175 research outputs found
2-Group Representations for Spin Foams
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 gravity. Here we focus on the "Euclidean 2-group", built from the
rotation group SO(4) and its action on the group of translations of 4d
Euclidean space. We explain its infinite-dimensional unitary representations,
and construct a model based on the resulting representation 2-category. This
model, with clear geometric content and explicit "metric data" on triangulation
edges, shows up naturally in an attempt to write the amplitudes of ordinary
quantum field theory in a background independent way.Comment: 8 pages; to appear in proceedings of the XXV Max Born Symposium: "The
Planck Scale", Wroclaw, Polan
Non-commutative flux representation for loop quantum gravity
The Hilbert space of loop quantum gravity is usually described in terms of
cylindrical functionals of the gauge connection, the electric fluxes acting as
non-commuting derivation operators. It has long been believed that this
non-commutativity prevents a dual flux (or triad) representation of loop
quantum gravity to exist. We show here, instead, that such a representation can
be explicitly defined, by means of a non-commutative Fourier transform defined
on the loop gravity state space. In this dual representation, flux operators
act by *-multiplication and holonomy operators act by translation. We describe
the gauge invariant dual states and discuss their geometrical meaning. Finally,
we apply the construction to the simpler case of a U(1) gauge group and compare
the resulting flux representation with the triad representation used in loop
quantum cosmology.Comment: 12 pages, matches published versio
Hidden Quantum Gravity in 4d Feynman diagrams: Emergence of spin foams
We show how Feynman amplitudes of standard QFT on flat and homogeneous space
can naturally be recast as the evaluation of observables for a specific spin
foam model, which provides dynamics for the background geometry. We identify
the symmetries of this Feynman graph spin foam model and give the gauge-fixing
prescriptions. We also show that the gauge-fixed partition function is
invariant under Pachner moves of the triangulation, and thus defines an
invariant of four-dimensional manifolds. Finally, we investigate the algebraic
structure of the model, and discuss its relation with a quantization of 4d
gravity in the limit where the Newton constant goes to zero.Comment: 28 pages (RevTeX4), 7 figures, references adde
Bubbles and jackets: new scaling bounds in topological group field theories
We use a reformulation of topological group field theories in 3 and 4
dimensions in terms of variables associated to vertices, in 3d, and edges, in
4d, to obtain new scaling bounds for their Feynman amplitudes. In both 3 and 4
dimensions, we obtain a bubble bound proving the suppression of singular
topologies with respect to the first terms in the perturbative expansion (in
the cut-off). We also prove a new, stronger jacket bound than the one currently
available in the literature. We expect these results to be relevant for other
tensorial field theories of this type, as well as for group field theory models
for 4d quantum gravity.Comment: v2: Minor modifications to match published versio
Commuting Simplicity and Closure Constraints for 4D Spin Foam Models
Spin Foam Models are supposed to be discretised path integrals for quantum
gravity constructed from the Plebanski-Holst action. The reason for there being
several models currently under consideration is that no consensus has been
reached for how to implement the simplicity constraints. Indeed, none of these
models strictly follows from the original path integral with commuting B
fields, rather, by some non standard manipulations one always ends up with non
commuting B fields and the simplicity constraints become in fact anomalous
which is the source for there being several inequivalent strategies to
circumvent the associated problems. In this article, we construct a new
Euclidian Spin Foam Model which is constructed by standard methods from the
Plebanski-Holst path integral with commuting B fields discretised on a 4D
simplicial complex. The resulting model differs from the current ones in
several aspects, one of them being that the closure constraint needs special
care. Only when dropping the closure constraint by hand and only in the large
spin limit can the vertex amplitudes of this model be related to those of the
FK Model but even then the face and edge amplitude differ. Curiously, an ad hoc
non-commutative deformation of the variables leads from our new model
to the Barrett-Crane Model in the case of Barbero-Immirzi parameter goes to
infinity.Comment: 41 pages, 4 figure
The 1/N expansion of colored tensor models in arbitrary dimension
In this paper we extend the 1/N expansion introduced in [1] to group field
theories in arbitrary dimension and prove that only graphs corresponding to
spheres S^D contribute to the leading order in the large N limit.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
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
Degenerate Plebanski Sector and Spin Foam Quantization
We show that the degenerate sector of Spin(4) Plebanski formulation of
four-dimensional gravity is exactly solvable and describes covariantly embedded
SU(2) BF theory. This fact ensures that its spin foam quantization is given by
the SU(2) Crane-Yetter model and allows to test various approaches of imposing
the simplicity constraints. Our analysis strongly suggests that restricting
representations and intertwiners in the state sum for Spin(4) BF theory is not
sufficient to get the correct vertex amplitude. Instead, for a general theory
of Plebanski type, we propose a quantization procedure which is by construction
equivalent to the canonical path integral quantization and, being applied to
our model, reproduces the SU(2) Crane-Yetter state sum. A characteristic
feature of this procedure is the use of secondary second class constraints on
an equal footing with the primary simplicity constraints, which leads to a new
formula for the vertex amplitude.Comment: 34 pages; changes in the abstract and introduction, a few references
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