefly review our current understanding of classical and quantum gravity in three spacetime dimensions, concentrating on the quantum mechanics of closed universes and the (2+1)-dimensional black hole. Three formulations of…
(from the talk:) I shall here speak on gravity in (1+1)-dimensional space-time --- lineal gravity. The purpose of studying lower dimensional theories, and specifically lower dimensional gravity, is to gain insight into difficult…
It is argued that quantum gravity has an interpretation as a topological field theory provided a certain constraint from the path intergral measure is respected. The constraint forces us to couple gauge and matter fields to gravity for…
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 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…
A number of very different approaches to quantum gravity contain a common thread, a hint that spacetime at very short distances becomes effectively two dimensional. I review this evidence, starting with a discussion of the physical meaning…
To appear in proceedings of II Workshop on ``Constraints Theory and Quantisation Methods''Montepulciano (Siena) 1993} General discussion of the constraints of 2+1 gravity, with emphasis on two approaches, namely the second order and first…
Witten has presented an argument for the vanishing of the cosmological constant in 2+1 dimensions. This argument is crucially tied to the specific properties of (2+1)-dimensional gravity. We argue that this reasoning can be deconstructed to…
A review is given of some classical and quantum aspects of 2+1 dimensional gravity.
In contrast to other approaches to (2+1)-dimensional quantum gravity, the Wheeler-DeWitt equation appears to be too complicated to solve explicitly, even for simple spacetime topologies. Nevertheless, it is possible to obtain a good deal of…
The requirement that physical phenomena associated with gravitational collapse should be duly reconciled with the postulates of quantum mechanics implies that at a Planckian scale our world is not 3+1 dimensional. Rather, the observable…
In three spacetime dimensions, general relativity becomes a topological field theory, whose dynamics can be largely described holographically by a two-dimensional conformal field theory at the ``boundary'' of spacetime. I review what is…
A potentially powerful approach to quantum gravity has been developed over the last few years under the name of Causal Dynamical Triangulations. Numerical simulations have given very interesting results in the cases of two, three and four…
A classical two dimensional theory of gravity which has a number of interesting features (including a Newtonian limit, black holes and gravitational collapse) is quantized using conformal field theoretic techniques. The critical dimension…
The general problems of three-dimensional quantum gravity are recatitulated here, putting the emphasis on the mathematical problems of defining the measure of the path integral over all three-dimensional metrics.This work should be viewed…
Despite their diversity, many of the most prominent candidate theories of quantum gravity share the property to be effectively lower-dimensional at small scales. In particular, dimension two plays a fundamental role in the finiteness of…
The quantum theory of the spherically symmetric gravity in 3+1 dimensions is investigated. The functional measures are explicitly evaluated and the physical state conditions are derived by using the technique developed in two dimensional…
The configuration space of general relativity is superspace - the space of all Riemannian 3-metrics modulo diffeomorphisms. However, it has been argued that the configuration space for gravity should be conformal superspace - the space of…