Towards inhomogeneous loop quantum cosmology: triangulating Bianchi IX with perturbations

This brief article sums up results obtained in arXiv:0911.2653, which develops a constrained SU(2) lattice gauge theory in the "dipole" approximation. This is a further step toward the issue of a (inhomogeneous) loop quantum cosmology and its merging into loop quantum gravity.Comment: 4 pages. To appear in the proceedings of 12th Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity (MG 12), Paris, France, 12-18 Jul 200

A brief overview of quantum field theory with deformed symmetries and their relation with quantum gravity

In this letter we outline some reasons for considering a quantum field theory symmetric under quantum groups and we sketch some results obtained with collaborators in the k-Poincare framework. We deal with this latter as a toy model towards an effective and low-energy theory of quantum gravity, the new physically relevant effects of which are Planck-scale suppressed.Comment: 4 pages. To appear in the proceedings of 12th Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity (MG 12), Paris, France, 12-18 Jul 200