Related papers: Knots and Quantum Gravity: Progress and Prospects
The main obstacle in attempts to construct a consistent quantum gravity is the absence of independent flat time. This can in principle be cured by going out to higher dimensions. The modern paradigm assumes that the fundamental theory of…
We construct two distinct yet related M-theory models that provide suitable frameworks for the study of knot invariants. We then focus on the four-dimensional gauge theory that follows from appropriately compactifying one of these M-theory…
Knot and link polynomials are topological invariants calculated from the expectation value of loop operators in topological field theories. In 3D Chern-Simons theory, these invariants can be found from crossing and braiding matrices of…
It has been argued based on electric-magnetic duality that the Jones polynomial of a knot in three dimensions can be computed by counting the solutions of certain gauge theory equations in four-dimension. And the Euler characteristic of…
The successful background-independent quantization of Loop Quantum Gravity relies on the key observation that classical General Relativity can be cast into the connection-dynamical formalism with the structure group of SU(2). Due to this…
We expect quantum field theories for matter to acquire intricate corrections due to their coupling to quantum fluctuations of the gravitational field. This can be precisely worked out in 3d quantum gravity: after integrating out quantum…
In previous work we discussed the quantization of paths in spacetime. Building on these ideas we have developed a mathematically coherent theory addressing a number of open questions concerning Loop Quantum Gravity. Our approach develops a…
Besides offering a friendly introduction to knot homologies and quantum curves, the goal of these lectures is to review some of the concrete predictions that follow from the physical interpretation of knot homologies. In particular, this…
In general relativity (GR), spacetime geometry is no longer just a background arena but a physical and dynamical entity with its own degrees of freedom. We present an overview of approaches to quantum gravity in which this central feature…
The geometro-stochastic method of quantization provides a framework for quantum general relativity, in which the principal frame bundles of local Lorentz frames that underlie the fibre-theoretical approach to classical general relativity…
Spin Foam and Loop approaches to Quantum Gravity reformulate Einstein's theory of relativity in terms of connection variables. The metric properties are encoded in face bivectors/conjugate fluxes that are required to satisfy certain…
Quantizing the gravitational field described by General relativity being a notorious difficult, unsolved and maybe meaningless problem I use in this essay a different strategy: I consider a linear theory in the framework of Special…
A spin network is a generalization of a knot or link: a graph embedded in space, with edges labelled by representations of a Lie group, and vertices labelled by intertwining operators. Such objects play an important role in 3-dimensional…
We generalize the braid algebra to the case of loops with intersections. We introduce the Reidemeister moves for 4 and 6-valent vertices to have a theory of rigid vertex equivalence. By considering representations of the extended braid…
By virtue of the Noether theorems, the vast gauge redundancy of general relativity provides us with a rich algebra of boundary charges that generate physical symmetries. These charges are located at codimension-2 entangling surfaces called…
In seeking to arrive at a theory of ``quantum gravity'', one faces several choices among alternative approaches. I list some of these ``forks in the road'' and offer reasons for taking one alternative over the other. In particular, I…
The study of general two dimensional models of gravity allows to tackle basic questions of quantum gravity, bypassing important technical complications which make the treatment in higher dimensions difficult. As the physically important…
As a laboratory for loop quantum gravity, we consider the canonical quantization of the three-dimensional Chern-Simons theory on a noncompact space with the topology of a cylinder. Working within the loop quantization formalism, we define…
A five-dimensional Chern-Simons gravity theory based on the anti-de Sitter group SO(4,2) is argued to be a useful model in which to understand the details of holography and the relationship between generally covariant and dual local quantum…
This is a PhD thesis about low dimensional topology, in particular knot thory in 3-manifolds also different from the 3-sphere, topological applications of quantum invariants, and Turaev's shadows. There is an introduction and a survey for…