Note on Self-Duality and the Kodama State

An interesting interplay between self-duality, the Kodama (Chern-Simons) state and knot invariants is shown to emerge in the quantum theory of an Abelian gauge theory. More precisely, when a self-dual representation of the CCR is chosen, the corresponding vacuum in the Schroedinger representation is precisely given by the Kodama state. Several consequences of this construction are explored.Comment: 4 pages, no figures. References and discussion added. Final version to appear in PR

SU(2) Poisson-Lie T duality

Poisson-Lie target space duality is a framework where duality transformations are properly defined. In this letter we investigate the pair of sigma models defined by the double SO(3,1) in the Iwasawa decomposition.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur

Information is Not Lost in the Evaporation of 2-dimensional Black Holes

We analyze Hawking evaporation of the Callen-Giddings-Harvey-Strominger (CGHS) black holes from a quantum geometry perspective and show that information is not lost, primarily because the quantum space-time is sufficiently larger than the classical. Using suitable approximations to extract physics from quantum space-times we establish that: i)future null infinity of the quantum space-time is sufficiently long for the the past vacuum to evolve to a pure state in the future; ii) this state has a finite norm in the future Fock space; and iii) all the information comes out at future infinity; there are no remnants.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

On the deformation quantization of affine algebraic varieties

We compute an explicit algebraic deformation quantization for an affine Poisson variety described by an ideal in a polynomial ring, and inheriting its Poisson structure from the ambient space.Comment: AMS-LaTeX, 20 page

Deformation Quantization of Coadjoint Orbits

A method for the deformation quantization of coadjoint orbits of semisimple Lie groups is proposed. It is based on the algebraic structure of the orbit. Its relation to geometric quantization and differentiable deformations is explored.Comment: Talk presented at the meeting "Noncommutative geometry and Hopf algebras in Field Theory and Particle Physics", Torino, 199

Classical and quantum geometrodynamics of 2d vacuum dilatonic black holes

We perform a canonical analysis of the system of 2d vacuum dilatonic black holes. Our basic variables are closely tied to the spacetime geometry and we do not make the field redefinitions which have been made by other authors. We present a careful discssion of asymptotics in this canonical formalism. Canonical transformations are made to variables which (on shell) have a clear spacetime significance. We are able to deduce the location of the horizon on the spatial slice (on shell) from the vanishing of a combination of canonical data. The constraints dramatically simplify in terms of the new canonical variables and quantization is easy. The physical interpretation of the variable conjugate to the ADM mass is clarified. This work closely parallels that done by Kucha{\v r} for the vacuum Schwarzschild black holes and is a starting point for a similar analysis, now in progress, for the case of a massless scalar field conformally coupled to a 2d dilatonic black hole.Comment: 21 pages, latex fil

Unitary representations of super Lie groups and applications to the classification and multiplet structure of super particles

It is well known that the category of super Lie groups (SLG) is equivalent to the category of super Harish-Chandra pairs (SHCP). Using this equivalence, we define the category of unitary representations (UR's) of a super Lie group. We give an extension of the classical inducing construction and Mackey imprimitivity theorem to this setting. We use our results to classify the irreducible unitary representations of semidirect products of super translation groups by classical Lie groups, in particular of the super Poincar\'e groups in arbitrary dimension. Finally we compare our results with those in the physical literature on the structure and classification of super multiplets.Comment: 55 pages LaTeX, some corrections added after comments by Prof. Pierre Delign

Gravitons from a loop representation of linearised gravity

Loop quantum gravity is based on a classical formulation of 3+1 gravity in terms of a real SU(2) connection. Linearization of this classical formulation about a flat background yields a description of linearised gravity in terms of a {\em real} $U(1)\times U(1)\times U(1)$ connection. A `loop' representation, in which holonomies of this connection are unitary operators, can be constructed. These holonomies are not well defined operators in the standard graviton Fock representation. We generalise our recent work on photons and U(1) holonomies to show that Fock space gravitons are associated with distributional states in the $U(1)\times U(1)\times U(1)$ loop representation. Our results may illuminate certain aspects of the much deeper (and as yet unkown,) relation between gravitons and states in nonperturbative loop quantum gravity. This work leans heavily on earlier seminal work by Ashtekar, Rovelli and Smolin (ARS) on the loop representation of linearised gravity using {\em complex} connections. In the last part of this work, we show that the loop representation based on the {\em real} $U(1)\times U(1)\times U(1)$ connection also provides a useful kinematic arena in which it is possible to express the ARS complex connection- based results in the mathematically precise language currently used in the field.Comment: 23 pages, no figure