Related papers: Reality Conditions for Spin Foams

Recently, two new spin-foam models have appeared in the literature, both motivated by a desire to modify the Barrett-Crane model in such a way that the imposition of certain second class constraints, called cross-simplicity constraints, are…

We give a general definition of spin foam models, and then of models of 4d quantum gravity based on constraining BF theory. We highlight the construction and quantization ambiguities entering model building, among which the choice of…

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 describe here some new results concerning the Lorentzian Barrett-Crane model, a well-known spin foam formulation of quantum gravity. Generalizing an existing finiteness result, we provide a concise proof of finiteness of the partition…

Starting from the defining transformations of complex matrices for the $SO(4,R)$ group, we construct the fundamental representation and the tensor and spinor representations of the group $SO(4,R)$. Given the commutation relations for the…

The causal structure is a quintessential element of continuum spacetime physics and needs to be properly encoded in a theory of Lorentzian quantum gravity. Established spin foam (and tensorial group field theory (TGFT)) models mostly work…

We consider Riemannian 4d BF lattice gauge theory, on a triangulation of spacetime. Introducing the simplicity constraints which turn BF theory into simplicial gravity, some geometric quantities of Regge calculus, areas, and 3d and 4d…

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…

I review the formalism of loop quantum gravity, in both its real and complex formulations, and spin foam theory which is its path integral counterpart. Spin networks for non-compact groups are introduced (following hep-th/0205268) to deal…

Some observational constraints on the brane-world based on predictions from specific models in five dimensions, have been recently reported, both on local and cosmological scales. In order to identify the origins of these constraints, the…

This thesis is developed in the context of the spin-foam approach to quantum gravity; all results are concerned with the Lorentzian theory and with semiclassical methods. A correspondence is given between Majorana 2-spinors and time-like…

In the context of EPR-Bohm type experiments and spin detections confined to spacelike hypersurfaces, a local, deterministic and realistic model within a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime with a constant spatial curvature (S^3) is…

The original spin foam model construction for 4D gravity by Barrett and Crane suffers from a few troubling issues. In the simple examples of the vertex amplitude they can be summarized as the existence of contributions to the asymptotics…

The study of the so called brane world models has introduced completely new ways of looking up on standard problems in many areas of theoretical physics. Inspired in the recent developments of string theory, the Brane World picture involves…

It has been shown in [1] that a class of restricted spin foam models can feature a reduced spectral dimension of space-time. However, it is still an open question how curvature affects the flow of the spectral dimension. To answer this…

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 give a brief and a critical review of the Barret-Crane spin foam models of quantum gravity. Then we describe two new spin foam models which are obtained by direct quantization of General Relativity and do not have some of the drawbacks…

Spin Foam Models (SFMs) are covariant formulations of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) in 4 dimensions. This work studies the perturbations of SFMs on a flat background. It demonstrates for the first time that smooth curved spacetime geometries…

Spin-foam models are hoped to provide a dynamics for loop quantum gravity. These start from the Plebanski formulation of gravity, in which gravity is obtained from a topological field theory, BF theory, through constraints, which, however,…

We derive the pure spin connection and constraint-free BF formulations of real four-dimensional Lorentzian vacuum General Relativity. In contrast to the existing complex formulations, an important advantage is that they do not require the…