We study and compare the spectra of geometric operators (length and area) in the quantum kinematics of two formulations of three-dimensional Lorentzian loop quantum gravity. In the SU(2) Ashtekar-Barbero framework, the spectra are discrete and depend on the Barbero-Immirzi parameter $γ$ exactly like in the four-dimensional case. However, we show that when working with the self-dual variables and imposing the reality conditions the spectra become continuous and $γ$-independent.
We examine and compare different area spectra that have been recently considered in Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG). In particular we focus our attention on a Equally Spaced (ES) spectrum operator introduced by Alekseev et. al. that has gained recent attention. We show that such operator is not well defined within the LQG framework, and comment on the issue regarding area spectra and QNM frequencies.
We analyze the issue of anomaly-free representations of the constraint algebra in Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) in the context of a diffeomorphism-invariant gauge theory in three spacetime dimensions. We construct a Hamiltonian constraint operator whose commutator matches with a quantization of the classical Poisson bracket involving structure functions. Our quantization scheme is based on a geometric interpretation of the Hamiltonian constraint as a generator of phase space-dependent diffeomorphisms. The resulting Hamiltonian constraint at finite triangulation has a conceptual similarity with th…
In a 1+1 dimensional model of plane gravitational waves the flux-holonomy algebra of loop quantum gravity is modified in such a way that the new basic operators satisfy canonical commutation relations. Thanks to this construction it is possible to find kinematical solutions for unidirectional plane gravitational waves with finite geometric expectation values and fluctuations, which was problematic in a more conventional approach in a foregoing paper by the author and coauthors.
One of the celebrated results of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) is the discreteness of the spectrum of geometrical operators such as length, area and volume operators. This is an indication that Planck scale geometry in LQG is discontinuous rather than smooth. However, there is no rigorous proof thereof at present, because the afore mentioned operators are not gauge invariant, they do not commute with the quantum constraints. The relational formalism in the incarnation of Rovelli's partial and complete observables provides a possible mechanism for turning a non gauge invariant operator into a gaug…
Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) is an attempt to describe the quantum gravity regime. Introducing a non-zero cosmological constant $Λ$ in this context has been a withstanding problem. Other approaches, such as Chern-Simons gravity, suggest that quantum groups can be used to introduce $Λ$ in the game. Not much is known when defining LQG with a quantum group. Tensor operators can be used to construct observables in any type of discrete quantum gauge theory with a classical/quantum gauge group. We illustrate this by constructing explicitly geometric observables for LQG defined with a quantum group and…
Bell-network states are loop-quantum-gravity states that glue quantum polyhedra with entanglement. We present an algorithm and a code that evaluates the reduced density matrix of a Bell-network state and computes its entanglement entropy. In particular, we use our code for simple graphs to study properties of Bell-network states and to show that they are non-typical in the Hilbert space. Moreover, we investigate analytically Bell-network states on arbitrary finite graphs. We develop methods to compute the Rényi entropy of order p for a restriction of the state to an arbitrary region. In the un…
We perform a canonical, reduced phase space quantisation of General Relativity by Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) methods. The explicit construction of the reduced phase space is made possible by the combination of 1. the Brown -- Kuchar mechanism in the presence of pressure free dust fields which allows to deparametrise the theory and 2. Rovelli's relational formalism in the extended version developed by Dittrich to construct the algebra of gauge invariant observables. Since the resulting algebra of observables is very simple, one can quantise it using the methods of LQG. Basically, the kinematica…
We argue that String Theory and Loop Quantum Gravity can be thought of as describing different regimes of a single unified theory of quantum gravity. LQG can be thought of as providing the pre-geometric exoskeleton out of which macroscopic geometry emerges and String Theory then becomes the \emph{effective} theory which describes the dynamics of that exoskeleton. The core of the argument rests on the claim that the Nambu-Goto action of String Theory can be viewed as the expectation value of the LQG area operator evaluated on the string worldsheet. A concrete result is that the string tension o…
We show that the non-Abelian nature of geometric fluxes---the corner-stone in the definition of quantum geometry in the framework of loop quantum gravity (LQG)---follows directly form the continuum canonical commutations relations of gravity in connection variables and the validity of the Gauss law. The present treatment simplifies previous formulations and thus identifies more clearly the root of the discreteness of geometric operators in LQG. Our statement generalizes to arbitrary gauge theories and relies only on the validity of the Gauss law.
The spectral dimension is an indicator of geometry and topology of spacetime and a tool to compare the description of quantum geometry in various approaches to quantum gravity. This is possible because it can be defined not only on smooth geometries but also on discrete (e.g., simplicial) ones. In this paper, we consider the spectral dimension of quantum states of spatial geometry defined on combinatorial complexes endowed with additional algebraic data: the kinematical quantum states of loop quantum gravity (LQG). Preliminarily, the effects of topology and discreteness of classical discrete g…
One of remarkable features of loop quantum gravity (LQG) is that it can provide resolutions to both the black hole and big bang singularities. In the mini-superspace approach based on the polymerization procedure in LQG, a quantum corrected black hole metric is constructed. This metric is also known as self-dual spacetime since the form of the metric is invariant under the exchange $r \to a_0/r$ with $a_0$ being proportional to the minimum area in LQG and $r$ is the standard radial coordinate at asymptotic infinity. It modifies the Schwarzschild spacetime by the polymeric function $P$, purely …
The geometrical spectra in loop quantum gravity (LQG) suffer from ambiguity up to the free Immirzi parameter that is often determined by comparing results from the theory with the established dynamics at the black hole horizon. We address conceptual difficulties associated with such approaches and point out that the Immirzi parameter can be fixed naively by applying the LQG version of the equipartition rule at a holographic boundary such that the Hawking-Unruh temperature law follows. The value of the Immirzi parameter derived in this way should possess universal validity. This approach also p…
We argue that the effective gauge group for {\it pure} four-dimensional loop quantum gravity(LQG) is SO(3) (or $SO(3,C)$) instead of SU(2) (or $SL(2,C)$). As a result, links with half-integer spins in spin network states are not realized for {\it pure} LQG, implying a modification of the spectra of area and volume operators. Our observations imply a new value of $γ\approx 0.170$ for the Immirzi parameter which is obtained from matching the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy to the number of states from LQG calculations. Moreover, even if the dominant contribution to the entropy is not assumed to come …
Motivated by a recent proposal (by Koslowski-Sahlmann) of a kinematical representation in Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) with a nondegenerate vacuum metric, we construct a polymer quantization of the parametrised massless scalar field theory on a Minkowskian cylinder. The dif- feomorphism covariant kinematics is based on states which carry a continuous label corresponding to smooth embedding geometries, in addition to the discrete embedding and matter labels. The physical state space, obtained through group averaging procedure, is nonseparable. A physical state in this theory can be interpreted as…
An open issue in loop quantum gravity (LQG) is the introduction of a non-vanishing cosmological constant $Λ$. In 3d, Chern-Simons theory provides some guiding lines: $Λ$ appears in the quantum deformation of the gauge group. The Turaev-Viro model, which is an example of spin foam model is also defined in terms of a quantum group. By extension, it is believed that in 4d, a quantum group structure could encode the presence of $Λ\neq0$. In this article, we introduce by hand the quantum group $\mathcal{U}_{q}(\mathfrak{su}(2))$ into the LQG framework, that is we deal with $\mathcal{U}_{q}(\mathfra…
Recently the Master Constraint Programme (MCP) for Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) was launched which replaces the infinite number of Hamiltonian constraints by a single Master constraint. The MCP is designed to overcome the complications associated with the non -- Lie -- algebra structure of the Dirac algebra of Hamiltonian constraints and was successfully tested in various field theory models. For the case of 3+1 gravity itself, so far only a positive quadratic form for the Master Constraint Operator was derived. In this paper we close this gap and prove that the quadratic form is closable and th…
The problem of background independent quantum gravity is the problem of defining a quantum field theory of matter and gravity in the absence of an underlying background geometry. Loop quantum gravity (LQG) is a promising proposal for addressing this difficult task. Despite the steady progress of the field, dynamics remains to a large extend an open issue in LQG. Here we present the main ideas behind a series of proposals for addressing the issue of dynamics. We refer to these constructions as the {\em spin foam representation} of LQG. This set of ideas can be viewed as a systematic attempt at …
The Volume Operator plays a crucial role in the definition of the quantum dynamics of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG). Efficient calculations for dynamical problems of LQG can therefore be performed only if one has sufficient control over the volume spectrum. While closed formulas for the matrix elements are currently available in the literature, these are complicated polynomials in 6j symbols which in turn are given in terms of Racah's formula which is too complicated in order to perform even numerical calculations for the semiclassically important regime of large spins. Hence, so far not even num…
Loop Quantum Gravity is a formalism for describing the quantum mechanics of the gravitational field based on the canonical quantization of General Relativity. The most important result of LQG is that geometric quantities such as area and volume are not arbitrary but are quantized in terms of a minimum length. In this paper we investigate the effect of a minimum length in wave propagation. We find that the minimum length, combined with the constancy of the speed of light, induces a quantization of the energy of a gravitational wave.
An important aspect in understanding the dynamics in the context of deparametrized models of LQG is to obtain a sufficient control on the quantum evolution generated by a given Hamiltonian operator. More specifically, we need to be able to compute the evolution of relevant physical states and observables with a relatively good precision. In this article, we introduce an approximation method to deal with the physical Hamiltonian operators in deparametrized LQG models, and apply it to models in which a free Klein-Gordon scalar field or a non-rotational dust field is taken as the physical time va…
The self-dual spacetime was derived from the mini-superspace approach, based on the polymerization quantization procedure in loop quantum gravity (LQG). Its deviation from the Schwarzschild spacetime is characterized by the polymeric function $P$, purely due to the geometric quantum effects from LQG. In this paper, we consider the observational constraints imposed on $P$ by using the solar system experiments and observations. For this purpose, we calculate in detail the effects of $P$ on astronomical observations conducted in the Solar system, including the deflection angle of light by the Sun…
We analyze combinatorial structures which play a central role in determining spectral properties of the volume operator in loop quantum gravity (LQG). These structures encode geometrical information of the embedding of arbitrary valence vertices of a graph in 3-dimensional Riemannian space, and can be represented by sign strings containing relative orientations of embedded edges. We demonstrate that these signature factors are a special representation of the general mathematical concept of an oriented matroid. Moreover, we show that oriented matroids can also be used to describe the topology (…
In this paper we calculated the spectral dimension of loop quantum gravity (LQG) using the scaling property of the area operator spectrum on spin-network states and using the scaling property of the volume and length operators on Gaussian states. We obtained that the spectral dimension of the spatial section runs from 1.5 to 3, and under particular assumptions from 2 to 3 across a 1.5 phase when the energy of a probe scalar field decreases from high to low energy in a fictitious time T. We calculated also the spectral dimension of space-time using the scaling of the area spectrum operator calc…
Using Monte Carlo simulations, we compute the integrated emission spectra of black holes in the framework of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG). The black hole emission rates are governed by the entropy whose value, in recent holographic loop quantum gravity models, was shown to agree at leading order with the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. Quantum corrections depend on the Barbero-Immirzi parameter $γ$. Starting with black holes of initial horizon area $A \sim 10^2$ in Planck units, we present the spectra for different values of $γ$. Each spectrum clearly decomposes in two distinct parts: a continuous b…
