216 research outputs found
Quantizing speeds with the cosmological constant
Considering the Barrett-Crane spin foam model for quantum gravity with
(positive) cosmological constant, we show that speeds must be quantized and we
investigate the physical implications of this effect such as the emergence of
an effective deformed Poincare symmetry.Comment: 4 pages, revtex4, 3 figure
Classical Setting and Effective Dynamics for Spinfoam Cosmology
We explore how to extract effective dynamics from loop quantum gravity and
spinfoams truncated to a finite fixed graph, with the hope of modeling
symmetry-reduced gravitational systems. We particularize our study to the
2-vertex graph with N links. We describe the canonical data using the recent
formulation of the phase space in terms of spinors, and implement a
symmetry-reduction to the homogeneous and isotropic sector. From the canonical
point of view, we construct a consistent Hamiltonian for the model and discuss
its relation with Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies. Then, we analyze the
dynamics from the spinfoam approach. We compute exactly the transition
amplitude between initial and final coherent spin networks states with support
on the 2-vertex graph, for the choice of the simplest two-complex (with a
single space-time vertex). The transition amplitude verifies an exact
differential equation that agrees with the Hamiltonian constructed previously.
Thus, in our simple setting we clarify the link between the canonical and the
covariant formalisms.Comment: 38 pages, v2: Link with discretized loop quantum gravity made
explicit and emphasize
Coherent States for 3d Deformed Special Relativity: semi-classical points in a quantum flat spacetime
We analyse the quantum geometry of 3-dimensional deformed special relativity
(DSR) and the notion of spacetime points in such a context, identified with
coherent states that minimize the uncertainty relations among spacetime
coordinates operators. We construct this system of coherent states in both the
Riemannian and Lorentzian case, and study their properties and their geometric
interpretation.Comment: RevTeX4, 20 page
Coupling of spacetime atoms and spin foam renormalisation from group field theory
We study the issue of coupling among 4-simplices in the context of spin foam
models obtained from a group field theory formalism. We construct a
generalisation of the Barrett-Crane model in which an additional coupling
between the normals to tetrahedra, as defined in different 4-simplices that
share them, is present. This is realised through an extension of the usual
field over the group manifold to a five argument one. We define a specific
model in which this coupling is parametrised by an additional real parameter
that allows to tune the degree of locality of the resulting model,
interpolating between the usual Barrett-Crane model and a flat BF-type one.
Moreover, we define a further extension of the group field theory formalism in
which the coupling parameter enters as a new variable of the field, and the
action presents derivative terms that lead to modified classical equations of
motion. Finally, we discuss the issue of renormalisation of spin foam models,
and how the new coupled model can be of help regarding this.Comment: RevTeX, 18 pages, no figure
Holomorphic Simplicity Constraints for 4d Spinfoam Models
Within the framework of spinfoam models, we revisit the simplicity
constraints reducing topological BF theory to 4d Riemannian gravity. We use the
reformulation of SU(2) intertwiners and spin networks in term of spinors, which
has come out from both the recently developed U(N) framework for SU(2)
intertwiners and the twisted geometry approach to spin networks and spinfoam
boundary states. Using these tools, we are able to perform a
holomorphic/anti-holomorphic splitting of the simplicity constraints and define
a new set of holomorphic simplicity constraints, which are equivalent to the
standard ones at the classical level and which can be imposed strongly on
intertwiners at the quantum level. We then show how to solve these new
holomorphic simplicity constraints using coherent intertwiner states. We
further define the corresponding coherent spin network functionals and
introduce a new spinfoam model for 4d Riemannian gravity based on these
holomorphic simplicity constraints and whose amplitudes are defined from the
evaluation of the new coherent spin networks.Comment: 27 page
Revisiting the Simplicity Constraints and Coherent Intertwiners
In the context of loop quantum gravity and spinfoam models, the simplicity
constraints are essential in that they allow to write general relativity as a
constrained topological BF theory. In this work, we apply the recently
developed U(N) framework for SU(2) intertwiners to the issue of imposing the
simplicity constraints to spin network states. More particularly, we focus on
solving them on individual intertwiners in the 4d Euclidean theory. We review
the standard way of solving the simplicity constraints using coherent
intertwiners and we explain how these fit within the U(N) framework. Then we
show how these constraints can be written as a closed u(N) algebra and we
propose a set of U(N) coherent states that solves all the simplicity
constraints weakly for an arbitrary Immirzi parameter.Comment: 28 page
3d Spinfoam Quantum Gravity: Matter as a Phase of the Group Field Theory
An effective field theory for matter coupled to three-dimensional quantum
gravity was recently derived in the context of spinfoam models in
hep-th/0512113. In this paper, we show how this relates to group field theories
and generalized matrix models. In the first part, we realize that the effective
field theory can be recasted as a matrix model where couplings between matrices
of different sizes can occur. In a second part, we provide a family of
classical solutions to the three-dimensional group field theory. By studying
perturbations around these solutions, we generate the dynamics of the effective
field theory. We identify a particular case which leads to the action of
hep-th/0512113 for a massive field living in a flat non-commutative space-time.
The most general solutions lead to field theories with non-linear redefinitions
of the momentum which we propose to interpret as living on curved space-times.
We conclude by discussing the possible extension to four-dimensional spinfoam
models.Comment: 17 pages, revtex4, 1 figur
Consistently Solving the Simplicity Constraints for Spinfoam Quantum Gravity
We give an independent derivation of the Engle-Pereira-Rovelli spinfoam model
for quantum gravity which recently appeared in [arXiv:0705.2388]. Using the
coherent state techniques introduced earlier in [arXiv:0705.0674], we show that
the EPR model realizes a consistent imposition of the simplicity constraints
implementing general relativity from a topological BF theory.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, v2: typos correcte
Coherent states, constraint classes, and area operators in the new spin-foam models
Recently, two new spin-foam models have appeared in the literature, both
motivated by a desire to modify the Barrett-Crane model in such a way that the
imposition of certain second class constraints, called cross-simplicity
constraints, are weakened. We refer to these two models as the FKLS model, and
the flipped model. Both of these models are based on a reformulation of the
cross-simplicity constraints. This paper has two main parts. First, we clarify
the structure of the reformulated cross-simplicity constraints and the nature
of their quantum imposition in the new models. In particular we show that in
the FKLS model, quantum cross-simplicity implies no restriction on states. The
deeper reason for this is that, with the symplectic structure relevant for
FKLS, the reformulated cross-simplicity constraints, in a certain relevant
sense, are now \emph{first class}, and this causes the coherent state method of
imposing the constraints, key in the FKLS model, to fail to give any
restriction on states. Nevertheless, the cross-simplicity can still be seen as
implemented via suppression of intertwiner degrees of freedom in the dynamical
propagation. In the second part of the paper, we investigate area spectra in
the models. The results of these two investigations will highlight how, in the
flipped model, the Hilbert space of states, as well as the spectra of area
operators exactly match those of loop quantum gravity, whereas in the FKLS (and
Barrett-Crane) models, the boundary Hilbert spaces and area spectra are
different.Comment: 21 pages; statements about gamma limits made more precise, and minor
phrasing change
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