1,867 research outputs found
A Gaussian Weave for Kinematical Loop Quantum Gravity
Remarkable efforts in the study of the semi-classical regime of kinematical
loop quantum gravity are currently underway. In this note, we construct a
``quasi-coherent'' weave state using Gaussian factors. In a similar fashion to
some other proposals, this state is peaked in both the connection and the spin
network basis. However, the state constructed here has the novel feature that,
in the spin network basis, the main contribution for this state is given by the
fundamental representation, independently of the value of the parameter that
regulates the Gaussian width.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, Revtex file. Comments added and references
updated. Final version to appear in IJMP-
The Phase Structure of the Polyakov--Quark-Meson Model
The relation between the deconfinement and chiral phase transition is
explored in the framework of an Polyakov-loop-extended two-flavor quark-meson
(PQM) model. In this model the Polyakov loop dynamics is represented by a
background temporal gauge field which also couples to the quarks. As a novelty
an explicit quark chemical potential and N_f-dependence in the Polyakov loop
potential is proposed by using renormalization group arguments. The behavior of
the Polyakov loop as well as the chiral condensate as function of temperature
and quark chemical potential is obtained by minimizing the grand canonical
thermodynamic potential of the system. The effect of the Polyakov loop dynamics
on the chiral phase diagram and on several thermodynamic bulk quantities is
presented.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, RevTex4; discussion of mu-dependence extended,
references added, version to be published in PR
Group Field Theory: An overview
We give a brief overview of the properties of a higher dimensional
generalization of matrix model which arises naturally in the context of a
background independent approach to quantum gravity, the so called group field
theory. We show that this theory leads to a natural proposal for the physical
scalar product of quantum gravity. We also show in which sense this theory
provides a third quantization point of view on quantum gravity.Comment: 10 page
Continuum spin foam model for 3d gravity
An example illustrating a continuum spin foam framework is presented. This
covariant framework induces the kinematics of canonical loop quantization, and
its dynamics is generated by a {\em renormalized} sum over colored polyhedra.
Physically the example corresponds to 3d gravity with cosmological constant.
Starting from a kinematical structure that accommodates local degrees of
freedom and does not involve the choice of any background structure (e. g.
triangulation), the dynamics reduces the field theory to have only global
degrees of freedom. The result is {\em projectively} equivalent to the
Turaev-Viro model.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
A spin foam model for pure gauge theory coupled to quantum gravity
We propose a spin foam model for pure gauge fields coupled to Riemannian
quantum gravity in four dimensions. The model is formulated for the
triangulation of a four-manifold which is given merely combinatorially. The
Riemannian Barrett--Crane model provides the gravity sector of our model and
dynamically assigns geometric data to the given combinatorial triangulation.
The gauge theory sector is a lattice gauge theory living on the same
triangulation and obtains from the gravity sector the geometric information
which is required to calculate the Yang--Mills action. The model is designed so
that one obtains a continuum approximation of the gauge theory sector at an
effective level, similarly to the continuum limit of lattice gauge theory, when
the typical length scale of gravity is much smaller than the Yang--Mills scale.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, 1 figure, v2: details clarified, references adde
Photons from quantized electric flux representations
The quantum theory of U(1) connections admits a diffeomorphism invariant
representation in which the electric flux through any surface is quantized.
This representation is the analog of the representation of quantum SU(2) theory
used in loop quantum gravity. We investigate the relation between this
representation, in which the basic excitations are `polymer-like', and the Fock
representation, in which the basic excitations are wave-like photons. We show
that normalizable states in the Fock space are associated with `distributional'
states in the quantized electric flux representation. This work is motivated by
the question of how wave-like gravitons in linearised gravity arise from
polymer-like states in non-perturbative loop quantum gravity.Comment: 22 pages, no figure
A generalized Hamiltonian Constraint Operator in Loop Quantum Gravity and its simplest Euclidean Matrix Elements
We study a generalized version of the Hamiltonian constraint operator in
nonperturbative loop quantum gravity. The generalization is based on admitting
arbitrary irreducible SU(2) representations in the regularization of the
operator, in contrast to the original definition where only the fundamental
representation is taken. This leads to a quantization ambiguity and to a family
of operators with the same classical limit. We calculate the action of the
Euclidean part of the generalized Hamiltonian constraint on trivalent states,
using the graphical notation of Temperley-Lieb recoupling theory. We discuss
the relation between this generalization of the Hamiltonian constraint and
crossing symmetry.Comment: 35 pp, 20 eps figures; minor corrections, references added; version
to appear in Class. Quant. Gra
Quantum states of elementary three-geometry
We introduce a quantum volume operator in three--dimensional Quantum
Gravity by taking into account a symmetrical coupling scheme of three SU(2)
angular momenta. The spectrum of is discrete and defines a complete set of
eigenvectors which is alternative with respect to the complete sets employed
when the usual binary coupling schemes of angular momenta are considered. Each
of these states, that we call quantum bubbles, represents an interference of
extended configurations which provides a rigorous meaning to the heuristic
notion of quantum tetrahedron. We study the generalized recoupling coefficients
connecting the symmetrical and the binary basis vectors, and provide an
explicit recursive solution for such coefficients by analyzing also its
asymptotic limit.Comment: 15 pages, LaTe
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