A number of approaches to four-dimensional quantum gravity, such as loop quantum gravity and holography, situate areas as their fundamental variables. However, this choice of kinematics can easily lead to gravitational dynamics peaked on flat spacetimes. We show that this is due to how regions are glued in the gravitational path integral via a discrete spin foam model. We introduce a family of `effective' spin foam models that incorporate a quantum area spectrum, impose gluing constraints as strongly as possible, and leverage the discrete general relativity action to specify amplitudes. These effective spin foam models avoid flatness in a restricted regime of the parameter space. The simpler effective spin foam models will be useful for numerical studies and in the investigation of coarse graining and renormalization.
We give an introductory account to the renormalization of models without metric background. We sketch the application to certain discrete models of quantum gravity such as spin foam models.
We construct a spin foam model of Yang-Mills theory coupled to gravity by using a discretized path integral of the BF theory with polynomial interactions and the Barret-Crane ansatz. In the Euclidian gravity case we obtain a vertex amplitude which is determined by a vertex operator acting on a simple spin network function. The Euclidian gravity results can be straightforwardly extended to the Lorentzian case, so that we propose a Lorentzian spin foam model of Yang-Mills theory coupled to gravity.
In this paper we tackle the issue of causality in quantum gravity, in the context of 3d spin foam models. We identify the correct procedure for implementing the causality/orientation dependence restriction that reduces the path integral for BF theory to that of quantum gravity in first order form. We construct explicitly the resulting causal spin foam model. We then add matter degrees of freedom to it and construct a causal spin foam model for 3d quantum gravity coupled to matter fields. Finally, we show that the corresponding spin foam amplitudes admit a natural approximation as the Feynman a…
We study a generalized action for gravity as a constrained BF theory, and its relationship with the Plebanski action. We analyse the discretization of the constraints and the spin foam quantization of the theory, showing that it leads naturally to the Barrett-Crane spin foam model for quantum gravity. Our analysis holds true in both the Euclidean and Lorentzian formulation.
This is an introduction to spin foam models for non-perturbative quantum gravity, an approach that lies at the point of convergence of many different research areas, including loop quantum gravity, topological quantum field theories, path integral quantum gravity, lattice field theory, matrix models, category theory, statistical mechanics. We describe the general formalism and ideas of spin foam models, the picture of quantum geometry emerging from them, and give a review of the results obtained so far, in both the Euclidean and Lorentzian case. We focus in particular on the Barrett-Crane mode…
We link the notion causality with the orientation of the 2-complex on which spin foam models are based. We show that all current spin foam models are orientation-independent, pointing out the mathematical structure behind this independence. Using the technology of evolution kernels for quantum fields/particles on Lie groups/homogeneous spaces, we construct a generalised version of spin foam models, introducing an extra proper time variable and prove that different ranges of integration for this variable lead to different classes of spin foam models: the usual ones, interpreted as the quantum g…
This article reviews the present status of the spin foam approach to the quantization of gravity. Special attention is payed to the pedagogical presentation of the recently introduced new models for four dimensional quantum gravity. The models are motivated by a suitable implementation of the path integral quantization of the Plebanski formulation of gravity on a simplicial regularization. The article also includes a self-contained treatment of the 2+1 gravity. The simple nature of the latter provides the basis and a perspective for the analysis of both conceptual and technical issues that rem…
The simplicial framework of Engle-Pereira-Rovelli-Livine spin-foam models is generalized to match the diffeomorphism invariant framework of loop quantum gravity. The simplicial spin-foams are generalized to arbitrary linear 2-cell spin-foams. The resulting framework admits all the spin-network states of loop quantum gravity, not only those defined by triangulations (or cubulations). In particular the notion of embedded spin-foam we use allows to consider knotting or linking spin-foam histories. Also the main tools as the vertex structure and the vertex amplitude are naturally generalized to ar…
We present an introduction to Group Field Theory models, motivating them on the basis of their relationship with discretized BF models of gravity. We derive the Feynmann rules and compute quantum corrections in the coherent states basis.
A model of space-time foam, made by $N$ wormholes is considered. The Casimir energy leading to such a model is computed by means of the phase shift method which is in agreement with the variational approach used in Refs.[9-14]. The collection of Schwarzschild and Reissner-Nordström wormholes are separately considered to represent the foam. The Casimir energy shows that the Reissner-Nordström wormholes cannot be used to represent the foam.
Spinorial tools have recently come back to fashion in loop gravity and spin foams. They provide an elegant tool relating the standard holonomy-flux algebra to the twisted geometry picture of the classical phase space on a fixed graph, and to twistors. In these lectures we provide a brief and technical introduction to the formalism and some of its applications.
We report on the numerical analysis of the area correlations in spin foam gravity on a single 4-simplex considered by Rovelli in PRL 97 (2006) 151301. We compare the asymptotics and confirm the inverse squared distance leading behaviour at large scales. This supports the recent advances on testing the semiclassical limit of the theory. Furthermore, we show that the microscopic discreteness of the theory dynamically suppresses and regularizes the correlations at the Planck scale.
We derive the the Barrett-Crane spin foam model for Euclidean 4 dimensional quantum gravity from a discretized BF theory, imposing the constraints that reduce it to gravity at the quantum level. We obtain in this way a precise prescription of the form of the Barrett-Crane state sum, in the general case of an arbitrary manifold with boundary. In particular we derive the amplitude for the edges of the spin foam from a natural procedure of gluing different 4-simplices along a common tetrahedron. The generalization of our results to higher dimensions is also shown.
In quantum gravity, we envision renormalization as the key tool for bridging the gap between microscopic models and observable scales. For spin foam quantum gravity, which is defined on a discretisation akin to lattice gauge theories, the goal is to derive an effective theory on a coarser discretisation from the dynamics on the finer one, coarse graining the system in the process and thus relating physics at different scales. In this review I will discuss the motivation for studying renormalization in spin foam quantum gravity, e.g. to restore diffeomorphism symmetry, and explain how to define…
An example illustrating a continuum spin foam framework is presented. This covariant framework induces the kinematics of canonical loop quantization, and its dynamics is generated by a {\em renormalized} sum over colored polyhedra. Physically the example corresponds to 3d gravity with cosmological constant. Starting from a kinematical structure that accommodates local degrees of freedom and does not involve the choice of any background structure (e. g. triangulation), the dynamics reduces the field theory to have only global degrees of freedom. The result is {\em projectively} equivalent to th…
In this paper, we address the problem of the dynamics in three dimensional loop quantum gravity with zero cosmological constant. We construct a rigorous definition of Rovelli's generalized projection operator from the kinematical Hilbert space--corresponding to the quantization of the infinite dimensional kinematical configuration space of the theory--to the physical Hilbert space. In particular, we provide the definition of the physical scalar product which can be represented in terms of a sum over (finite) spin-foam amplitudes. Therefore, we establish a clear-cut connection between the canon…
The first computation of a spin foam dynamics that provides a test of the quantum equations of motions of gravity is presented. Specifically, a triangulation that includes an inner edge is treated. The computation leverages the recently introduced effective spin foam models, which are particularly numerically efficient. Previous work has raised the concern of a flatness problem in spin foam dynamics, identifying the potential for the dynamics to lead to flat geometries in the small $\hbar$ semiclassical limit. The numerical results presented here expose a rich semiclassical regime, but one tha…
We analyse the classical and quantum geometry of the Barrett-Crane spin foam model for four dimensional quantum gravity, explaining why it has to be considering as a covariant realization of the projector operator onto physical quantum gravity states. We discuss how causality requirements can be consistently implemented in this framework, and construct causal transiton amplitudes between quantum gravity states, i.e. realising in the spin foam context the Feynman propagator between states. The resulting causal spin foam model can be seen as a path integral quantization of Lorentzian first order…
In this note we study the correspondence between the ``relativistic spin foam'' model introduced by Barrett, Crane and Baez and the so(4) Plebanski action. We argue that the $so(4)$ Plebanski model is the continuum analog of the relativistic spin foam model. We prove that the Plebanski action possess four phases, one of which is gravity and outline the discrepancy between this model and the model of Euclidean gravity. We also show that the Plebanski model possess another natural dicretisation and can be associate with another, new, spin foam model that appear to be the $so(4)$ counterpart of t…
We propose a spin foam model for pure gauge fields coupled to Riemannian quantum gravity in four dimensions. The model is formulated for the triangulation of a four-manifold which is given merely combinatorially. The Riemannian Barrett--Crane model provides the gravity sector of our model and dynamically assigns geometric data to the given combinatorial triangulation. The gauge theory sector is a lattice gauge theory living on the same triangulation and obtains from the gravity sector the geometric information which is required to calculate the Yang--Mills action. The model is designed so that…
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…
In this article we review the present status of the spin foam formulation of non-perturbative (background independent) quantum gravity. The article is divided in two parts. In the first part we present a general introduction to the main ideas emphasizing their motivations from various perspectives. Riemannian 3-dimensional gravity is used as a simple example to illustrate conceptual issues and the main goals of the approach. The main features of the various existing models for 4-dimensional gravity are also presented here. We conclude with a discussion of important questions to be addressed in…
We construct a class of spin foam models describing matter coupled to gravity, such that the gravitational sector is described by the unitary irreducible representations of the appropriate symmetry group, while the matter sector is described by the finite-dimensional irreducible representations of that group. The corresponding spin foam amplitudes in the four-dimensional gravity case are expressed in terms of the spin network amplitudes for pentagrams with additional external and internal matter edges. We also give a quantum field theory formulation of the model, where the matter degrees of fr…
It is shown that 3D part of a spherically symmetric solution in conformal Weyl gravity interacting with Maxwell electrodynamics is a Yamabe flow as well. The Yamabe flow describes the transition from a horn of an initial wormhole to a 3D Euclidean space both filled with a radial electric field. It is supposed that such transition may describe appearing/disappearing quantum wormholes in a spacetime foam.
In this article we give a systematic definition of the recently introduced spin foam models for four dimensional quantum gravity reviewing the main results on their semiclassical limit on fixed discretizations.
We examine the four dimensional path integral for Euclidean quantum gravity in the context of the EPRL-FK spin foam model. The state sum is restricted to certain symmetric configurations which resembles the geometry of a flat homogeneous and isotropic universe. The vertex structure is specially chosen so that a basic concept of expansion and contraction of the lattice universe is allowed. We compute the asymptotic form of the spin foam state sum in the symmetry restricted setting, and recover a Regge-type action, as well as an explicit form of the Hessian matrix, which captures quantum correct…
In loop quantum gravity we now have a clear picture of the quantum geometry of space, thanks in part to the theory of spin networks. The concept of `spin foam' is intended to serve as a similar picture for the quantum geometry of spacetime. In general, a spin network is a graph with edges labelled by representations and vertices labelled by intertwining operators. Similarly, a spin foam is a 2-dimensional complex with faces labelled by representations and edges labelled by intertwining operators. In a `spin foam model' we describe states as linear combinations of spin networks and compute tran…
Making the Lorentzian path integral for quantum gravity well-defined and computable has been a long standing challenge. In this work we adopt the recently proposed effective spin foam models to the Lorentzian case. This defines a path integral over discrete Lorentzian quantum geometric configurations, which include metric and torsion degrees of freedom. The torsion degrees of freedom arise due to an anomaly, which is parametrized by the Barbero--Immirzi parameter. Requiring a semi-classical regime constrains this parameter, but the precise bound has to be determined by probing the dynamics. Th…
This review is devoted to the analysis of the mutual consistency of the spin foam and canonical loop quantizations in three and four spacetime dimensions. In the three-dimensional context, where the two approaches are in good agreement, we show how the canonical quantization à la Witten of Riemannian gravity with a positive cosmological constant is related to the Turaev-Viro spin foam model, and how the Ponzano-Regge amplitudes are related to the physical scalar product of Riemannian loop quantum gravity without cosmological constant. In the four-dimensional case, we recall a Lorentz-covariant…
We calculate the most divergent contribution to the non-degenerate sector of the self-energy (or "melonic") graph in the context of the Lorentzian EPRL-FK Spin Foam model of Quantum Gravity. We find that such a contribution is logarithmically divergent in the cut-off over the SU(2)-representation spins when one chooses the face amplitude guaranteeing the face-splitting invariance of the foam.We also find that the dependence on the boundary data is different from that of the bare propagator. This fact has its origin in the non-commutativity of the EPRL-FK Y-map with the projector onto SL(2,C)-i…
We study the behavior of holonomy spin foam partition functions, a form of lattice gauge gravity, on generic 4d-triangulations using micro local analysis. To do so we adapt tools from the renormalization theory of quantum field theory on curved space times. This allows us, for the first time, to study the partition function without taking any limits on the interior of the triangulation. We establish that for many of the most widely used models the geometricity constraints, which reduce the gauge theory to a geometric one, introduce strong accidental curvature constraints. These limit the curva…
We describe how the Barrett-Crane spin foam model defines transition amplitudes for quantum gravity states and how causality can be consistently implemented in it.
Starting from Ooguri's construction for $BF$ theory in three (and four) dimensions, we show how to construct a well defined theory with an infinite number of degrees of freedom. The spin network states that are kept invariant by the evolution operators of the theory are exact solutions of the Hamiltonian constraint of quantum gravity proposed by Thiemann. The resulting theory is the first example of a well defined, finite, consistent, spin-foam based theory in a situation with an infinite number of degrees of freedom. Since it solves the quantum constraints of general relativity it is also a c…
In this article we lay foundations for a formal relationship of spin foam models of gravity and BF theory to their continuum canonical formulations. First the derivation of the spin foam model of the BF theory from the discrete BF theory action in n dimensions is reviewed briefly. By foliating the underlying n dimensional simplicial manifold using n-1 dimensional simplicial hypersurfaces, the spin foam model is reformulated. Then it is shown that spin network functionals arise naturally on the foliations. The graphs of these spin network functionals are dual to the triangulations of the foliat…
We give a brief and a critical review of the Barret-Crane spin foam models of quantum gravity. Then we describe two new spin foam models which are obtained by direct quantization of General Relativity and do not have some of the drawbacks of the Barret-Crane models. These are the model of spin foam invariants for the embedded spin networks in loop quantum gravity and the spin foam model based on the integration of the tetrads in the path integral for the Palatini action.
Spacetime undergoes quantum fluctuations, giving rise to spacetime foam, a.k.a. quantum foam. We discuss some properties of spacetime foam, and point out the conceptual interconnections in the physics of quantum foam, black holes, and quantum computation. We also discuss the phenomenology of quantum foam, and conclude that it may be difficult, but by no means impossible, to detect its tiny effects in the not-too-distant future.
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.
A spin-foam model is derived from the canonical model of Loop Quantum Gravity coupled to a massless scalar field. We generalized to the full theory the scheme first proposed in the context of Loop Quantum Cosmology by Ashtekar, Campiglia and Henderson, later developed by Henderson, Rovelli, Vidotto and Wilson-Ewing.
Spin foam models, loop quantum gravity and group field theory are discussed as quantum gravity candidate theories and usually involve a continuous Lie group. We advocate here to consider quantum gravity inspired models with finite groups, firstly as a test bed for the full theory and secondly as a class of new lattice theories possibly featuring an analogue diffeomorphism symmetry. To make these notes accessible to readers outside the quantum gravity community we provide an introduction to some essential concepts in the loop quantum gravity, spin foam and group field theory approach and point …
Starting from Plebanski formulation of gravity as a constrained BF theory we propose a new spin foam model for 4d Riemannian quantum gravity that generalises the well-known Barrett-Crane model and resolves the inherent to it ultra-locality problem. The BF formulation of 4d gravity possesses two sectors: gravitational and topological ones. The model presented here is shown to give a quantization of the gravitational sector, and is dual to the recently proposed spin foam model of Engle et al. which, we show, corresponds to the topological sector. Our methods allow us to introduce the Immirzi par…
A Kaluza-Klein like approach for a 4d spin foam model is considered. By applying this approach to a model based on group field theory in 4d (TOCY model), and using the Peter-Weyl expansion of the gravitational field, reconstruction of new non gravitational fields and interactions in the action are found. The perturbative expansion of the partition function produces graphs colored with su(2) algebraic data, from which one can reconstruct a 3d simplicial complex representing space-time and its geometry; (like in the Ponzano-Regge formulation of pure 3d quantum gravity), as well as the Feynman gr…
In this article we apply background-independent renormalization group methods to spin foam quantum gravity. It is aimed at extending and elucidating the analysis of a companion letter, in which the existence of a fixed point in the truncated RG flow for the model was reported. Here we repeat the analysis with various modifications, and find that both qualitative and quantitative features of the fixed point are robust in this setting. We also go into details about the various approximation schemes employed in the analysis.
We present a rigorous regularization of Rovellis's generalized projection operator in canonical 2+1 gravity. This work establishes a clear-cut connection between loop quantum gravity and the spin foam approach in this simplified setting. The point of view adopted here provides a new perspective to tackle the problem of dynamics in the physically relevant 3+1 case.
We revise imposition of various constraints in spin foam models of 4-dimensional general relativity. We argue that the usual simplicity constraint must be supplemented by a constraint on holonomies and together they must be inserted explicitly into the discretized path integral. At the same time, the closure constraint must be relaxed so that the new constraint expresses covariance of intertwiners assigned to tetrahedra by spin foam quantization. As a result, the spin foam boundary states are shown to be realized in terms of projected spin networks of the covariant loop approach to quantum gra…
We discuss the notion of causality in Quantum Gravity in the context of sum-over-histories approaches, in the absence therefore of any background time parameter. In the spin foam formulation of Quantum Gravity, we identify the appropriate causal structure in the orientation of the spin foam 2-complex and the data that characterize it; we construct a generalised version of spin foam models introducing an extra variable with the interpretation of proper time and show that different ranges of integration for this proper time give two separate classes of spin foam models: one corresponds to the sp…
Recent results in Local Regge Calculus are confronted with Spin Foam Formalism. Introducing Barrett-Crane Quantization in Local Regge Calculus makes it possible to associate a unique Spin $j_{h}$ with an hinge $h$, fulfilling one of the requirements of Spin Foam definition. It is shown that inter-twiner terms of Spin Foam can follow from the closure constraint in Local Regge Calculus. Dedicated to Beppe Marmo for his 65th Birthday
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.
In the search for a covariant formulation for Loop Quantum Gravity, spin foams have arised as the corresponding discrete space-time structure and, among the different models, the Barrett-Crane model seems the most promising. Here, we study its boundary states and introduce cylindrical functions on both the Lorentz connection and the time normal to the studied hypersurface. We call them projected cylindrical functions and we explain how they would naturally arise in a covariant formulation of Loop Quantum Gravity.
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…
Spin foam models for gravity or BF theory can be constructed by path integral formulation of the classical discrete models formulated on simplicial manifolds. Using this, we discuss the rigorous construction of Lorentzian spin foam models for gravity and BF theory based on the Gelfand-Naimark theory of the representations of SL(2,C). First we construct the simplex amplitude for the BF SL(2,C) model. Next we discuss the implementation of the Barrett-Crane constraints on this model to derive the spin foam model for gravity. The non-trivial constraints are the cross simplicity constraints which s…
We reveal an underlying flaw in Reginald T. Cahill's recently promoted quantum foam inflow theory of gravity. It appears to arise from a confusion of the idea of the Galilean invariance of the acceleration of an individual flow with what is obtained as an acceleration when a homogeneous flow is superposed with an inhomogeneous flow. We also point out that the General Relativistic covering theory he creates by substituting a generalized Painleve-Gullstrand metric into Einstein's field equations leads to absurd results.
This thesis is devoted to the study of 3-dimensional quantum gravity as a spin foam model and group field theory. In the first part of this thesis, we review some general physical and mathematical aspects of 3-dimensional gravity, focusing on its topological nature. Afterwards, we review some important aspects of the Ponzano-Regge spin foam model for 3-dimensional Riemannian quantum gravity and explain in some details how it is related to the discretized path integral of general relativity in its first-order formulation. Furthermore, we discuss briefly some related spin foam models and review …
Any approach to pure quantum gravity must eventually face the question of coupling quantum matter to the theory. In the past, several ways of coupling matter to spin foam quantum gravity have been proposed, but the dynamics of the coupled matter-gravity system is challenging to explore. To take first steps towards uncovering the influence quantum matter has on spin foam models, we couple free, massive scalar lattice field theory to a restricted, semi-classical 4d spin foam model, called quantum cuboids. This model can be understood as a superposition of hypercuboidal (and thus irregular) latti…
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.
Spin-foam models are hoped to provide a dynamics for loop quantum gravity. These start from the Plebanski formulation of gravity, in which gravity is obtained from a topological field theory, BF theory, through constraints, which, however, select more than one gravitational sector, as well as an unphysical degenerate sector. We show this is why terms beyond the needed Feynman-prescribed one appear in the semiclassical limit of the EPRL spin-foam amplitude. By quantum mechanically isolating a single gravitational sector, we modify this amplitude, yielding a spin-foam amplitude for loop quantum …
In this work we show that 3d Feynman amplitudes of standard QFT in flat and homogeneous space can be naturally expressed as expectation values of a specific topological spin foam model. The main interest of the paper is to set up a framework which gives a background independent perspective on usual field theories and can also be applied in higher dimensions. We also show that this Feynman graph spin foam model, which encodes the geometry of flat space-time, can be purely expressed in terms of algebraic data associated with the Poincare group. This spin foam model turns out to be the spin foam …
