Related papers: A length operator for canonical quantum gravity
The search for a quantum theory of gravity is one of the major challenges facing theoretical physics today. While no complete theory exists, a promising avenue of research is the loop quantum gravity approach. In this approach, quantum…
One of the celebrated results of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) is the discreteness of the spectrum of geometrical operators such as length, area and volume operators. This is an indication that Planck scale geometry in LQG is discontinuous…
An anomaly-free operator corresponding to the Wheeler-DeWitt constraint of Lorentzian, four-dimensional, canonical, non-perturbative vacuum gravity is constructed in the continuum. This operator is entirely free of factor ordering…
This paper deals with several technical issues of non-perturbative four-dimensional Lorentzian canonical quantum gravity in the continuum that arose in connection with the recently constructed Wheeler-DeWitt quantum constraint operator. 1)…
Two sets of spatially diffeomorphism invariant operators are constructed in the loop representation formulation of quantum gravity. This is done by coupling general relativity to an anti- symmetric tensor gauge field and using that field to…
Within the context of loop quantum gravity there are several operators which measure geometry quantities. This work examines two of these operators, volume and angle, to study quantum geometry at a single spin network vertex - ``an atom of…
Exact operator quantization is perfomed of a model of two-dimensional dilaton gravity in Lorentzian spacetime, classically equivalent to the one proposed by Callan, Giddings, Harvey and Strominger, in the special case with 24 massless…
The 4-dimensional metric $f(\R)$ theories of gravity are cast into connection-dynamical formalism with real $\SU(2)$-connections as configuration variables. Through this formalism, the classical metric $f(\R)$ theories are quantized by…
We consider the quantum mechanics of a particle on a noncommutative two-sphere with the coordinates obeying an SU(2)-algebra. The momentum operator can be constructed in terms of an $SU(2)\times SU(2)$-extension and the Heisenberg algebra…
We review some recent attempts to extract information about the nature of quantum gravity, with and without matter, by quantum field theoretical methods. More specifically, we work within a covariant lattice approach where the individual…
We consider geometric operators, such as the geodesic length and the volume of hypersurfaces, in the context of the Asymptotic Safety scenario for quantum gravity. We discuss the role of these operators from the Asymptotic Safety…
Treating the QCD Wilson loop as amplitude for the propagation of the first quantized particle we develop the second quantization of the same propagation. The operator of the particle position $\hat{\cal X}_{\mu}$ (the endpoint of the "open…
We introduce a new operator in Loop Quantum Gravity - the 3D curvature operator - related to the 3-dimensional scalar curvature. The construction is based on Regge Calculus. We define it starting from the classical expression of the Regge…
In a quantum theory of gravity the gravitational Wilson loop, defined as a suitable quantum average of a parallel transport operator around a large near-planar loop, provides important information about the large-scale curvature properties…
A hallmark of non-perturbative theories of quantum gravity is the absence of a fixed background geometry, and therefore the absence in a Planckian regime of any notion of length or scale that is defined a priori. This has potentially…
A common misconception is that Lorentz invariance is inconsistent with a discrete spacetime structure and a minimal length: under Lorentz contraction, a Planck length ruler would be seen as smaller by a boosted observer. We argue that in…
We continue the study of the question of when a pseudo-Riemannain manifold can be locally characterised by its scalar polynomial curvature invariants (constructed from the Riemann tensor and its covariant derivatives). We make further use…
We show that the Hamiltonian of four-dimensional Lorentzian gravity, defined on a space of real, SU(2)-valued connections, in spite of its non-polynomiality possesses a natural quantum analogue in a lattice-discretized formulation of the…
We describe preliminary results of a detailed numerical analysis of the volume operator as formulated by Ashtekar and Lewandowski. Due to a simplified explicit expression for its matrix elements, it is possible for the first time to treat…
De Sitter Chern-Simons gravity in D = 1 + 2 spacetime is known to possess an extension with a Barbero-Immirzi like parameter. We find a partial gauge fixing which leaves a compact residual gauge group, namely SU(2). The compacticity of the…