Related papers: Homogeneous 2+1 Dimensional Gravity in the Ashteka…
The Ashtekar formulation of 2+1 gravity differs from the geometrodynamical and Witten descriptions when the 2-metric is degenerate. We study the phase space of 2+1 gravity in the Ashtekar formulation to understand these degenerate solutions…
Pure (2+1)-dimensional Einstein gravity is analysed in the Ashtekar formulation, when the spatial manifold is a torus. We have found a set of globally defined observables, forming a closed algebra. This allowed us to solve the quantum…
The rank-2 sector of classical $3+1$ dimensional Ashtekar gravity is considered. It is found that the consistency of the evolution equations with the reality of the volume requires that the 3-surface of initial data is foliated by…
Dimensional reductions of various higher dimensional (super)gravity theories lead to effectively two-dimensional field theories described by gravity coupled G/H nonlinear sigma-models. We show that a new set of complexified variables can be…
We examine the reduced phase space of the Barbero-Varadarajan solutions of the Ashtekar formulation of (2+1)-dimensional general relativity on a torus. We show that it is a finite-dimensional space due to existence of an infinite…
Canonical transformations relating the variables of the ADM-, Ashtekar's and Witten's formulations of gravity are computed in 2+1~dimensions. Three different forms of the BRST-charge are given in the 2+1 dimensional Ashtekar formalism, two…
The preceding talks given at this conference have dealt mainly with general ideas for, main problems of and techniques for the task of quantizing gravity canonically. Since one of the major motivations to arrange for this meeting was that…
We show that the recent claim that the 2+1 dimensional Ashtekar formulation for General Relativity has a finite number of physical degrees of freedom is not correct.
The rank--1 sector of classical Ashtekar gravity is considered, motivated by the degeneracy of the metric along the Wilson lines in quantum loop states. It is found that the lines behave like 1+1 dimensional spacetimes with a pair of…
The Lagrangian formulation of classical field theories and in particular general relativity leads to a coordinate-free, fully covariant analysis of these constrained systems. This paper applies multisymplectic techniques to obtain the…
Dirac's quantization of the (2+1)-dimensional analog of Ashtekar's approach to quantum gravity is investigated. After providing a diffeomorphism-invariant regularization of the Hamiltonian constraint, we find a set of solutions to this…
We show that there are 2 equivalent first order descriptions of 2+1 gravity with non-zero cosmological constant. One is the well-known spacetime description and the other is in terms of evolving conformal geometry. The key tool that links…
If one replaces the constraints of the Ashtekar-Barbero $SU(2)$ gauge theory formulation of Euclidean gravity by their $U(1)^3$ version, one arrives at a consistent model which captures significant structure of its $SU(2)$ version. 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 Hilbert-Palatini (HP) Lagrangian of general relativity being written in terms of selfdual and antiselfdual variables contains Ashtekar Lagrangian (which governs the dynamics of the selfdual sector of the theory on condition that the…
This work completes the task of solving locally the Einstein-Ashtekar equations for degenerate data. The two remaining degenerate sectors of the classical 3+1 dimensional theory are considered. First, with all densitized triad vectors…
We study the deformation (Moyal) quantisation of gravity in both the ADM and the Ashtekar approach. It is shown, that both can be treated, but lead to anomalies. The anomaly in the case of Ashtekar variables, however, is merely a central…
We derive a canonical analysis of a double null 2+2 Hamiltonian description of General Relativity in terms of complex self-dual 2-forms and the associated SO(3) connection variables. The algebra of first class constraints is obtained and…
In a previous paper we formulated axisymmetric general relativity in terms of real Ashtekar--Barbero variables. Here we proceed to quantize the theory. We are able to implement Thiemann's version of the Hamiltonian constraint. We discuss…
It is known that Ashtekar's formulation for pure Einstein gravity can be cast into the form of a topological field theory, namely the $SU(2)$ BF theory, with the B-fields subject to an algebraic constraint. We extend this relation between…