We relate three-dimensional loop quantum gravity to the combinatorial quantisation formalism based on the Chern-Simons formulation for three-dimensional Lorentzian and Euclidean gravity with vanishing cosmological constant. We compare the construction of the kinematical Hilbert space and the implementation of the constraints. This leads to an explicit and very interesting relation between the associated operators in the two approaches and sheds light on their physical interpretation. We demonstrate that the quantum group symmetries arising in the combinatorial formalism, the quantum double of the three-dimensional Lorentz and rotation group, are also present in the loop formalism. We derive explicit expressions for the action of these quantum groups on the space of cylindrical functions associated with graphs. This establishes a direct link between the two quantisation approaches and clarifies the role of quantum group symmetries in three-dimensional gravity.
We suggest a way to study possible conformal symmetries on black hole horizons. We do this by carrying out a Kaluza-Klein like reduction of the Einstein-Hilbert action along the ignorable coordinates of stationary and axisymmetric black holes. Rigid diffeomorphism invariance of the $m$-ignorable coordinates then becomes a global $SL(m,R)$ gauge symmetry of the reduced action. Related to each non-vanishing angular velocity there is a particular $SL(2,R)$ subgroup, which can be extended to the Witt algebra on the black hole horizons. The classical Einstein-Hilbert action thus has $k$-copies of i…
Using a recent classification of local symmetries of the vacuum Einstein equations, it is shown that there can be no observables for the vacuum gravitational field (in a closed universe) built as spatial integrals of local functions of Cauchy data and their derivatives.
After a brief review of topological gravity, we present a superspace approach to this theory. This formulation allows us to recover in a natural manner various known results and to gain some insight into the precise relationship between different approaches to topological gravity. Though the main focus of our work is on the vielbein formalism, we also discuss the metric approach and its relationship with the former formalism.
The Einstein equations for spacetimes with two commuting spacelike Killing field symmetries are studied from a Hamiltonian point of view. The complexified Ashtekar canonical variables are used, and the symmetry reduction is performed directly in the Hamiltonian theory. The reduced system corresponds to the field equations of the SL(2,R) chiral model with additional constraints. On the classical phase space, a method of obtaining an infinite number of constants of the motion, or observables, is given. The procedure involves writing the Hamiltonian evolution equations as a single `zero curvature…
Given the non-canonical relationship between variables used in the Hamiltonian formulations of the Einstein-Hilbert action (due to Pirani, Schild, Skinner (PSS) and Dirac) and the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) action, and the consequent difference in the gauge transformations generated by the first-class constraints of these two formulations, the assumption that the Lagrangians from which they were derived are equivalent leads to an apparent contradiction that has been called "the non-canonicity puzzle". In this work we shall investigate the group properties of two symmetries derived for the Ein…
It is an open question whether fluctuations at the Planck scale in a non-perturbative theory of quantum gravity behave in such a way that the resulting semi-classical geometry can be modelled by a space that admits (approximate) Killing symmetries. We have investigated whether the notion of approximate Killing vector fields is suitable to address this question in lattice theories of quantum gravity, such as (Causal) Dynamical Triangulations. We show that it is possible to construct quantum observables related to approximate Killing vector fields using the framework of Discrete Exterior Calculu…
In the framework of classical field theory, we first review the Noether theory of symmetries, with simple rederivations of its essential results, with special emphasis given to the Noether identities for gauge theories. Will this baggage on board, we next discuss in detail, for Poincaré invariant theories in flat spacetime, the differences between the Belinfante energy-momentum tensor and a family of Hilbert energy-momentum tensors. All these tensors coincide on shell but they split their duties in the following sense: Belinfante's tensor is the one to use in order to obtain the generators of …
We consider a quantization of the Bianchi IX cosmological model based on taking the constraint to be a self-adjoint operator in an auxiliary Hilbert space. Using a WKB-style self-consistent approximation, the constraint chosen is shown to have only continuous spectrum at zero. Nevertheless, the auxiliary space induces an inner product on the zero-eigenvalue generalized eigenstates such that the resulting physical Hilbert space has countably infinite dimension. In addition, a complete set of gauge-invariant operators on the physical space is constructed by integrating differential forms over th…
Coset methods are used to construct the action describing the dynamics associated with the spontaneous breaking of the local symmetries of AdS_{d+1} space due to the embedding of an AdS_d brane. The resulting action is an SO(2,d) invariant AdS form of the Einstein-Hilbert action, which in addition to the AdS_d gravitational vielbein, also includes a massive vector field localized on the brane. Its long wavelength dynamics is the same as a massive Abelian vector field coupled to gravity in AdS_d space.
In this paper we revisit the model of $κ$-deformed complex scalar field. We find that this model possesses ten conserved Noether charges that form, under commutators, a representation of (undeformed) Poincaré algebra. It follows that the theory is relativistic and does not break Lorentz invariance. However the spacetime representation of boosts is not standard, and contains a non-local translation, different for positive and negative energy modes. It then follows that although the masses of particles and anti-particles are equal, the theory violates CPT symmetry in a subtle way. We explain why…
The probability representation, in which cosmological quantum states are described by a standard positive probability distribution, is constructed for minisuperspace models selected by Noether symmetries. In such a case, the tomographic probability distribution provides the classical evolution for the models and can be considered an approach to select "observable" universes. Some specific examples, derived from Extended Theories of Gravity, are worked out. We discuss also how to connect tomograms, symmetries and cosmological parameters.
We apply the Noether Symmetry Approach to point-like teleparallel Lagrangians in view to derive minisuperspaces suitable for Quantum Cosmology. Adopting the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner formalism, we find out related Wave Functions of the Universe. Specifically, by means of appropriate changes of variables suggested by the existence of Noether symmetries, it is possible to obtain the cosmological Hamiltonians whose solutions are classical trajectories interpretable as observable universes.
A non-Hermitian operator may serve as the Hamiltonian for a unitary quantum system, if we can modify the Hilbert space of state vectors of the system so that it turns into a Hermitian operator. If this operator is time-dependent, the modified Hilbert space is generally time-dependent. This in turn leads to a generic conflict between the condition that the Hamiltonian is an observable of the system and that it generates a unitary time-evolution via the standard Schrödinger equation. We propose a geometric framework for addressing this problem. In particular we show that the Hamiltonian operator…
We discuss various features and details of two versions of the Barrett-Crane spin foam model of quantum gravity, first of the Spin(4)-symmetric Riemannian model and second of the SL(2,C)-symmetric Lorentzian version in which all tetrahedra are space-like. Recently, Livine and Oriti proposed to introduce a causal structure into the Lorentzian Barrett--Crane model from which one can construct a path integral that corresponds to the causal (Feynman) propagator. We show how to obtain convergent integrals for the 10j-symbols and how a dimensionless constant can be introduced into the model. We prop…
One solution to the so-called problem of time is to construct certain Dirac observables, sometimes called evolving constants of motion. There has been some discussion in the literature about the interpretation of such observables, and in particular whether single Dirac observables can be measured. Here we clarify the situation by describing a class of interactions that can be said to implement measurements of such observables. Along the way, we describe a useful notion of perturbation theory for the rigging map eta of group averaging (sometimes loosely called the physical state "projector"), w…
We present a polymer(loop) quantization of a two dimensional theory of dilatonic gravity known as the CGHS model. We recast the theory as a parametrized free field theory on a flat 2-dimensional spacetime and quantize the resulting phase space using techniques of loop quantization. The resulting (kinematical) Hilbert space admits a unitary representation of the spacetime diffeomorphism group. We obtain the complete spectrum of the theory using a technique known as group averaging and perform quantization of Dirac observables on the resulting Hilbert space. We argue that the algebra of Dirac ob…
In quantum theory, real degrees of freedom are usually described by operators which are self-adjoint. There are, however, exceptions to the rule. This is because, in infinite dimensional Hilbert spaces, an operator is not necessarily self-adjoint even if its expectation values are real. Instead, the operator may be merely symmetric. Such operators are not diagonalizable - and as a consequence they describe real degrees of freedom which display a form of "unsharpness" or "fuzzyness". For example, there are indications that this type of operators could arise with the description of space-time at…
In the context of constrained quantum mechanics, reference systems are used to construct relational observables that are invariant under the action of the symmetry group. Upon measurement of a relational observable, the reference system undergoes an unavoidable measurement "back-action" that modifies its properties. In a quantum-gravitational setting, it has been argued that such a back-action may produce effects that are described at an effective level as a form of deformed (or doubly) special relativity. We examine this possibility using a simple constrained system that has been extensively …
The basic ingredients of the `consistent histories' approach to quantum theory are a space $\UP$ of `history propositions' and a space $\D$ of `decoherence functionals'. In this article we consider such history quantum theories in the case where $\UP$ is given by the set of projectors $¶(\V)$ on some Hilbert space $\V$. Using an analogue of Wigner's Theorem in the context of history quantum theories proven earlier, we develop the notion of a `symmetry of a decoherence functional' and prove that all such symmetries form a group which we call `the symmetry group of a decoherence functional'. We …
