Related papers: Six ways to quantize (2+1)-dimensional gravity
The classical theory of gravity predicts its own demise -- singularities. We therefore attempt to quantize gravitation, and present here a new approach to the quantization of gravity wherein the concept of time is derived by imposing the…
This is an introduction to quantum gravity, aimed at a fairly general audience and concentrating on what have historically two main approaches to quantum gravity: the covariant and canonical programs (string theory is not covered). The…
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…
(2+1) dimensional gravity is equivalent to an exactly soluble non-Abelian Chern-Simons gauge field theory (E Witten 1988). Regarding this as the topological phase of quantum gravity in (2+1)d, we suggest a topological symmetry breaking by…
Discrete approaches to gravity, both classical and quantum, are reviewed briefly, with emphasis on the method using piecewise-linear spaces. Models of 3-dimensional quantum gravity involving 6j-symbols are then described, and progress in…
We advocate an alternative description of canonical gravity in 3+1 dimensions, obtained by using as the basic variable a real variant of the usual Ashtekar connection variables on the spatial three-manifold. With this ansatz, no non-trivial…
The most general dilaton gravity theory in 2 spacetime dimensions is considered. A Hamiltonian analysis is performed and the reduced phase space, which is two dimensional, is explicitly constructed in a suitable parametrization of the…
In the Chern-Simons gauge theory formulation of the spinning (2+1) dimensional black hole, we may treat the horizon and the spatial infinity as boundaries. We obtain the actions induced on both boundaries, applying the Faddeev and…
In three spacetime dimensions, where no graviton propagates, pure gravity is known to be finite. It is natural to inquire whether finiteness survives the coupling with matter. Standard arguments ensure that there exists a subtraction scheme…
We use the mathematical framework of loop quantum gravity (LQG) to study the quantization of three dimensional (Riemannian) gravity with positive cosmological constant (Lambda>0). We show that the usual regularization techniques (successful…
A generalised canonical formulation of gravity is devised for foliations of spacetime with codimension $n\ge1$. The new formalism retains n-dimensional covariance and is especially suited to 2+2 decompositions of spacetime. It is also…
We consider two-dimensional quantum gravity endowed with a positive cosmological constant and coupled to a conformal field theory of large and positive central charge. We study cosmological properties at the classical and quantum level. We…
We investigate the quantum aspects of three-dimensional gravity with a positive cosmological constant. The reduced phase space of the three-dimensional de Sitter gravity is obtained as the space which consists of the Kerr-de Sitter…
The construction of a consistent theory of quantum gravity is a problem in theoretical physics that has so far defied all attempts at resolution. One ansatz to try to obtain a non-trivial quantum theory proceeds via a discretization of…
The prerequisites of the extended phase space approach to quantization of gravity, which is alternative to the Wheeler-DeWitt one and other existing approaches, are presented. The features of the proposed approach and conclusions from its…
We present here the canonical treatment of spherically symmetric (quantum) gravity coupled to spherically symmetric Maxwell theory with or without a cosmological constant. The quantization is based on the reduced phase space which is…
We study the canonical description of the axisymmetric vacuum in 2+1 dimensional gravity, treating Einstein's gravity as a Chern Simons gauge theory on a manifold with the restriction that the dreibein is invertible. Our treatment is in the…
In two dimensions a large class of gravitational systems including, e.g., $R^2$-gravity can be quantized exactly also when coupled dynamically to a Yang-Mills theory. Some previous considerations on the quantization of pure gravity theories…
In this paper, an attempt is made to represent 5+1 dimensional gravity (via ADM formalism) in terms of the loop constructions introduced by the author in a companion paper. The "momenta" and "velocity" from the earlier paper, which were…
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…