Related papers: A Comment on the Degrees of Freedom 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…
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…
The constraint hypersurfaces defining the Witten and Ashtekar formulations for 2+1 gravity are very different. In particular the constraint hypersurface in the Ashtekar case is not a manifold but consists of several sectors that intersect…
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…
We show that the constraint algebra of Ashtekar's Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity can be non-trivially deformed by allowing the cosmological constant to become an arbitrary function of the (Weyl) curvature. Our result implies…
We investigate the Hamiltonian formulation of $f(T)$ gravity and find that there are five degrees of freedom. The six first class constraints corresponding to the local Lorentz transformation in Teleparallel gravity become second class…
We show that the reality conditions to be imposed on Ashtekar variables to recover real gravity can be implemented as second class constraints a la Dirac. Thus, counting gravitational degrees of freedom follows accordingly. Some constraints…
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…
We discuss two issues regarding the question of degrees of freedom in two dimensional string theory. The first issue relates to the classical limit of quantum string theory. In the classical theory one requires an infinite number of fields…
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…
It has recently been shown that $f(T)$ gravity has $\frac{n(n-3)}{2}+1$ physical degrees of freedom (d.o.f.) in $n$ dimensions, contrary to previous claims. The simplest physical interpretation of this fact is that the theory possesses a…
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 study in a systematic way a generic nonderivative (massive) deformation of general relativity using the Hamiltonian formalism. The number of propagating degrees of freedom is analyzed in a nonperturbative and background independent way.…
We present a clear, step-by-step method for counting degrees of freedom and identifying constraints in general field theories. This approach, grounded in the works of Einstein, Hilbert, Cartan, Kuranishi, and, more recently, Seiler, is…
Related to the classical Ashtekar Hamiltonian, there have been discoveries regarding new classical actions for gravity in (2+1)- and (3+1)-dimensions, and also generalizations of Einstein's theory of gravity. In this review, I will try to…
In three spacetime dimensions, general relativity drastically simplifies, becoming a ``topological'' theory with no propagating local degrees of freedom. Nevertheless, many of the difficult conceptual problems of quantizing gravity are…
Using the Ashtekar formulation, it is shown that the G_{Newton} --> 0 limit of Euclidean or complexified general relativity is not a free field theory, but is a theory that describes a linearized self-dual connection propagating on an…
A generally covariant gauge theory for an arbitrary gauge group with dimension $\geq 3$, that reduces to Ashtekar's canonical formulation of gravity for SO(3,C), is presented. The canonical form of the theory is shown to contain only first…
The gravitational radiation degrees of freedom of freedom are described in the framework of the 3+1 decomposition of spacetime. The relationship with eigenfields of the Kidder-Scheel-Teukolsky (KST) equations is established. This…
We reexamine the large quantum gravity effects discovered by Ashtekar in the context of 2+1 dimensional gravity coupled to matter. We study an alternative one-parameter family of coherent states of the theory in which the large quantum…