Related papers: Causality and matter propagation in 3d spin foam q…

We discuss various features and details of two versions of the Barrett-Crane spin foam model of quantum gravity, first of the Spin(4)-symmetric Riemannian model and second of the SL(2,C)-symmetric Lorentzian version in which all tetrahedra…

A new approach to quantum gravity is described which joins the loop representation formulation of the canonical theory to the causal set formulation of the path integral. The theory assigns quantum amplitudes to special classes of causal…

Spin foam vertex amplitudes are the key ingredient of spin foam models for quantum gravity. These fall into the realm of discretized path integral, and can be seen as generalized lattice gauge theories. They can be seen as an attempt at a…

Making the Lorentzian path integral for quantum gravity well-defined and computable has been a long standing challenge. In this work we adopt the recently proposed effective spin foam models to the Lorentzian case. This defines a path…

We show that N = 1 supersymmetric BF theory in 3d leads to a supersymmetric spin foam amplitude via a lattice discretisation. Furthermore, by analysing the supersymmetric quantum amplitudes, we show that they can be re-interpreted as 3d…

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 Kaluza-Klein like approach for a 4d spin foam model is considered. By applying this approach to a model based on group field theory in 4d (TOCY model), and using the Peter-Weyl expansion of the gravitational field, reconstruction of new…

This thesis is situated within the context of quantum gravity, broadly understood as any effort to explore the interplay between gravitation and the quantum realm, without necessarily requiring the quantization of the gravitational field…

The spinfoam approach to quantum gravity rests on a "quantization" of BF theory using 2-complexes and group representations. We explain why, in dimension three and higher, this "spinfoam quantization" must be amended to be made consistent…

The most common spin foam models of gravity are widely believed to be discrete path integral quantizations of the Plebanski action. However, their derivation in present formulations is incomplete and lower dimensional simplex amplitudes are…

In a companion paper, we have emphasized the role of the Drinfeld double DSU(2) in the context of three dimensional Riemannian Loop Quantum Gravity coupled to massive spinless point particles. We make use of this result to propose a model…

In this article we give a systematic definition of the recently introduced spin foam models for four dimensional quantum gravity reviewing the main results on their semiclassical limit on fixed discretizations.

Non-perturbative theories of quantum gravity inevitably include configurations that fail to resemble physically reasonable spacetimes at large scales. Often, these configurations are entropically dominant and pose an obstacle to obtaining…

We employ the curvature expansion of the quantum effective action for gravity-matter systems to construct graviton-mediated scattering amplitudes for non-minimally coupled scalar fields in a Minkowski background. By design, the formalism…

We compute Teitelboim's causal propagator in the context of canonical loop quantum gravity. For the Lorentzian signature, we find that the resultant power series can be expressed as a sum over branched, colored two-surfaces with an…

The problem of background independent quantum gravity is the problem of defining a quantum field theory of matter and gravity in the absence of an underlying background geometry. Loop quantum gravity (LQG) is a promising proposal for…

In this paper, $f(R,\lm, T)$ gravity is considered. It is a generalization of the theories $f(R,T)$ and $f(R, \lm)$. This modified theory of gravity exhibits strong geometry-matter coupling. The problem of causality and its violation is…

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,…

Causal fermion systems are introduced as a general mathematical framework for formulating relativistic quantum theory. By specializing, we recover earlier notions like fermion systems in discrete space-time, the fermionic projector and…

The ideas of spacetime discreteness and causality are important in several of the popular approaches to quantum gravity. But if discreteness is accepted as an initial assumption, conflict with Lorentz invariance can be a consequence. The…