We propose a way to describe the origin of black hole entropy in the spin foam models of quantum gravity. This stimulates a new way to study the relation of spin foam models and loop quantum gravity.
We present a comparison of the calculation of BTZ black hole entropy in loop quantum gravity and in spin foam models. We see that both give the same answer.
Recently an idea for computing the entropy of black holes in the spin foam formalism has been introduced. Particularly complete calculations for the three dimensional euclidean BTZ black hole were done. The whole calculation is based on observables living at the horizon of the black hole universe. Departing from this idea of observables living at the horizon, we now go further and compute the entropy of BTZ black hole in the spirit of statistical mechanics. We compare both calculations and show that they are very interrelated and equally valid. This latter behaviour is certainly due to the imp…
In this article we consider physical states in the hypercuboidal truncation of the EPRL-FK spin foam quantum gravity model. In particular, these states are defined on graphs which allow considering the entanglement entropy (EE) associated to the bipartition of space. We compute the EE numerically for some examples, and find that it depends on the coupling constants within the theory. We also find that there appears a maximum of the EE within the region of the coupling constant containing the non-Gaussian fixed point of the RG flow of the truncated model. We discuss the relation of this behavio…
A simple model of spacetime foam, made by N wormholes in a semiclassical approximation, is taken under examination. We show that the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy is here ``quantized'' in agreement with the heuristic calculation of Bekenstein.
I develop a phenomenological approach to the description of the noise levels that the space-time foam of quantum gravity could induce in modern gravity-wave detectors. Various possibilities are considered, including white noise and random-walk noise. In particular, I find that the sensitivity level expected for the planned LIGO and VIRGO interferometers and for the next upgrade of the NAUTILUS resonant-bar detector corresponds to a white-noise level which can be naturally associated with the Planck length.
We present a microscopical explanation of the entropy of the BTZ black hole using discrete spin foam models of quantum gravity. The entropy of a black hole is given in geometrical terms which lead us to think that its statistical description must be given in terms of a quantum geometry. In this paper we present it in terms of spin foam geometrical observables at the horizon of the black hole.
The entropy for a black hole in a de Sitter space is approached within the framework of spacetime foam. A simple model, made by $N$ wormholes in a semiclassical approximation, is taken under examination to compute the entropy for such a case. An extension to the extreme case when the black hole and cosmological horizons are equal is discussed.
A simple model of spacetime foam, made by $N$ wormholes in a semiclassical approximation, is taken under examination. The Casimir-like energy of the quantum fluctuation of such a model and its probability of being realized are computed. Implications on the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy and the cosmological constant are considered.
A simple model of spacetime foam, made by N wormholes in a semiclassical approximation, is taken under examination. The Casimir-like energy of the quantum fluctuation of such a model and its probability of being realized are computed. Implications on the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy and the cosmological constant are considered.
A simple model of spacetime foam, made by two different types of wormholes in a semiclassical approximation, is taken under examination: one type is a collection of $N_{w}$ Schwarzschild wormholes, while the other one is made by Schwarzschild-Anti-de Sitter wormholes. The area quantization related to the entropy via the Bekenstein-Hawking formula hints a possible selection between the two configurations. Application to the charged black hole are discussed.
The spacetime foam structure is reviewed briefly (topogical fluctuations and virtual black hole possibility; equation of state of the foam). A model of space foam at the surface of the event horizon is introduced. The model is applied to the calculus of the number of states of a black hole, of its entropy and of other thermodynamical properties. A formula for the number of microholes on the surface of the event horizon is derived. Thermodynamical properties of the event horizon are extended to thermodynamical properties of the space. On the basis of the previous results, the possibility of mic…
This paper summarizes the contribution presented at the IX Marcel Grossmann Meeting (Rome, July 2000). A simple model of spacetime foam, made by $N$ Schwarzschild wormholes in a semiclassical approximation, is here proposed. The Casimir-like energy of the quantum fluctuation of such a model and its probability of being realized are computed. Implications on the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy and the cosmological constant are considered. A proposal for an alternative foamy model formed by $N$ Schwarzschild-Anti-de Sitter wormholes is here considered.
The expectation that it should not be possible to gain experimental insight on the structure of space-time at Planckian distance scales has been recently challenged by several studies. With respect to space-time fluctuations, one of the conjectured features of quantum-gravity foam, the experiments that have the best sensitivity are the ones which were originally devised for searches of the classical-physics phenomenon of gravity waves. In experiments searching for classical gravity waves the presence of space-time fluctuations would introduce a source of noise just like the ordinary (non-gravi…
A mathematical formalism for treating spacetime topology as a quantum observable is provided. We describe spacetime foam entirely in algebraic terms. To implement the correspondence principle we express the classical spacetime manifold of general relativity and the commutative coordinates of its events by means of appropriate limit constructions.
We consider a spacetime foam model of the Schwarzschild horizon, where the horizon consists of Planck size black holes. According to our model the entropy of the Schwarzschild black hole is proportional to the area of its event horizon. It is possible to express geometrical arguments to the effect that the constant of proportionality is, in natural units, equal to one quarter.
We present a problem relating measurements and information theory in spin foam models. In the three dimensional case of quantum gravity we can compute probabilities of spin network graphs and study the behaviour of the Shannon entropy associated to the corresponding information. We present a general definition, compute the Shannon entropy of some examples, and find some interesting inequalities.
This paper is twofold. First of all a complete unified picture of $n$-dimensional quantum gravity is proposed in the following sense: In spin foam models of quantum gravity the evaluation of spin networks play a very important role. These evaluations correspond to amplitudes which contribute in a state sum model of quantum gravity. In \cite{fk}, the evaluation of spin networks as integrals over internal spaces was described. This evaluation was restricted to evaluations of spin networks in $n$-dimensional Euclidean quantum gravity. Here we propose that a similar method can be considered to inc…
Due to quantum fluctuations, spacetime is foamy on small scales. The degree of foaminess is found to be consistent with holography, a principle prefigured in the physics of black hole entropy. It has bearing on the ultimate accuracies of clocks and measurements and the physics of quantum computation. Consistent with existing archived data on active galactic nuclei from the Hubble Space Telescope, the application of the holographic spacetime foam model to cosmology requires the existence of dark energy which, we argue, is composed of an enormous number of inert "particles" of extremely long wav…
The U(N) framework and the spinor representation for loop quantum gravity are two new points of view that can help us deal with the most fundamental problems of the theory. Here, we review the detailed construction of the U(N) framework explaining how one can endow the Hilbert space of N-leg intertwiners with a Fock structure. We then give a description of the classical phase space corresponding to this system in terms of the spinors, and we will study its quantization using holomorphic techniques. We take special care in constructing the usual holonomy operators of LQG in terms of spinors, an…
We give a unified description of all recent spin foam models introduced by Engle, Livine, Pereira and Rovelli (ELPR) and by Freidel and Krasnov (FK). We show that the FK models are, for all values of the Immirzi parameter, equivalent to path integrals of a discrete theory and we provide an explicit formula for the associated actions. We discuss the relation between the FK and ELPR models and also study the corresponding boundary states. For general Immirzi parameter, these are given by Alexandrov's and Livine's SO(4) projected states. For 0 <= gamma < 1, the states can be restricted to SU(2) s…
The canonical ``loop'' formulation of quantum gravity is a mathematically well defined, background independent, non perturbative standard quantization of Einstein's theory of General Relativity. Some among the most meaningful results of the theory are: 1) the complete calculation of the spectrum of geometric quantities like the area and the volume and the consequent physical predictions about the structure of the space-time at the Plank scale; 2) a microscopical derivation of the Bekenstein-Hawking black-hole entropy formula. Unfortunately, despite recent results, the dynamical aspect of the t…
An approximate model of the spacetime foam is offered in which each quantum handle (wormhole) is a 5D wormhole-like solution. A spinor field is introduced for an effective description of this foam. The topological handles of the spacetime foam can be attached either to one space or connect two different spaces. In the first case we have a wormhole with the quantum throat and such object can demonstrate a model of preventing the formation the naked singularity with relation $e > m$. In the second case the spacetime foam looks as a dielectric with quantum handles as dipoles. It is supposed that …
We propose a new holonomy formulation for spin foams, which naturally extends the theory space of lattice gauge theories. This allows current spin foam models to be defined on arbitrary two-complexes as well as to generalize current spin foam models to arbitrary, in particular finite groups. The similarity with standard lattice gauge theories allows to apply standard coarse graining methods, which for finite groups can now be easily considered numerically. We will summarize other holonomy and spin network formulations of spin foams and group field theories and explain how the different represe…
We show how super BF theory in any dimension can be quantized as a spin foam model, generalizing the situation for ordinary BF theory. This is a first step toward quantizing supergravity theories. We investigate in particular 3-dimensional (p=1,q=1) supergravity which we quantize exactly. We obtain a super-Ponzano-Regge model with gauge group OSp(1|2). A main motivation for our approach is the implementation of fermionic degrees of freedom in spin foam models. Indeed, we propose a description of the fermionic degrees of freedom in our model. Complementing the path integral approach we also dis…
These notes are a didactic overview of the non perturbative and background independent approach to a quantum theory of gravity known as loop quantum gravity. The definition of real connection variables for general relativity, used as a starting point in the program, is described in a simple manner. The main ideas leading to the definition of the quantum theory are naturally introduced and the basic mathematics involved is described. The main predictions of the theory such as the discovery of Planck scale discreteness of geometry and the computation of black hole entropy are reviewed. The quant…
We show that the concept of entropy and the dynamics of gravitation provide the linchpin in a unified scheme to understand the physics of black hole computers, space-time foam, dark energy, dark matter and the phenomenon of turbulence. We use three different methods to estimate the foaminess of space-time, which, in turn, provides a back-door way to derive the Bekenstein-Hawking formula for black hole entropy and the holographic principle. Generalizing the discussion for a static space-time region to the cosmos, we find a component of dark energy (resembling an effective positive cosmological …
We compute transition amplitudes between two spin networks with dipole graphs, using the Lorentzian EPRL model with up to two (non-simplicial) vertices. We find power-law decreasing amplitudes in the large spin limit, decreasing faster as the complexity of the foam increases. There are no oscillations nor asymptotic Regge actions at the order considered, nonetheless the amplitudes still induce non-trivial correlations. Spin correlations between the two dipoles appear only when one internal face is present in the foam. We compute them within a mini-superspace description, finding positive corre…
We show the explicit agreement between the derivation of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of a Euclidean BTZ black hole from the point of view of spin foam models and canonical quantization. This is done by considering a graph observable (corresponding to the black hole horizon) in the Turaev-Viro state sum model, and then analytically continuing the resulting partition function to negative values of the cosmological constant.
A wormhole with a quantum throat on the basis of an approximate model of the spacetime foam is presented. An effective spinor field is introduced for the description of the spacetime foam. The consequences of such model of the wormhole is preventing a "naked'' singularity in the Reissner-Nordström solution with $|e|/m > 1$.
It is well known that, in the first-order formalism, pure three-dimensional gravity is just the BF theory. Similarly, four-dimensional general relativity can be formulated as BF theory with an additional constraint term added to the Lagrangian. In this paper we show that the same is true also for higher-dimensional Einstein gravity: in any dimension gravity can be described as a constrained BF theory. Moreover, in any dimension these constraints are quadratic in the B field. After describing in details the structure of these constraints, we scketch the ``spin foam'' quantization of these theor…
The spectral dimension has proven to be a very informative observable to understand the properties of quantum geometries in approaches to quantum gravity. In loop quantum gravity and its spin foam description, it has not been possible so far to calculate the spectral dimension of spacetime. As a first step towards this goal, here we determine the spacetime spectral dimension in the simplified spin foam model restricted to hypercuboids. Using Monte Carlo methods we compute the spectral dimension for state sums over periodic spin foam configurations on infinite lattices. For given periodicity, i…
We show that the simplicity constraints, which define the dynamics of spin foam models, imply, and are implied by, the first law of thermodynamics, when the latter is applied to causal diamonds in the quantum spacetime. This result reveals an intimate connection between the holographic nature of gravity, as reflected by the Bekenstein entropy, and the fact that general relativity and other gravitational theories can be understood as constrained topological field theories. To state and derive this correspondence we describe causal diamonds in the causal structure of spin foam histories and gene…
It has been suggested that energetic photons propagating in vacuo should experience a non-trivial refractive index due to the foamy structure of space-time induced by quantum-gravitational fluctuations. The sensitivity of recent astrophysical observations, particularly of AGN Mk501 by the MAGIC Collaboration, approaches the Planck scale for a refractive index depending linearly on the photon energy. We present here a new derivation of this quantum-gravitational vacuum refraction index, based on a stringy analogue of the interaction of a photon with internal degrees of freedom in a conventional…
The influence of spacetime foam on a broad class of bosonic fields with arbitrary numbers of particles in the low energy regime is investigated. Based on recently formulated general description of open quantum gravitational systems, we analyse the propagation of scalar, electromagnetic, and gravitational waves on both long and short time scales with respect to their mean frequencies. For the long time propagation, the Markov approximation is employed that neglects the effects of initial conditions of these waves. In this case, despite intuitively expected decoherence and dissipation from the n…
The aim of this dissertation is to review `Loop Quantum Gravity', explaining the main structure of the theory and indicating its main open issues. We will develop the two main lines of research for the theory: the canonical quantization (first two chapters) and spin foams (third). The final chapter will be devoted to studying some of the problems of the theory and what things remain to be developed. In chapter 3 we will also include an example of a simple calculation done in the frame of LQG: Schwarzschild black hole entropy.
We consider the coupling between massive and spinning particles and three dimensional gravity. This allows us to construct geometric operators (distances between particles) as Dirac observables. We quantize the system a la loop quantum gravity: we give a description of the kinematical Hilbert space and construct the associated spin-foam model. We construct the physical disctance operator and consider its quantization.
Black hole entropy is shown to be a consequence of restricting our description of physics to the exterior of black holes. This precludes the need for a statistical mechanical description of this entropy in terms of microstates.
It is no longer considered surprising that black holes have temperatures and entropies. What remains surprising, though, is the universality of these thermodynamic properties: their exceptionally simple and general form, and the fact that they can be derived from many very different descriptions of the underlying microscopic degrees of freedom. I review the proposal that this universality arises from an approximate conformal symmetry, which permits an effective "conformal dual" description that is largely independent of the microscopic details.
To explain the accelerating universe driven by dark energy, a so-called "entropy-corrected new agegraphic dark energy" (ECNADE), was recently proposed with the help of quantum corrections to the entropy-area relation in the framework of loop quantum cosmology. Using this definition, we study its thermodynamical features including entropy and energy conservation. We discuss the thermodynamical interpretation of the interaction between ECNADE and dark matter in a non-flat universe bounded by the apparent horizon. We obtain a relation between the interaction term of the dark components and therma…
We compute the near-horizon radiation of quantum black holes in the context of self-dual loop quantum gravity. For this, we first use the unitary spinor basis of $\text{SL}(2,\mathbb{C})$ to decompose states of Lorentzian spin foam models into their self-dual and anti self-dual parts, and show that the reduced density matrix obtained by tracing over one chiral component describes a thermal state at Unruh temperature. Then, we show that the analytically-continued dimension of the $\text{SU}(2)$ Chern-Simons Hilbert space, which reproduces the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy in the large spin limit i…
The talk centers around the question: Can general-relativistic description of physical reality be considered complete? On the way I argue how -- unknown to many a physicists, even today -- the ``forty orders of magnitude argument'' against quantum gravity phenomenology was defeated more than a quarter of a century ago, and how we now stand at the possible verge of detecting a signal for the spacetime foam, and studying the gravitationally-modified wave particle duality using superconducting quantum interference devices.
Group field theories represent a 2nd quantized reformulation of the loop quantum gravity state space and a completion of the spin foam formalism. States of the canonical theory, in the traditional continuum setting, have support on graphs of arbitrary valence. On the other hand, group field theories have usually been defined in a simplicial context, thus dealing with a restricted set of graphs. In this paper, we generalize the combinatorics of group field theories to cover all the loop quantum gravity state space. As an explicit example, we describe the GFT formulation of the KKL spin foam mod…
This letter presents a new, solely thermodynamical argument for considering the states of the quantum isolated horizon of a black hole as distinguishable. We claim that only if the states are distinguishable, the thermodynamic entropy is an extensive quantity and can be well-defined. To show this, we make a comparison with a classical ideal gas system whose statistical description makes only sense if an additional 1/N!-factor is included in the state counting in order to cure the Gibbs paradox. The case of the statistical description of a quantum isolated horizon is elaborated, to make the cla…
Black holes behave as thermodynamic objects, and it is natural to ask for an underlying "statistical mechanical" explanation in terms of microscopic degrees of freedom. I summarize attempts to describe these degrees of freedom in terms of a dual two-dimensional conformal field theory, emphasizing the generality of the Cardy formula and the consequent universal nature of the conformal description.
We study the entropy of the black hole with torsion using the covariant form of the partition function. The regularization of infinities appearing in the semiclassical calculation is shown to be consistent with the grand canonical boundary conditions. The correct value for the black hole entropy is obtained provided the black hole manifold has two boundaries, one at infinity and one at the horizon. However, one can construct special coordinate systems, in which the entropy is effectively associated with only one of these boundaries.
I review the present theoretical attempts to understand the quantum properties of spacetime. In particular, I illustrate the main achievements and the main difficulties in: string theory, loop quantum gravity, discrete quantum gravity (Regge calculus, dynamical triangulations and simplicial models), Euclidean quantum gravity, perturbative quantum gravity, quantum field theory on curved spacetime, noncommutative geometry, null surfaces, topological quantum field theories and spin foam models. I also briefly review several recent advances in understanding black hole entropy and attempt a critica…
We model the back-reaction of a static observer in four-dimensional de Sitter spacetime by means of a singular $\mathbb Z_q$ quotient. The set of fixed points of the $\mathbb Z_q$ action consists of a pair of codimension two minimal surfaces given by 2-spheres in the Euclidean geometry. The introduction of an orbifold parameter $q>1$ permits the construction of an effective action for the bulk gravity theory with support on each of these minimal surfaces. The effective action corresponds to that of Liouville field theory on a 2-sphere with a finite vacuum expectation value of the Liouville fie…
We investigate the consequences for the black hole area of introducing fractal structure for the horizon geometry. We create a three-dimensional spherical analogue of a 'Koch Snowflake' using a infinite diminishing hierarchy of touching spheres around the Schwarzschild event horizon. We can create a fractal structure for the horizon with finite volume and infinite (or finite) area. This is a toy model for the possible effects of quantum gravitational spacetime foam, with significant implications for assessments of the entropy of black holes and the universe, which is generally larger than in s…
Recently, a novel formula for computing entropy in theories coupled to semi-classical gravity has been devised. Using this so-called island formula the entropy of semi-classical black holes follows a Page curve. Here, we study the relation between this novel entropy and semi-classical entropy in the context of doubly-holographic models. Double holography allows for two different $d$-dimensional descriptions of a black hole coupled to a non-gravitational bath, both of which allow a holographic computation of von Neumann entropy in bath subregions. We argue that the correct homology constraint f…
A distinction is made between two kinds of consistent histories: (1) robust histories consistent by virtue of decoherence, and (2) verifiable histories consistent through the existence of accessible records. It is events in verifiable histories which describe amplified quantum fluctuations. If the consistent-histories formalism is to improve on the Copenhagen interpretation by providing a self-contained quantum representation of the quasi-classical world, the appropriate quantum state must track closely all macroscopic phenomena, and the von Neumann entropy of that quantum state ought to chang…
In a recent paper we have given the macroscopic and microscopic description of the generating solution of toroidally compactified string theory BPS black holes. In this note we compute its corresponding microscopic entropy. Since by definition the generating solution is the most general solution modulo U-duality transformations, this result allows for a description of the fundamental degrees of freedom accounting for the entropy of any regular BPS black holes of toroidally compactified string (or M) theory.
We propose that the initial state of the Universe was an isotropic state of maximal entropy. Such a state can be described in terms of a state of closed, interacting, fundamental strings in their high-temperature Hagedorn phase. The entropy density in this state is equal to the square root of the energy density in Planck units, while the pressure is positive and equal to the energy density. These relations imply a maximally large entropy density and, therefore, a state that cannot be described by a semiclassical spacetime geometry. If one nevertheless insists on an effective semiclassical desc…
In this paper, employing the path integral method in the framework of a canonical description of a Schwarzschild black hole, we obtain the corrected inverse temperature and entropy of the black hole. The corrections are those coming from the quantum effects as well as from the Generalized Uncertainty Principle effects. Furthermore, an equivalence between the polymer quantization and the Generalized Uncertainty Principle description is shown provided the parameters characterizing these two descriptions are proportional.
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. …
We formulate the Rindler space description of rotating black holes in string theories. We argue that the comoving frame is the natural frame for studying thermodynamics of rotating black holes and statistical analysis of rotating black holes gets simplified in this frame. We also calculate statistical entropies of general class of rotating black holes in heterotic strings on tori by applying D-brane description and the correspondence principle. We find at least qualitative agreement between the Bekenstein-Hawking entropies and the statistical entropies of these black hole solutions.