Related papers: The Area Metric Reality Constraint in Classical Ge…
An idea of reality conditions in the context of spin foams (Barrett-Crane models) is developed. The square of areas are the most elementary observables in the case of spin foams. This observation implies that simplest reality conditions in…
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 study a generalized action for gravity as a constrained BF theory, and its relationship with the Plebanski action. We analyse the discretization of the constraints and the spin foam quantization of the theory, showing that it leads…
We provide the Barrett-Crane spin foam model for quantum gravity with a discrete action principle, consisting in the usual BF term with discretized simplicity constraints which in the continuum turn topological BF theory into gravity. The…
We suggest a modification of the Barrett-Crane spin foam model of 4-dimensional Lorentzian general relativity motivated by the canonical quantization. The starting point is Lorentz covariant loop quantum gravity. Its kinematical Hilbert…
We introduce a three-dimensional Plebanski action for the gauge group SO(4). In this model, the $B$ field satisfies quadratic simplicity constraints similar to that of the four-dimensional Plebanski theory, but with the difference that the…
Area metrics are an intriguing generalization of length metrics which appears in several quantum-gravity approaches. We describe the space of diffeomorphism-invariant area-metric actions quadratic in fluctuations and derivatives. A general…
In the first-order formulation, general relativity could be formally viewed as the topological $BF$ theory with a specific constraint, the Plebanski constraint. $BF$ theory is expected to be the classical limit of the Crane-Yetter~(CY)…
We investigate a formulation of continuum 4d gravity in terms of a constrained BF theory, in the spirit of the Plebanski formulation, but involving only linear constraints, of the type used recently in the spin foam approach to quantum…
Spin foams arise from a quantization of classical gravity expressed via the Plebanski action. Key open questions related to the continuum limit of spin foams are whether general relativity is reproduced and what type of corrections could…
We show how to treat the constraints and reality conditions in the $SO(3)$-ADM (Ashtekar) formulation of general relativity, for the case of a vacuum spacetime with a cosmological constant. We clarify the difference between the reality…
A scalar field nonminimally coupled to gravity is studied in the canonical framework, using self-dual variables. The corresponding constraints are first class and polynomial. To identify the real sector of the theory, reality conditions are…
We give in this paper a modified self-dual action that leads to the $SO(3)$-ADM formalism without having to face the difficult second class constraints present in other approaches (for example if one starts from the Hilbert-Palatini…
Area Regge calculus is a candidate theory of simplicial gravity, based on the Regge action with triangle areas as the dynamical variables. It is characterized by metric discontinuities and vanishing deficit angles. Area Regge calculus…
We examine the constraints and the reality conditions that have to be imposed in the canonical theory of 4--d gravity formulated in terms of Ashtekar variables. We find that the polynomial reality conditions are consistent with the…
The canonical formalism of three dimensional gravity coupled with the Dirac field is considered. We introduce complex variables to simplify the Dirac brackets of canonical variables and examine the canonical structure of the theory. We…
We present a covariant multisymplectic formulation for the Einstein-Palatini (or Metric-Affine) model of General Relativity (without energy-matter sources). As it is described by a first-order affine Lagrangian (in the derivatives of the…
Preliminary results on a canonical formulation of general relativity based on an analogy with the string model of elementary particles are presented. Rather than the metric components, the basic fields of the formalism are taken to be the…
We study a class of theories in which space-time is treated classically, while interacting with quantum fields. These circumvent various no-go theorems and the pathologies of semi-classical gravity, by being linear in the density matrix and…
We revise the classical continuum formulation behind the Spin Foam approach to the quantization of gravity. Based on the recent applications of the current EPRL-FK model beyond triangulations, we identify the tension with the implementation…