71 research outputs found
Non-commutative holonomies in 2+1 LQG and Kauffman's brackets
We investigate the canonical quantization of 2+1 gravity with {\Lambda} > 0
in the canonical framework of LQG. A natural regularization of the constraints
of 2+1 gravity can be defined in terms of the holonomies of A\pm = A \PM
\surd{\Lambda}e, where the SU(2) connection A and the triad field e are the
conjugated variables of the theory. As a first step towards the quantization of
these constraints we study the canonical quantization of the holonomy of the
connection A_{\lambda} = A + {\lambda}e acting on spin network links of the
kinematical Hilbert space of LQG. We provide an explicit construction of the
quantum holonomy operator, exhibiting a close relationship between the action
of the quantum holonomy at a crossing and Kauffman's q-deformed crossing
identity. The crucial difference is that the result is completely described in
terms of standard SU(2) spin network states.Comment: 4 pages; Proceedings of Loops'11, Madrid, to appear in Journal of
Physics: Conference Series (JPCS
Three dimensional loop quantum gravity: coupling to point particles
We consider the coupling between three dimensional gravity with zero
cosmological constant and massive spinning point particles. First, we study the
classical canonical analysis of the coupled system. Then, we go to the
Hamiltonian quantization generalizing loop quantum gravity techniques. We give
a complete description of the kinematical Hilbert space of the coupled system.
Finally, we define the physical Hilbert space of the system of self-gravitating
massive spinning point particles using Rovelli's generalized projection
operator which can be represented as a sum over spin foam amplitudes. In
addition we provide an explicit expression of the (physical) distance operator
between two particles which is defined as a Dirac observable.Comment: Typos corrected and references adde
Cosmological Plebanski theory
We consider the cosmological symmetry reduction of the Plebanski action as a
toy-model to explore, in this simple framework, some issues related to loop
quantum gravity and spin-foam models. We make the classical analysis of the
model and perform both path integral and canonical quantizations. As for the
full theory, the reduced model admits two types of classical solutions:
topological and gravitational ones. The quantization mixes these two solutions,
which prevents the model to be equivalent to standard quantum cosmology.
Furthermore, the topological solution dominates at the classical limit. We also
study the effect of an Immirzi parameter in the model.Comment: 20 page
Three dimensional loop quantum gravity: physical scalar product and spin foam models
In this paper, we address the problem of the dynamics in three dimensional
loop quantum gravity with zero cosmological constant. We construct a rigorous
definition of Rovelli's generalized projection operator from the kinematical
Hilbert space--corresponding to the quantization of the infinite dimensional
kinematical configuration space of the theory--to the physical Hilbert space.
In particular, we provide the definition of the physical scalar product which
can be represented in terms of a sum over (finite) spin-foam amplitudes.
Therefore, we establish a clear-cut connection between the canonical
quantization of three dimensional gravity and spin-foam models. We emphasize
two main properties of the result: first that no cut-off in the kinematical
degrees of freedom of the theory is introduced (in contrast to standard
`lattice' methods), and second that no ill-defined sum over spins (`bubble'
divergences) are present in the spin foam representation.Comment: Typos corrected, version appearing in Class. Quant. Gra
Canonical quantization of non-commutative holonomies in 2+1 loop quantum gravity
In this work we investigate the canonical quantization of 2+1 gravity with
cosmological constant in the canonical framework of loop quantum
gravity. The unconstrained phase space of gravity in 2+1 dimensions is
coordinatized by an SU(2) connection and the canonically conjugate triad
field . A natural regularization of the constraints of 2+1 gravity can be
defined in terms of the holonomies of . As a first step
towards the quantization of these constraints we study the canonical
quantization of the holonomy of the connection on the
kinematical Hilbert space of loop quantum gravity. The holonomy operator
associated to a given path acts non trivially on spin network links that are
transversal to the path (a crossing). We provide an explicit construction of
the quantum holonomy operator. In particular, we exhibit a close relationship
between the action of the quantum holonomy at a crossing and Kauffman's
q-deformed crossing identity. The crucial difference is that (being an operator
acting on the kinematical Hilbert space of LQG) the result is completely
described in terms of standard SU(2) spin network states (in contrast to
q-deformed spin networks in Kauffman's identity). We discuss the possible
implications of our result.Comment: 19 pages, references added. Published versio
Regularized Hamiltonians and Spinfoams
We review a recent proposal for the regularization of the scalar constraint
of General Relativity in the context of LQG. The resulting constraint presents
strengths and weaknesses compared to Thiemann's prescription. The main
improvement is that it can generate the 1-4 Pachner moves and its matrix
elements contain 15j Wigner symbols, it is therefore compatible with the
spinfoam formalism: the drawback is that Thiemann anomaly free proof is spoiled
because the nodes that the constraint creates have volume.Comment: 4 pages, based on a talk given at Loops '11 in Madrid, to appear in
Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS
Entropy in the Classical and Quantum Polymer Black Hole Models
We investigate the entropy counting for black hole horizons in loop quantum
gravity (LQG). We argue that the space of 3d closed polyhedra is the classical
counterpart of the space of SU(2) intertwiners at the quantum level. Then
computing the entropy for the boundary horizon amounts to calculating the
density of polyhedra or the number of intertwiners at fixed total area.
Following the previous work arXiv:1011.5628, we dub these the classical and
quantum polymer models for isolated horizons in LQG. We provide exact
micro-canonical calculations for both models and we show that the classical
counting of polyhedra accounts for most of the features of the intertwiner
counting (leading order entropy and log-correction), thus providing us with a
simpler model to further investigate correlations and dynamics. To illustrate
this, we also produce an exact formula for the dimension of the intertwiner
space as a density of "almost-closed polyhedra".Comment: 24 page
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
Motion in Quantum Gravity
We tackle the question of motion in Quantum Gravity: what does motion mean at
the Planck scale? Although we are still far from a complete answer we consider
here a toy model in which the problem can be formulated and resolved precisely.
The setting of the toy model is three dimensional Euclidean gravity. Before
studying the model in detail, we argue that Loop Quantum Gravity may provide a
very useful approach when discussing the question of motion in Quantum Gravity.Comment: 30 pages, to appear in the book "Mass and Motion in General
Relativity", proceedings of the C.N.R.S. School in Orleans, France, eds. L.
Blanchet, A. Spallicci and B. Whitin
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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