10,093 research outputs found
Reconcile Planck-scale discreteness and the Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction
A Planck-scale minimal observable length appears in many approaches to
quantum gravity. It is sometimes argued that this minimal length might conflict
with Lorentz invariance, because a boosted observer could see the minimal
length further Lorentz contracted. We show that this is not the case within
loop quantum gravity. In loop quantum gravity the minimal length (more
precisely, minimal area) does not appear as a fixed property of geometry, but
rather as the minimal (nonzero) eigenvalue of a quantum observable. The boosted
observer can see the same observable spectrum, with the same minimal area. What
changes continuously in the boost transformation is not the value of the
minimal length: it is the probability distribution of seeing one or the other
of the discrete eigenvalues of the area. We discuss several difficulties
associated with boosts and area measurement in quantum gravity. We compute the
transformation of the area operator under a local boost, propose an explicit
expression for the generator of local boosts and give the conditions under
which its action is unitary.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
The century of the incomplete revolution: searching for general relativistic quantum field theory
In fundamental physics, this has been the century of quantum mechanics and
general relativity. It has also been the century of the long search for a
conceptual framework capable of embracing the astonishing features of the world
that have been revealed by these two ``first pieces of a conceptual
revolution''. I discuss the general requirements on the mathematics and some
specific developments towards the construction of such a framework. Examples of
covariant constructions of (simple) generally relativistic quantum field
theories have been obtained as topological quantum field theories, in
nonperturbative zero-dimensional string theory and its higher dimensional
generalizations, and as spin foam models. A canonical construction of a general
relativistic quantum field theory is provided by loop quantum gravity.
Remarkably, all these diverse approaches have turn out to be related,
suggesting an intriguing general picture of general relativistic quantum
physics.Comment: To appear in the Journal of Mathematical Physics 2000 Special Issu
Graviton propagator from background-independent quantum gravity
We study the graviton propagator in euclidean loop quantum gravity, using the
spinfoam formalism. We use boundary-amplitude and group-field-theory
techniques, and compute one component of the propagator to first order, under a
number of approximations, obtaining the correct spacetime dependence. In the
large distance limit, the only term of the vertex amplitude that contributes is
the exponential of the Regge action: the other terms, that have raised doubts
on the physical viability of the model, are suppressed by the phase of the
vacuum state, which is determined by the extrinsic geometry of the boundary.Comment: 6 pages. Substantially revised second version. Improved boundary
state ansat
Quantum Loop Representation for Fermions coupled to Einstein-Maxwell field
Quantization of the system comprising gravitational, fermionic and
electromagnetic fields is developed in the loop representation. As a result we
obtain a natural unified quantum theory. Gravitational field is treated in the
framework of Ashtekar formalism; fermions are described by two Grassmann-valued
fields. We define a -algebra of configurational variables whose
generators are associated with oriented loops and curves; ``open'' states --
curves -- are necessary to embrace the fermionic degrees of freedom. Quantum
representation space is constructed as a space of cylindrical functionals on
the spectrum of this -algebra. Choosing the basis of ``loop'' states we
describe the representation space as the space of oriented loops and curves;
then configurational and momentum loop variables become in this basis the
operators of creation and annihilation of loops and curves. The important
difference of the representation constructed from the loop representation of
pure gravity is that the momentum loop operators act in our case simply by
joining loops in the only compatible with their orientaiton way, while in the
case of pure gravity this action is more complicated.Comment: 28 pages, REVTeX 3.0, 15 uuencoded ps-figures. The construction of
the representation has been changed so that the representation space became
irreducible. One part is removed because it developed into a separate paper;
some corrections adde
Compatibility of radial, Lorenz and harmonic gauges
We observe that the radial gauge can be consistently imposed \emph{together}
with the Lorenz gauge in Maxwell theory, and with the harmonic traceless gauge
in linearized general relativity. This simple observation has relevance for
some recent developments in quantum gravity where the radial gauge is
implicitly utilized.Comment: 9 pages, minor changes in the bibliograph
The complete LQG propagator: II. Asymptotic behavior of the vertex
In a previous article we have show that there are difficulties in obtaining
the correct graviton propagator from the loop-quantum-gravity dynamics defined
by the Barrett-Crane vertex amplitude. Here we show that a vertex amplitude
that depends nontrivially on the intertwiners can yield the correct propagator.
We give an explicit example of asymptotic behavior of a vertex amplitude that
gives the correct full graviton propagator in the large distance limit.Comment: 16 page
A simple background-independent hamiltonian quantum model
We study formulation and probabilistic interpretation of a simple
general-relativistic hamiltonian quantum system. The system has no unitary
evolution in background time. The quantum theory yields transition
probabilities between measurable quantities (partial observables). These
converge to the classical predictions in the limit. Our main tool
is the kernel of the projector on the solutions of Wheeler-deWitt equation,
which we analyze in detail. It is a real quantity, which can be seen as a
propagator that propagates "forward" as well as "backward" in a local parameter
time. Individual quantum states, on the other hand, may contain only "forward
propagating" components. The analysis sheds some light on the interpretation of
background independent transition amplitudes in quantum gravity
Physical effects of the Immirzi parameter
The Immirzi parameter is a constant appearing in the general relativity
action used as a starting point for the loop quantization of gravity. The
parameter is commonly believed not to show up in the equations of motion,
because it appears in front of a term in the action that vanishes on shell. We
show that in the presence of fermions, instead, the Immirzi term in the action
does not vanish on shell, and the Immirzi parameter does appear in the
equations of motion. It determines the coupling constant of a four-fermion
interaction. Therefore the Immirzi parameter leads to effects that are
observable in principle, even independently from nonperturbative quantum
gravity.Comment: 3 pages. Substantial revision from the first versio
Loop Quantum Cosmology in Bianchi Type I Models: Analytical Investigation
The comprehensive formulation for loop quantum cosmology in the spatially
flat, isotropic model was recently constructed. In this paper, the methods are
extended to the anisotropic Bianchi I cosmology. Both the precursor and the
improved strategies are applied and the expected results are established: (i)
the scalar field again serves as an internal clock and is treated as emergent
time; (ii) the total Hamiltonian constraint is derived by imposing the
fundamental discreteness and gives the evolution as a difference equation; and
(iii) the physical Hilbert space, Dirac observables and semi-classical states
are constructed rigorously. It is also shown that the state in the kinematical
Hilbert space associated with the classical singularity is decoupled in the
difference evolution equation, indicating that the big bounce may take place
when any of the area scales undergoes the vanishing behavior. The investigation
affirms the robustness of the framework used in the isotropic model by
enlarging its domain of validity and provides foundations to conduct the
detailed numerical analysis.Comment: 53 pages, 2 figures; more typos corrected; HyperTeX enable
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