Related papers: Spin Foam Models and the Classical Action Principl…
$BF$ gravity comprises all the formulations of gravity that are based on deformations of $BF$ theory. Such deformations consist of either constraints or potential terms added to the topological $BF$ action that turn some of the gauge…
We describe a class of spin foam models of four-dimensional quantum gravity which is based on the integration of the tetrad one-forms in the path integral for the Palatini action of General Relativity. In the Euclidian gravity case this…
We construct a spin foam model of Yang-Mills theory coupled to gravity by using a discretized path integral of the BF theory with polynomial interactions and the Barret-Crane ansatz. In the Euclidian gravity case we obtain a vertex…
Current theories of particle physics, including the standard model, are dominated by the paradigm that nature is basically translation invariant. Deviations from translation invariance are described by the action of forces. General…
In the quest of a physical theory of quantum gravity, spin foam models, or in short spinfoams, propose a well-defined path integral summing over quantized discrete space-time geometries. At the crossroad of topological quantum field theory,…
We review the dual transformation from pure lattice gauge theory to spin foam models with an emphasis on a geometric viewpoint. This allows us to give a simple dual formulation of SU(N) Yang-Mills theory, where spin foam surfaces are…
We explain how General Relativity with a cosmological constant arises as a broken symmetry phase of a BF theory. In particular we show how to treat de Sitter and anti-de Sitter cases simultaneously. This is then used to formulate a…
While the use of spin networks has greatly improved our understanding of the kinematical aspects of quantum gravity, the dynamical aspects remain obscure. To address this problem, we define the concept of a `spin foam' going from one spin…
We derive an action for scalar quantum field theory with cubic interaction in the context of relative locality. Beginning with the generating functional for standard $\varphi^3$--theory and the corresponding Feynman rules we modify them to…
Just as 3d state sum models, including 3d quantum gravity, can be built using categories of group representations, "2-categories of 2-group representations" may provide interesting state sum models for 4d quantum topology, if not quantum…
We give a general definition of spin foam models, and then of models of 4d quantum gravity based on constraining BF theory. We highlight the construction and quantization ambiguities entering model building, among which the choice of…
We construct a spinfoam model for Yang-Mills theory coupled to quantum gravity in three dimensional riemannian spacetime. We define the partition function of the coupled system as a power series in g_0^2 G that can be evaluated order by…
Starting from Ooguri's construction for $BF$ theory in three (and four) dimensions, we show how to construct a well defined theory with an infinite number of degrees of freedom. The spin network states that are kept invariant by the…
We develop an explicit model of quantum gravity coupled to the matter fields of the Standard Model, based on the 3-group structure and the 3BF action, within the framework of higher gauge theory. The model is constructed by providing a…
BF theory is a topological theory that can be seen as a natural generalization of 3-dimensional gravity to arbitrary dimensions. Here we show that the coupling to point particles that is natural in three dimensions generalizes in a direct…
The most common spin foam models of gravity are widely believed to be discrete path integral quantizations of the Plebanski action. However, their derivation in present formulations is incomplete and lower dimensional simplex amplitudes are…
We give a short review of the spin foam models of quantum gravity, with an emphasis on the Barret-Crane model. After explaining the shortcomings of the Barret-Crane model, we briefly discuss two new approaches, one based on the 3d spin foam…
In this paper we tackle the issue of causality in quantum gravity, in the context of 3d spin foam models. We identify the correct procedure for implementing the causality/orientation dependence restriction that reduces the path integral for…
We study field theory models in the context of a gravitational theory based on the requirement that the measure of integration in the action is not necessarily \sqrt{-g} but it is determined dynamically through additional degrees of…
Spin foam models are an approach to quantum gravity based on the concept of sum over states, which aims to describe quantum spacetime dynamics in a way that its parent framework, loop quantum gravity, has not as of yet succeeded. Since…