Semiclassical limit of general-triangulation Regge calculus and spin foams

          @misc{ scivideos_PIRSA:08100041,
            doi = {10.48660/08100041},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/08100041},
            author = {Satz, Alejandro},
            keywords = {Quantum Gravity},
            language = {en},
            title = {Semiclassical limit of general-triangulation Regge calculus and spin foams},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics},
            year = {2008},
            month = {oct},
            note = {PIRSA:08100041 see, \url{https://scivideos.org/index.php/pirsa/08100041}}
          }
          

Abstract

The general boundary state formulation is a key tool for extracting the semiclassical limit of nonpertubative theories of quantum gravity. In this talk I will discuss how this formalism works in the context of four-dimensional quantum Regge calculus with a general triangulation. A Gaussian boundary state selects a classical internal solution and peaks the path integral on it. As a result boundary observables, in particular the two-point function, can be computed order by order in a semiclassical asymptotic expansion. When the same methods are applied to a modified Regge theory that substitutes the exponential of the action by its cosine at each simplex in the triangulation, as conjectured from the semiclassical limit of spin foam models, the contributions from the sign-reversed terms are suppressed and the results match those of conventional Regge calculus. This talk is based on the results published in arXiv:0808.1107 [gr-qc].