In this review we discuss the interplay between discretization, constraint implementation, and diffeomorphism symmetry in Loop Quantum Gravity and Spin Foam models. To this end we review the Consistent Discretizations approach, which is an application of the master constraint program to construct the physical Hilbert space of the canonical theory, as well as the Perfect Actions approach, which aims at finding a path integral measure with the correct symmetry behavior under diffeomorphisms.
We discuss the fate of diffeomorphism symmetry in discrete gravity. Diffeomorphism symmetry is typically broken by the discretization. This has repercussions for the observable content and the canonical formulation of the theory. It might however be possible to construct discrete actions, so--called perfect actions, with exact symmetries and we will review first steps towards this end.
The key ingredient for lattice regularized quantum gravity is diffeomorphism symmetry. We formulate a lattice functional integral for quantum gravity in terms of fermions. This allows for a diffeomorphism invariant functional measure and avoids problems of boundedness of the action. We discuss the concept of lattice diffeomorphism invariance. This is realized if the action does not depend on the positioning of abstract lattice points on a continuous manifold. Our formulation of lattice spinor gravity also realizes local Lorentz symmetry. Furthermore, the Lorentz transformations are generalized…
This paper is intended to study diffeomorphism invariance and diffeomorphism generation in the modified theory of gravity proposed by Horava. Firstly, we demonstrate that the theory does not lose diffeomorphism invariance due to the parameter $λ$, as it was previously believed. However, we show that the presence of terms containing the Levi-Civita symbol in the original proposal of Horava makes the theory diffeomorphism dependent. By neglecting such terms, what returns fully diffeomorphism invariance to the action, we obtain the equations of motion. Secondly, in the Hamiltonian formalism, we c…
In this paper, we explicitly prove the presymplectic forms of the Palatini and Ashtekar gravity to be zero along gauge orbits of the Lorentz and diffeomorphism groups, which ensures the diffeomorphism invariance of these theories.
We construct a Weyl transverse diffeomorphism invariant theory of symmetric teleparallel gravity by employing the Weyl compensator formalism. The low-energy dynamics has a single spin two gravition without a scalar degree of freedom. By construction, it is equivalent to the unimodular gravity (as well as the Einstein gravity) at the non-linear level.
We construct not only an induced gravity model with the restricted diffeomorphisms, that is, transverse diffeomorphisms which preserves the curvature density, but also that with the full diffeomorphisms. By solving the equations of motion, it turns out that these models produce Einstein's equations with a certain Newton's constant in addition to the constraint for the curvature density. In the limit of the infinite Newton constant, the models give rise to induced gravity. Moreover, we discuss cosmological solutions on the basis of the gravitational models at hand.
We study the finite distance boundary symmetry current algebra of the most general first order theory of 3d gravity. We show that the space of quadratic generators contains diffeomorphisms but also a notion of dual diffeomorphisms, which together form either a double Witt or centreless BMS$_3$ algebra. The relationship with the usual asymptotic symmetry algebra relies on a duality between the null and angular directions, which is possible thanks to the existence of the dual diffeomorphisms.
We show that the algebra of discretized spatial diffeomorphism constraints in Hamiltonian lattice quantum gravity closes without anomalies in the limit of small lattice spacing. The result holds for arbitrary factor-ordering and for a variety of different discretizations of the continuum constraints, and thus generalizes an earlier calculation by Renteln.
In this paper, using the combined Lorentz-diffeomorphism symmetry, we find a general formula for quasi-local conserved charge of the covariant gravity theories in first order formalism of gravity. We simplify the general formula for Lovelock theory of gravity. Afterwards, we apply the obtained formula on BHT gravity to obtain energy and angular momentum of the rotating OTT black hole solution in the context of this theory.
The problem of observables in classical and quantum gravity is a long-standing one. It is sometimes argued that observable quantities should be diffeomorphsm invariant, following the philosophy of Dirac. We argue that diffeomorphism invariance in classical and quantum gravity is not primarily a case of gauge invariance but rather an example of spontaneous symmetry breaking of the diffeomorphism group. As a consequence, observables fall into two classes, Dirac observables which are invariant under the full diffeomorphism group and more general observables which take on different (expectation) v…
We evaluate the phase diagram of quantum gravity within a fully diffeomorphism-invariant renormalisation group approach. The construction is based on the geometrical or Vilkovisky-DeWitt effective action. We also resolve the difference between the fluctuation metric and the background metric. This allows for fully background-independent flows in gravity. The results provide further evidence for the ultraviolet fixed point scenario in quantum gravity with quantitative changes for the fixed point physics. We also find a stable infrared fixed point related to classical Einstein gravity. Implicati…
The closed, spatially isotropic FLRW universe (k=+1) is endowed with modifications due to a discrete underlying space-structure. Motivated from Loop Quantum Gravity techniques, a full Thiemann regularisation is performed. The impact of these modifications of the single-graph-sector appearing in the scalar constraint are interpreted as physical quantum gravity effects. We investigate the form of the modified scalar constraint and its analytical approximations for k=+1 spacetimes and assume this effective constraint as the generator of dynamics on the reduced isotropic phase space. It transpires…
Starting from a knowledge of certain identities in the Lagrangian description, the diffeomorphism transformations of metric and connection are obtained for both the second order (metric) and the first order (Palatini) formulations of gravity. The transformation laws of the connection and the metric are derived independently in the Palatini formulation in contrast to the metric formulation where the gauge variation of the connection is deduced from the gauge variation of the metric.
Area preserving diffeomorphisms of a 2-d compact Riemannian manifold with or without boundary are studied. We find two classes of decompositions of a Riemannian metric, namely, h- and g-decomposition, that help to formulate a gravitational theory which is area preserving diffeomorphism (SDiff$M$-) invariant but not necessarily diffeomorphism invariant. The general covariance of equations of motion of such a theory can be achieved by incorporating proper Weyl rescaling. The h-decomposition makes the conformal factor of a metric SDiff$M$-invariant and the rest of the metric invariant under confo…
A general diffeomorphism invariant SU(2) gauge theory is a gravity theory with two propagating polarizations of the graviton. We develop this description of gravity, in particular for future applications to the perturbative quantization. Thus, the linearized theory, gauge symmetries, gauge fixing are discussed in detail, and the propagator is obtained. The propagator takes a simple form of that of Yang-Mills theory with an additional projector on diffeomorphism equivalence classes of connections inserted. In our approach the gravitational perturbation theory takes a rather unusual form in that…
The canonical quantization of diffeomorphism invariant theories of connections in terms of loop variables is revisited. Such theories include general relativity described in terms of Ashtekar-Barbero variables and extension to Yang-Mills fields (with or without fermions) coupled to gravity. It is argued that the operators induced by classical diffeomorphism invariant or covariant functions are respectably invariant or covariant under a suitable completion of the diffeomorphism group. The canonical quantization in terms of loop variables described here, yields a representation of the algebra of…
This overview looks at what happens when the Standard-Model Extension (SME) is used to investigate gravity theories with explicit diffeomorphism breaking. It is shown that when matter-gravity couplings are included, the SME generally maintains consistency with the Bianchi identities, and it therefore provides a useful phenomenological framework for investigating the effects of explicit diffeomorphism breaking in gravity theories.
A brief recap is given of issues that can occur when fixed nondynamical backgrounds that explicitly break diffeomorphism invariance are included in gravity theories. Implications for the Standard-Model Extension (SME) are summarized, including recent results showing how the SME can be modified to accommodate such fixed nondynamical backgrounds.
Modified theories of gravity that explicitly break diffeomorphism invariance have been used for over a decade to explore open issues related to quantum gravity, dark energy, and dark matter. At the same time, the Standard-Model Extension (SME) has been widely used as a phenomenological framework in investigations of spacetime symmetry breaking. Until recently, it was thought that the SME was suitable only for theories with spontaneous spacetime symmetry breaking due to consistency conditions stemming from the Bianchi identities. However, it has recently been shown that, particularly with matte…
We propose a new theory of gravitation on noncommutative space-time which is invariant under the general coordinate transformations, while the local Lorentz invariance is realized as twisted gauge symmetry. Our theory is remarkably simpler compared to the existing formulations of noncommutative gravity.
In asymptotically anti-de Sitter gravity, diffeomorphisms that change the conformal boundary data can be promoted to genuine physical degrees of freedom. I show that in 2+1 dimensions, the dynamics of these degrees of freedom is described by a Liouville action, with the correct central charge to reproduce the entropy of the BTZ black hole.
The representation theory of non-centrally extended Lie algebras of Noether symmetries, including spacetime diffeomorphisms and reparametrizations of the observer's trajectory, has recently been developped. It naturally solves some long-standing problems in quantum gravity, e.g. the role of diffeomorphisms and the causal structure, but some new questions also arise.
The use of a diffeomorphism covariant star product enables us to construct diffeomorphism invariant gravities on noncommutative symplectic manifolds without twisting the symmetries. As an example, we construct noncommutative deformations of all two-dimensional dilaton gravity models thus overcoming some difficulties of earlier approaches. One of such models appears to be integrable. We find all classical solutions of this model and discuss their properties.
We introduce the holonomy-diffeomorphism algebra, a C*-algebra generated by flows of vectorfields and the compactly supported smooth functions on a manifold. We show that the separable representations of the holonomy-diffeomorphism algebra are given by measurable connections, and that the unitary equivalence of the representations corresponds to measured gauge equivalence of the measurable connections. We compare the setup to Loop Quantum Gravity and show that the generalized connections found there are not contained in the spectrum of the holonomy-diffeomorphism algebra in dimensions higher t…
Gravitational theories with fixed background fields break local Lorentz and diffeomorphism invariance either explicitly or spontaneously. In the case of explicit breaking it is known that conflicts can arise between the dynamics and geometrical constraints, while spontaneous breaking evades this problem. It is for this reason that in the gravity sector of the Standard-Model Extension (SME) it is assumed that the background fields (SME coefficients) originate from spontaneous symmetry breaking. However, in other examples, such as Chern-Simons gravity and massive gravity, diffeomorphism invarian…
We obtain the conserved Abbott-Deser-Tekin (ADT)-{\it like} current for the Lanczos-Lovelock gravity for a diffeomorphism vector, which defines the horizon of a spacetime and, importantly, is not necessarily a Killing vector. As the original ADT current is defined only for the presence of a background Killing vector, one cannot use it extensively for the thermodynamic description of the wide classes of non-Killing horizons which appear in gravity. On the other hand, this general approach can be utilized for those horizons. Here, the conserved current can be written as the derivative of the two…
We discuss two distinct realizations of the diffeomorphism group for metric gravity, which give rise to theories that are classically equivalent, but quantum mechanically distinct. We renormalize them in $d=2+ε$ dimensions, developing a new procedure for dimensional continuation of metric theories and highlighting connections with the constructions that previously appeared in the literature. Our hope is to frame candidates ultraviolet completions of quantum gravity in $d>2$ and give some perturbative mean to assess its existence in $d=4$, but also to speculate on some potential obstructions in…
We investigate the action of diffeomorphisms in the context of Hamiltonian Gravity. By considering how the diffeomorphism-invariant Hilbert space of Loop Quantum Gravity should be constructed, we formulate a physical principle by demanding, that the gauge-invariant Hilbert space is a completion of gauge- (i.e. diffeomorphism-)orbits of the classical (configuration) variables, explaining which extensions of the group of diffeomorphisms must be implemented in the quantum theory. It turns out, that these are at least a subgroup of the stratified analytic diffeomorphisms. Factoring these stratifie…
If general relativity is an emergent phenomenon, there may be small violations of diffeomorphism invariance. We propose a phenomenology of perturbatively small violations of general relativity by the inclusion of terms which break general covariance. These can be tested by matching to the Parametrized Post Newtonian (PPN) formalism. The most sensitive tests involve pulsar timing and provide an extremely strong bound, with a dimensionless constraint of order 10^{-20} relative to gravitational strength.
I examine the relationship between $(d+1)$-dimensional Poincaré metrics and $d$-dimensional conformal manifolds, from both mathematical and physical perspectives. The results have a bearing on several conceptual issues relating to asymptotic symmetries, in general relativity and in gauge-gravity duality, as follows: (1: Ambient Construction) I draw from the remarkable work by Fefferman and Graham (1985, 2012) on conformal geometry, in order to prove two propositions and a theorem that characterise the classes of diffeomorphisms that qualify as gravity-invisible. I define natural notions of gra…
The G-->0 limit of Euclidean gravity introduced by Smolin is described by a generally covariant U(1)xU(1)xU(1) gauge theory. In an earlier paper, Tomlin and Varadarajan constructed the quantum Hamiltonian constraint of density weight 4/3 for this U(1)xU(1)xU(1) theory so as to produce a non-trivial anomaly free LQG-type representation of the Poisson bracket between a pair of Hamiltonian constraints. These constructions involved a choice of regulating coordinate patches. The use of these coordinate patches is in apparent conflict with spatial diffeomorphism covariance. In this work we show how …
We show that the phase space of three-dimensional gravity contains two layers of dualities: between diffeomorphisms and a notion of "dual diffeomorphisms" on the one hand, and between first order curvature and torsion on the other hand. This is most elegantly revealed and understood when studying the most general Lorentz-invariant first order theory in connection and triad variables, described by the so-called Mielke-Baekler Lagrangian. By analyzing the quasi-local symmetries of this theory in the covariant phase space formalism, we show that in each sector of the torsion/curvature duality the…
We address the role of large diffeomorphisms in Witten's 2+1 gravity on the manifold ${\bf R} \times T^2$. In a ``spacelike sector" quantum theory that treats the large diffeomorphisms as a symmetry, rather than as gauge, the Hilbert space is shown to contain no nontrivial finite dimensional subspaces that are invariant under the large diffeomorphisms. Infinite dimensional closed invariant subspaces are explicitly constructed, and the representation of the large diffeomorphisms is thus shown to be reducible. Comparison is made to Witten's theory on ${\bf R} \times Σ$, where $Σ$ is a higher gen…
A manifestly diffeomorphism invariant extension of Einstein gravity is constructed, which includes singular metrics, and whose ADM formulation is Ashtekar's gravity. The latter is shown to be locally equivalent to the covariant theory. It turns out that exactly those kinds of degenerate four dimensional metrics are allowed which do not destroy the causal structure of spacetime. It is also shown that Ashtekar's gravity possesses an extension that provides a local SO(3,C) invariance, without complexifying or changing the signature of the metric.
Lorentz and diffeomorphism violations are studied in linearized gravity using effective field theory. A classification of all gauge-invariant and gauge-violating terms is given. The exact covariant dispersion relation for gravitational modes involving operators of arbitrary mass dimension is constructed, and various special limits are discussed.
Two sets of spatially diffeomorphism invariant operators are constructed in the loop representation formulation of quantum gravity. This is done by coupling general relativity to an anti- symmetric tensor gauge field and using that field to pick out sets of surfaces, with boundaries, in the spatial three manifold. The two sets of observables then measure the areas of these surfaces and the Wilson loops for the self-dual connection around their boundaries. The operators that represent these observables are finite and background independent when constructed through a proper regularization proced…
We study the issue of the recovery of diffeomorphism invariance in the recently introduced loop quantum gravity treatment of the exterior Schwarzschild space-time. Although the loop quantization agrees with the quantization in terms of metric variables in identifying the physical Hilbert space, we show that diffeomorphism invariance in space-time is recovered with certain limitations due to the use of holonomic variables in the loop treatment of the model. This resembles behaviors that are expected in the full theory.
We postulate that the fundamental principles of Quantum Gravity are diffeomorphism symmetry, unitarity, and locality. Local observables are compatible with diffeomorphism symmetry in the presence of diff anomalies, which modify the symmetry algebra upon quantization. We describe the generalization of the Virasoro extension to the diffeomorphism algebra in several dimensions, and its off-shell representations. These anomalies can not arise in QFT, because the Virasoro-like cocycles are functionals of the observer's spacetime trajectory, which is not present in QFT. Possible implications for phy…
Canonical quantization of gravity requires knowledge about the representation theory of its constraint algebra, which is physically equivalent to the algebra of arbitrary 4-diffeomorphisms. All interesting lowest-energy representations are projective, making the relevant algebra into a four-dimensional generalization of the Virasoro algebra. Such diffeomorphism anomalies are invisible in field theory, because the relevant cocycles are functionals of the observer's trajectory in spacetime. The multi-dimensional Virasoro algebra acts naturally in the phase space of arbitrary histories, with dyna…
We study a model for quantum gravity on a circle in which the notion of a classical metric tensor is replaced by a quantum metric with an inhomogeneous transformation law under diffeomorphisms. This transformation law corresponds to the co--adjoint action of the Virasoro algebra, and resembles that of the connection in Yang--Mills theory. The transformation property is motivated by the diffeomorphism invariance of the one dimensional Schrödinger equation. The quantum distance measured by the metric corresponds to the phase of a quantum mechanical wavefunction. The dynamics of the quantum gravi…
This thesis concerns research undertaken in two related topics concerning high-energy gravitational physics. The first is the construction of a manifestly diffeomorphism-invariant Exact Renormalization Group (ERG). This is a procedure that constructs effective theories of gravity by integrating out high-energy modes down to an ultraviolet cutoff scale without gauge-fixing. The manifest diffeomorphism invariance enables us to construct a fully background-independent formulation. This thesis will explore both the fixed-background and background-independent forms of the manifestly diffeomorphism-…
We study the metric perturbations in the context of restricted $f(R)$ gravity, in which a parameter for deviation from the full diffeomorphisms of space-time is introduced. We demonstrate that one can choose the parameter to remove the induced anisotropic stress, which is present in the usual $f(R)$ gravity. Moreover, to prevent instability for the vector and tensor metric perturbations, some constraints on the model are obtained.
A new approach to a unified theory of quantum gravity based on noncommutative geometry and canonical quantum gravity is presented. The approach is built around a *-algebra generated by local holonomy-diffeomorphisms on a 3-manifold and a quantized Dirac type operator; the two capturing the kinematics of quantum gravity formulated in terms of Ashtekar variables. We prove that the separable part of the spectrum of the algebra is contained in the space of measurable connections modulo gauge transformations and we give limitations to the non-separable part. The construction of the Dirac type opera…
In this paper we use the covariant Peierls bracket to compute the algebra of a sizable number of diffeomorphism-invariant observables in classical Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity coupled to fairly arbitrary matter. We then show that many recent results, including the construction of traversable wormholes, the existence of a family of $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$ algebras acting on the matter fields, and the calculation of the scrambling time, can be recast as simple consequences of this algebra. We also use it to clarify the question of when the creation of an excitation deep in the bulk increases or decrease…
Effective gravitational field theories with background fields break local Lorentz symmetry and diffeomorphism invariance. Examples include Chern-Simons gravity, massive gravity, and the Standard-Model Extension (SME). The physical properties and behavior of these theories depend greatly on whether the spacetime symmetry breaking is explicit or spontaneous. With explicit breaking, the background fields are fixed and nondynamical, and the resulting theories are fundamentally different from Einstein's General Relativity (GR). However, when the symmetry breaking is spontaneous, the background fiel…
Given a symmetry group acting on a principal fibre bundle, symmetric states of the quantum theory of a diffeomorphism invariant theory of connections on this fibre bundle are defined. These symmetric states, equipped with a scalar product derived from the Ashtekar-Lewandowski measure for loop quantum gravity, form a Hilbert space of their own. Restriction to this Hilbert space yields a quantum symmetry reduction procedure in the framework of spin network states the structure of which is analyzed in detail. Three illustrating examples are discussed: Reduction of 3+1 to 2+1 dimensional quantum g…
We show that the Wilsonian renormalization group (RG) provides a natural regularisation of the Quantum Master Equation such that to first order the BRST algebra closes on local functionals spanned by the eigenoperators with constant couplings. We then apply this to quantum gravity. Around the Gaussian fixed point, RG properties of the conformal factor of the metric allow the construction of a Hilbert space $\mathfrak{L}$ of renormalizable interactions, non-perturbative in $\hbar$, and involving arbitrarily high powers of the gravitational fluctuations. We show that diffeomorphism invariance is…
Motivated by the analogy between the spacetime and the solid with inhomogeneous elasticity modulus, we present an alternative method to obtain the field equation of any diffeomorphism-invariant gravity, by extremizing the constructed entropy function of the displacement vector field of spacetime solid. In general stationary spacetimes, we show that the Wald entropy of horizon arises from the on-shell entropy function of spacetime solid.
This paper discusses the implementation of diffeomorphism invariance in purely Hamiltonian formulations of General Relativity. We observe that, if a constrained Hamiltonian formulation derives from a manifestly covariant Lagrangian, the diffeomorphism invariance of the Lagrangian results in the following properties of the constrained Hamiltonian theory: the diffeomorphisms are generated by constraints on the phase space so that a) The algebra of the generators reflects the algebra of the diffeomorphism group. b) The Poisson brackets of the basic fields with the generators reflects the space-ti…
Since Stephen Hawking discovered that black holes emit thermal radiation, black holes have become the theoretical laboratories for testing our ideas on quantum gravity. This dissertation is devoted to the study of singularities, the formation of black holes by gravitational collapse and the global structure of spacetime. All our investigations are in the context of a recently proposed approach to quantum gravity, which breaks Lorentz and diffeomorphism symmetries at very high energies.
I argue that the field equations of any theory of gravity which is diffeomorphism invariant must be expressible as a thermodynamic identity, TdS=dE around any event in the spacetime. This fact can be demonstrated explicitly (and rather easily) if: (a) one accepts the Noether current of the theory as providing the definition for local entropy density and (b) one is allowed to introduce the local notions of a Rindler frame, acceleration horizon and a Killing vector (related to translation in Rindler time) around any event. It is conceptually incorrect - in general - to invert this argument and o…
We introduce the Quantum Holonomy-Diffeomorphism *-algebra, which is generated by holonomy-diffeomorphisms on a 3-dimensional manifold and translations on a space of SU(2)-connections. We show that this algebra encodes the canonical commutation relations of canonical quantum gravity formulated in terms of Ashtekar variables. Furthermore, we show that semi-classical states exist on the holonomy-diffeomorphism part of the algebra but that these states cannot be extended to the full algebra. Via a Dirac type operator we derive a certain class of unbounded operators that act in the GNS constructio…
We study the issue of diffeomorphism symmetry in group field theories (GFT), using the recently introduced noncommutative metric representation. In the colored Boulatov model for 3d gravity, we identify a field (quantum) symmetry which ties together the vertex translation invariance of discrete gravity, the flatness constraint of canonical quantum gravity, and the topological (coarse-graining) identities for the 6j-symbols. We also show how, for the GFT graphs dual to manifolds, the invariance of the Feynman amplitudes encodes the discrete residual action of diffeomorphisms in simplicial gravi…
