Related papers: Loop Quantum Gravity and the Meaning of Diffeomorp…
Loop quantum gravity and cosmology are reviewed with an emphasis on evaluating the dynamics, rather than constructing it. The three crucial parts of such an analysis are (i) deriving effective equations, (ii) controlling the theory's…
Motivated by a recent proposal (by Koslowski-Sahlmann) of a kinematical representation in Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) with a nondegenerate vacuum metric, we construct a polymer quantization of the parametrised massless scalar field theory on…
The phenomenology for the deep spatial geometry of loop quantum gravity is discussed. In the context of a simple model of an atom of space, it is shown how purely combinatorial structures can affect observations. The angle operator is used…
In this work we introduce a criterion for testing general covariance in effective quantum gravity theories. It adapts the analysis of invariance under general spacetime diffeomorphisms of the Einstein-Hilbert action to the case of effective…
We study a class of theories in which space-time is treated classically, while interacting with quantum fields. These circumvent various no-go theorems and the pathologies of semi-classical gravity, by being linear in the density matrix and…
A covariant spin-foam formulation of quantum gravity has been recently developed, characterized by a kinematics which appears to match well the one of canonical loop quantum gravity. In this paper we reconsider the implementation of the…
We consider quantum transition amplitudes, partition functions and observables for 3D spin foam models within $SU(2)$ quantum group deformation symmetry, where the deformation parameter is a complex fifth root of unity. By considering…
Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) is a promising approach to quantum gravity, in particular because it is based on a rigorous quantization of the kinematics of gravity. A difficult and still open problem in the LQG program is the construction of…
In this paper we address the meaning of states in loop quantum cosmology (LQC), in the context of loop quantum gravity. First, we introduce a rigorous formulation of an embedding proposed by Bojowald and Kastrup, of LQC states into loop…
We describe a refined version of a previous proposal for the exploration of quantum gravity phenomenology. Unlike the original scheme, the one presented here is free from sign ambiguities while it shares with the previous one the essential…
We study a tentative generally covariant quantum field theory, denoted the T-Theory, as a tool to investigate the consistency of quantum general relativity. The theory describes the gravitational field and a minimally coupled scalar field;…
An introduction to loop quantum gravity is given, focussing on the fundamental aspects of the theory, different approaches to the dynamics, as well as possible future directions. It is structured in five lectures, including exercises, and…
The discrete spatial geometry underlying Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) is degenerate almost everywhere. This is at apparent odds with the non- degeneracy of asymptotically flat metrics near spatial infinity. Koslowski generalised the LQG…
Over the last three years, a number of fundamental physical issues were addressed in loop quantum gravity. These include: A statistical mechanical derivation of the horizon entropy, encompassing astrophysically interesting black holes as…
In loop quantum gravity we now have a clear picture of the quantum geometry of space, thanks in part to the theory of spin networks. The concept of `spin foam' is intended to serve as a similar picture for the quantum geometry of spacetime.…
We present a new cosmological model derived from Loop Quantum Gravity. The formulation is based on a projection of the kinematical Hilbert space of the full theory down to a subspace representing the proper arena for an inhomogeneous…
In this work, we study the classical and quantum properties of the unique commutative Lorentz-covariant connection for loop quantum gravity. This connection has been found after solving the second-class constraints inherited from the…
We present a separable version of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) based on an inductive system of cubic lattices. We construct semi-classical states for which the LQG operators -- the flux, the area and the volume operators -- have the right…
We present an implementation of the loop representation of quantum gravity on a square lattice. Instead of starting from a classical lattice theory, quantizing and introducing loops, we proceed backwards, setting up constraints in the…
In this paper, we study the discrete classical phase space of loop gravity, which is expressed in terms of the holonomy-flux variables, and show how it is related to the continuous phase space of general relativity. In particular, we prove…