In a previous paper we formulated axisymmetric general relativity in terms of real Ashtekar--Barbero variables. Here we proceed to quantize the theory. We are able to implement Thiemann's version of the Hamiltonian constraint. We discuss its action including the matrix elements and its solutions. This provides a 2+1 dimensional arena to test ideas for the dynamics of quantum gravity and opens the possibility of quantum studies of rotating black hole spacetimes.
We formulate axisymmetric general relativity in terms of real Ashtekar--Barbero variables. We study the constraints and equations of motion and show how the Kerr, Schwarzschild and Minkowski solutions arise. We also discuss boundary conditions. This opens the possibility of a midisuperspace quantization using loop quantum gravity techniques for spacetimes with axial symmetry and time dependence.
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 show that the recent claim that the 2+1 dimensional Ashtekar formulation for General Relativity has a finite number of physical degrees of freedom is not correct.
A Lorentz and general co-ordinate co-variant form of canonical gravity, using Ashtekar's variables, is investigated. A co-variant treatment due to Crnkovic and Witten is used, in which a point in phase space represents a solution of the equations of motion and a symplectic functional two form is constructed which is Lorentz and general co-ordinate invariant. The subtleties and difficulties due to the complex nature of Ashtekar's variables are addressed and resolved.
This bibliography attempts to give a comprehensive overview of all the literature related to the Ashtekar variables. The original version was compiled by Peter Huebner in 1989, and it has been subsequently updated by Gabriela Gonzalez and Bernd Bruegmann. Information about additional literature, new preprints, and especially corrections are always welcome.
Dimensional reductions of various higher dimensional (super)gravity theories lead to effectively two-dimensional field theories described by gravity coupled G/H nonlinear sigma-models. We show that a new set of complexified variables can be introduced when G/H is a Hermitian symmetric space. This generalizes an earlier construction that grew out of the Ashtekar formulation of two Killing vector reduced pure 4d general relativity. Apart from giving some new insights into dimensional reductions of higher dimensional (super)gravity theories, these Ashtekar-type variables offer several technical a…
Anti-self-dual (ASD) Maxwell solutions on 4-dimensional hyperkähler manifolds are constructed. The N=2 supersymmetric half-flat equations are derived in the context of the Ashtekar formulation of N=2 supergravity. These equations show that the ASD Maxwell solutions have a direct connection with the solutions of the reduced N=2 supersymmetric ASD Yang-Mills equations with a special choice of gauge group. Two examples of the Maxwell solutions are presented.
The improved lattice regularization method of the Ashtekar connection holonomy representation in loop quantum gravity is described in this article. The approach is based on the geometric expansion of holonomies into power series up to the quadratic order terms in the regularization parameter. As a result, a more accurate procedure than the currently established approach to the canonical lattice quantization of gravity is obtained. Moreover, if holonomies are defined along linear links, this procedure becomes exact. Furthermore, in the improved method, the symmetry of holonomies assigned to lin…
The constraint hypersurfaces defining the Witten and Ashtekar formulations for 2+1 gravity are very different. In particular the constraint hypersurface in the Ashtekar case is not a manifold but consists of several sectors that intersect each other in a complicated way. The issue of how to define a consistent dynamics in such a situation is then rather non-trivial. We discuss this point by working out the details in a simplified (finite dimensional) homogeneous reduction of 2+1 gravity in the Ashtekar formulation.
A generally covariant gauge theory for an arbitrary gauge group with dimension $\geq 3$, that reduces to Ashtekar's canonical formulation of gravity for SO(3,C), is presented. The canonical form of the theory is shown to contain only first class constraints.
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.
We show that the set of states of the Ashtekar-Isham-Lewandowski holonomy algebra defined by elements of the Ashtekar-Lewandowski Hilbert space is dense in the space of all states. We consider weak convergence properties of a modified version of the cut-off procedure currently in use in loop quantum gravity. This version is adapted to vector states rather than to general distributions.
The Ashtekar formulation of 2+1 gravity differs from the geometrodynamical and Witten descriptions when the 2-metric is degenerate. We study the phase space of 2+1 gravity in the Ashtekar formulation to understand these degenerate solutions to the field equations. In the process we find two new systems of first class constraints which describe part of the degenerate sectors of the Ashtekar formulation. One of them also generalizes the Witten constraints. Finally we argue that the Ashtekar formulation has an arbitrarily large number of degrees of freedom in contrast to the usual descriptions. T…
We show the equivalence of the Lorentz-covariant canonical formulation considered for the Immirzi parameter $β=i$ to the selfdual Ashtekar gravity. We also propose to deal with the reality conditions in terms of Dirac brackets derived from the covariant formulation and defined on an extended phase space which involves, besides the selfdual variables, also their anti-selfdual counterparts.
We show how Hořava-Lifshitz (HL) theory appears naturally in the Ashtekar formulation of relativity if one postulates the existence of a fermionic field playing the role of aether. The spatial currents associated with this field must be switched off for the equivalence to work. Therefore the field supplies the preferred frame associated with breaking refoliation (time diffeomorphism) invariance, but obviously the symmetry is only spontaneously broken if the field is dynamic. When Dirac fermions couple to the gravitational field via the Ashtekar variables, the low energy limit of HL gravity, re…
This bibliography attempts to give a comprehensive overview of all the literature related to the Ashtekar variables. The original version was compiled by Peter Hübner in 1989, and it has been subsequently updated by Gabriela Gonzalez, Bernd Brügmann, and Troy Schilling. Information about additional literature, new preprints, and especially corrections are always welcome.
The relation between the SL(2,R)/SO(2)- and the SL(2,C)-chiral model that naturally arise within the metric respectively the Ashtekar formulation of two Killing field reduced Einstein gravity is revealed. Both chiral models turn out to be completely equivalent even though the transition from the coset- to the SL(2,C)-model is accompanied by a disappearance of the non-ultralocal terms in the Poisson brackets.
This work completes the task of solving locally the Einstein-Ashtekar equations for degenerate data. The two remaining degenerate sectors of the classical 3+1 dimensional theory are considered. First, with all densitized triad vectors linearly dependent and second, with only two independent ones. It is shown how to solve the Einstein-Ashtekar equations completely by suitable gauge fixing and choice of coordinates. Remarkably, the Hamiltonian weakly Poisson commutes with the conditions defining the sectors. The summary of degenerate solutions is given in the Appendix.
We study the Ashtekar formulation of linear gravity starting from the ADM first order action for the non linear theory, linearizing it, and performing a canonical transformation that coordinatizes the phase space in terms of the already linearized Ashtekar variables. The results obtained in this way are in accordance with those obtained through the standard method, in which, after introducing the Ashtekar variables for the full theory, a linearization around the flat Abelian connection and its conjugate momentum is performed.
We solve perturbative constraints and eliminate gauge freedom for Ashtekar's gravity on de Sitter background. We show that the reduced phase space consists of transverse, traceless, symmetric fluctuations of the triad and of transverse, traceless, symmetric fluctuations of the connection. A part of gauge freedom corresponding to the conformal Killing vectors of the three-manifold can be fixed only by imposing conditions on Lagrange multiplier. The reduced phase space is equivalent to that of ADM gravity on the same background.
One of the greatest challenges facing theoretical physics lies in reconciling Einstein's classical theory of gravity - general relativity - with quantum field theory. Although both theories have been experimentally supported in their respective regimes, they seem mutually incompatible. This article summarises the current status of the superstring approach to the problem, the status of the Ashtekar program, and addresses the problem of time in quantum gravity. It contains interviews with Abhay Ashtekar, Chris Isham, and Edward Witten.
To write down a path integral for the Ashtekar gravity one must solve three fundamental problems. First, one must understand rules of complex contour functional integration with holomorphic action. Second, one should find which gauges are compatible with reality conditions. Third, one should evaluate the Faddeev-Popov determinant produced by these conditions. In the present paper we derive the BRST path integral for the Hilbert-Palatini gravity. We show, that for certain class of gauge conditions this path integral can be re-written in terms of the Ashtekar variables. Reality conditions define…
We describe the canonical phase space of asymptotically flat gravity in Ashtekar-Barbero variables. We show that the Gauss constraint multiplier must fall off slower than previously considered in order to recover ADM phase space. The generators of the asymptotic Poincare group are derived within the Ashtekar-Barbero phase space without reference to the ADM generators. The resulting expressions are shown to agree, modulo Gauss constraint terms, with those obtained from the ADM generators. A payoff of this procedure is a new expression for the generator of asymptotic rotations which is polynomia…
In loop quantum gravity, the number $N_Γ(A,γ)$ of microstates of a black hole for a given discrete geometry $Γ$ depends on the so-called Barbero-Immirzi parameter $γ$. Using a suitable analytic continuation of $γ$ to complex values, we show that the number $N_Γ(A,\pm i)$ of microstates behaves as $\exp(A/(4\ell_\text{Pl}^2))$ for large area $A$ in the large spin semiclassical limit. Such a correspondence with the semiclassical Bekenstein-Hawking entropy law points towards an unanticipated and remarkable feature of the original complex Ashtekar variables for quantum gravity.
An so(4,C)-covariant hamiltonian formulation of a family of generalized Hilbert-Palatini actions depending on a parameter (the so called Immirzi parameter) is developed. It encompasses the Ashtekar-Barbero gravity which serves as a basis of quantum loop gravity. Dirac quantization of this system is constructed. Next we study dependence of the quantum system on the Immirzi parameter. The path integral quantization shows no dependence on it. A way to modify the loop approach in the accordance with the formalism developed here is briefly outlined.
We examine the reduced phase space of the Barbero-Varadarajan solutions of the Ashtekar formulation of (2+1)-dimensional general relativity on a torus. We show that it is a finite-dimensional space due to existence of an infinite dimensional residual gauge invariance which reduces the infinite-dimensional space of solutions to a finite-dimensional space of gauge-inequivalent solutions. This is in agreement with general arguments which imply that the number of physical degrees of freedom for (2+1)-dimensional Ashtekar gravity on a torus is finite.
The Hamilton-Jacobi analysis of three dimensional gravity defined in terms of Ashtekar-like variables is performed. We report a detailed analysis where the complete set of Hamilton-Jacobi constraints, the characteristic equations and the gauge transformations of the theory are found. We find from integrability conditions on the Hamilton-Jacobi Hamiltonians that the theory is reduced to a $BF$ field theory defined only in terms of self-dual (or anti-self-dual) variables; we identify the dynamical variables and the counting of physical degrees of freedom is performed. In addition, we compare our…
Using self dual Ashtekar variables, we investigate (at the effective level) the spherically symmetry reduced model of loop quantum gravity, both in vacuum and when coupled to a scalar field. Within the real Ashtekar-Barbero formulation, the system scalar field coupled to spherically symmetric gravity is known to possess a non closed (quantum) algebra of constraints once the holonomy corrections are introduced, which forbids the loop quantization of the model. Moreover, the vacuum case, while not anomalous, introduces modifications which are usually interpreted as an effective signature change …
From the Holst action in terms of complex valued Ashtekar variables additional reality conditions mimicking the linear simplicity constraints of spin foam gravity are found. In quantum theory with the results of You and Rovelli we are able to implement these constraints weakly, that is in the sense of Gupta and Bleuler. The resulting kinematical Hilbert space matches the original one of loop quantum gravity, that is for real valued Ashtekar connection. Our result perfectly fit with recent developments of Rovelli and Speziale concerning Lorentz covariance within spin-form gravity.
We examine the advantages of the SO(3)-ADM (Ashtekar) formulation of general relativity, from the point of following the dynamics of the Lorentzian spacetime in direction of applying this into numerical relativity. We describe our strategy how to treat new constraints and reality conditions, together with a proposal of new variables. We show an example of passing a degenerate point in flat spacetime numerically by posing `reality recovering' conditions on spacetime. We also discuss some available advantages in numerical relativity.
Dirac's quantization of the (2+1)-dimensional analog of Ashtekar's approach to quantum gravity is investigated. After providing a diffeomorphism-invariant regularization of the Hamiltonian constraint, we find a set of solutions to this Hamiltonian constraint which is a generalization of the solution discovered by Jacobson and Smolin. These solutions are given by particular linear combinations of the spin network states. While the classical counterparts of these solutions have degenerate metric, due to a \lq quantum effect' the area operator has nonvanishing action on these states. We also disc…
We construct a weave state which approximates a degenerate 3-metric of rank 2 at large scales. It turns out that a non-degenerate metric region can be evolved from this degenerate metric by the classical Ashtekar equations, hence the degeneracy of 3-metrics is not preserved by the evolution of Ashtekar's equations. As the s-knot state corresponding to this weave is shown to solve all the quantum constraints in loop quantum gravity, a physical state in canonical quantum gravity is related to the familiar classical geometry.
In the context of the geometrical interpretation of the spin network states of Loop Quantum Gravity, we look at the holonomies of the Ashtekar-Barbero connection on loops embedded in space-like hyperboloids. We use this simple setting to illustrate two points. First, the Ashtekar-Barbero connection is not a space-time connection, its holonomies depend on the spacetime embedding of the canonical hypersurface. This fact is usually interpreted as an inconvenience, but we use it to extract the extrinsic curvature from the holonomy and separate it from the 3d intrinsic curvature. Second, we show th…
Using Ashtekar variables, we analyze Lorentzian and Euclidean gravity in vacuum up to a constant conformal transformation. We prove that the reality conditions are invariant under a Wick rotation of the time, and show that the compatibility of the algebra of commutators and constraints with the involution defined by the reality conditions restricts the possible values of the conformal factor to be either real or purely imaginary. In the first case, one recovers real Lorentzian general relativity. For purely imaginary conformal factors, the classical theory can be interpreted as real Euclidean …
Starting from a Hamiltonian description of four dimensional general relativity in presence of a cosmological constant we perform the program of canonical quantisation. This is done using complex Ashtekar variables while keeping the Barbero--Immirzi parameter real. Introducing the SL(2,C) Kodama state formally solving all first class constraints we propose a spinfoam vertex amplitude. We construct SL(2,C) boundary spinnetwork functions coloured by finite dimensional representations of the group, and derive the skein relations needed to calculate the amplitude. The space of boundary states is sh…
We consider special classes of Palatini f(R) theories, featured by additional Loop Quantum Gravity inspired terms, with the aim of identifying a set of modified Ashtekar canonical variables, which still preserve the SU(2) gauge structure of the standard theory. In particular, we allow for affine connection to be endowed with torsion, which turns out to depend on the additional scalar degree affecting Palatini f(R) gravity, and in this respect we successfully construct a novel Gauss constraint. We analyze the role of the additional scalar field, outlining as it acquires a dynamical character by…
We propose an unified approach to loop quantum gravity and Fedosov quantization of gravity following the geometry of double spacetime fibrations and their quantum deformations. There are considered pseudo-Riemannian manifolds enabled with 1) a nonholonomic 2+2 distribution defining a nonlinear connection (N-connection) structure and 2) an Arnowitt-Deser-Misner 3+1 decomposition. The Ashtekar-Barbero variables are generalized and adapted to the N-connection structure which allows us to write the general relativity theory equivalently in terms of Lagrange-Finsler variables and related canonical …
We consider a space-time with spatial sections isomorphic to the group manifold of SU(2). Triad and connection fluctuations are assumed to be SU(2)-invariant. Thus, they form a finite dimensional phase space. We perform non-perturbative path integral quantization of the model. Contarary to previous claims the path integral measure appeared to be non-singular near configurations admitting additional Killing vectors. In this model we are able to calculate the generating functional of Green functions of the reduced phase space variables exactly.
A discretized version of canonical quantum gravity proposed by Loll is investigated. After slightly modifying Loll's discretized Hamiltonian constraint, we encode its action on the spin network states in terms of combinatorial topological manipulations of the lattice loops. Using this topological formulation we find new solutions to the discretized Wheeler-Dewitt equation. These solutions have their support on the connected set of plaquettes. We also show that these solutions are not normalizable with respect to the induced heat-kernel measure on $SL(2,{\bf C})$ gauge theories.
The non-minimal coupling of a scalar field is considered in the framework of Ashtekar's new variables formulation of gravity. A first order action functional for this system is derived in which the field variables are a tetrad field, and an SL(2,C) connection, together with the scalar field. The tetrad field and the SL(2,C) connection are related to the Ashtekar variables for the vacuum case by a conformal transformation. A canonical analysis shows that for this coupling the equations of Ashtekar's formulation of canonical gravity are non-polynomial in the scalar field. (to be published in Phy…
We introduce a reduced model for a real sector of complexified Ashtekar gravity that does not correspond to a subset of Einstein's gravity but for which the programme of canonical quantization can be carried out completely, both, via the reduced phase space approach or along the lines of the algebraic quantization programme.\\ This model stands in a certain correspondence to the frequently treated cylindrically symmetric waves.\\ In contrast to other models that have been looked at up to now in terms of the new variables the reduced phase space is infinite dimensional while the scalar constrai…
The action of Ashtekar gravity have been found by Cappovilla, Jacobson and Dell. It does not depend on the metric nor the signature of the space-time. The action has a similar structure as that of a massless relativistic particle. The former is naturally generalized by adding a term analogous to a mass term of the relativistic particle. The new action possesses a constant parameter regarded as a kind of a cosmological constant. It is interesting to find a covariant Einstein equation from the action. In order to do it we will examine how the geometrical quantities are determined from the non-me…
We discuss reality conditions and the relation between spacetime diffeomorphisms and gauge transformations in Ashtekar's complex formulation of general relativity. We produce a general theoretical framework for the stabilization algorithm for the reality conditions, which is different from Dirac's method of stabilization of constraints. We solve the problem of the projectability of the diffeomorphism transformations from configuration-velocity space to phase space, linking them to the reality conditions. We construct the complete set of canonical generators of the gauge group in the phase spac…
We show that the reality conditions to be imposed on Ashtekar variables to recover real gravity can be implemented as second class constraints a la Dirac. Thus, counting gravitational degrees of freedom follows accordingly. Some constraints of the real theory turn out to be non-polynomial, regardless of the form, polynomial or non-polynomial, taken for the reality conditions. We comment upon the compatibility of our approach with the recently proposed Wick transform point of view, as well as on some alternatives for dealing with such second class constraints.
We show that the constraint algebra of Ashtekar's Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity can be non-trivially deformed by allowing the cosmological constant to become an arbitrary function of the (Weyl) curvature. Our result implies that there is not one but infinitely many (parameterized by an arbitrary function) four-dimensional gravity theories propagating two degrees of freedom.
We show that the quantization of spherically symmetric pure gravity can be carried out completely in the framework of Ashtekar's self-dual representation. Consistent operator orderings can be given for the constraint functionals yielding two kinds of solutions for the constraint equations, corresponding classically to globally nondegenerate or degenerate metrics. The physical state functionals can be determined by quadratures and the reduced Hamiltonian system possesses 2 degrees of freedom, one of them corresponding to the classical Schwarzschild mass squared and the canonically conjugate one…
We construct a positive complexifier, differentiable almost everywhere on the classical phase space of real triads and $SU(2)$ connections, which generates a Wick Transform from Euclidean to Lorentzian gravity everywhere except on a phase space set of measure zero. This Wick transform assigns an equal role to the self dual and anti-self dual Ashtekar variables in quantum theory. We argue that the appropriate quantum arena for an analysis of the properties of the Wick rotation is the diffeomorphism invariant Hilbert space of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) rather than its kinematic Hilbert space. We…
The rank-2 sector of classical $3+1$ dimensional Ashtekar gravity is considered. It is found that the consistency of the evolution equations with the reality of the volume requires that the 3-surface of initial data is foliated by 2-surfaces tangent to degenerate triads. In turn, the degeneracy is preserved by the evolution. The 2-surfaces behave like $2+1$ dimensional empty spacetimes with a massless complex field propagating along each of them. The results provide some evidence for the issue of evolving a non-degenerate gravitational field into a degenerate sector of Ashtekar's phase space.
This paper contains an introduction into Ashtekar's reformulation of General Relativity in terms of connection variables. To appear in "Canonical Gravity - From Classical to Quantum", ed. by J. Ehlers and H. Friedrich, Springer Verlag (1994).
The Ashtekar-Barbero constraints for General Relativity with fermions are derived from the Einstein-Cartan canonical theory rescaling the state functional of the gravity-spinor coupled system by the exponential of the Nieh-Yan functional. A one parameter quantization ambiguity naturally appears and can be associated with the Immirzi parameter.
We prove the uniqueness theorem for stationary axisymmetric black hole solution in Einstein-Maxwell-axion-dilaton gravity being the low-energy limit of the heterotic string theory. We consider both non-degenerate and extremal Kerr-Sen black hole solutions.
Related to the classical Ashtekar Hamiltonian, there have been discoveries regarding new classical actions for gravity in (2+1)- and (3+1)-dimensions, and also generalizations of Einstein's theory of gravity. In this review, I will try to clarify the relations between the new and old actions for gravity, and also give a short introduction to the new generalizations. The new results/treatments in this review are: 1. A more detailed constraint analysis of the Hamiltonian formulation of the Hilbert- Palatini Lagrangian in (3+1)-dimensions. 2. The canonical transformation relating the Ashtekar- an…
This is a contribution to the MG9 session QG1-a. A new quantum representation for the Lorentzian gravity is created from the Pullin vaccum by the operators assigned to 2-complexes. The representation uses the original, spinorial Ashtekar variables, the reality conditions are well posed and Thiemann's Hamiltonian is well defined. The results on the existence of a suitable Hilbert product are partial. They were derived in collaboration with Abhay Ashtekar.
In this paper we have carried out a transformation from Ashtekar's theory of GR into a reduced theory where the physical degrees of freedom are explicit. We have performed the canonical analysis, computed the classical dynamics and have performed a quantization on this reduced space, constructing a Hilbert space of states for vanishing cosmological constant. Finally, we have clarified the canonical structure of the dual theory in relation to the original Ashtekar theory.
Canonical gravity can be formulated by means of a densitized dreibein together with an SU(2) connection. These so-called Ashtekar variables are the fundamental quantities, loop quantum gravity is resting on. In this paper we review these variables from the perspective of fibre bundles. This is straightforward for the dreibein field as this is simply a frame. The Ashtekar connection, however, is more complicated. It turns out, that at the level of the tangent bundle, it is given by the Levi-Civita connection plus a multiple of the Weingarten mapping, whose action on vector fields is induced fro…
In order to introduce an interaction between gravity and fermions in the Ashtekar-Barbero-Immirzi formalism without affecting classical dynamics a non-minimal term is necessary. The non-minimal term together with the Holst modification to the Hilbert-Palatini action reconstruct the Nieh-Yan invariant. As a consequence the Immirzi parameter, differently from the minimal coupling approach, does not affect the classical dynamics, which is described by the Einstein-Cartan action.
