Twisted geometries: A geometric parametrisation of SU(2) phase space

A cornerstone of the loop quantum gravity program is the fact that the phase space of general relativity on a fixed graph can be described by a product of SU(2) cotangent bundles per edge. In this paper we show how to parametrize this phase space in terms of quantities describing the intrinsic and extrinsic geometry of the triangulation dual to the graph. These are defined by the assignment to each triangle of its area, the two unit normals as seen from the two polyhedra sharing it, and an additional angle related to the extrinsic curvature. These quantities do not define a Regge geometry, since they include extrinsic data, but a looser notion of discrete geometry which is twisted in the sense that it is locally well-defined, but the local patches lack a consistent gluing among each other. We give the Poisson brackets among the new variables, and exhibit a symplectomorphism which maps them into the Poisson brackets of loop gravity. The new parametrization has the advantage of a simple description of the gauge-invariant reduced phase space, which is given by a product of phase spaces associated to edges and vertices, and it also provides an abelianisation of the SU(2) connection. The results are relevant for the construction of coherent states, and as a byproduct, contribute to clarify the connection between loop gravity and its subset corresponding to Regge geometries.Comment: 28 pages. v2 and v3 minor change

Bicrossed products with the Taft algebra

Let $G$ be a group which admits a generating set consisting of finite order elements. We prove that any Hopf algebra which factorizes through the Taft algebra and the group Hopf algebra $K[G]$ (equivalently, any bicrossed product between the aforementioned Hopf algebras) is isomorphic to a smash product between the same two Hopf algebras. The classification of these smash products is shown to be strongly linked to the problem of describing the group automorphisms of $G$. As an application, we completely describe by generators and relations and classify all bicrossed products between the Taft algebra and the group Hopf algebra $K[D_{2n}]$, where $D_{2n}$ denotes the dihedral group.Comment: Continues arXiv:1205.6110, arXiv:1205.6564, arXiv:1603.01854, arXiv:1611.05674; restates preliminaries and definitions for sake of clarit