Quantum Gravity

A brief introduction to the notorious "cosmological constant problem" is given. Then, a particular approach is discussed, which has been developed by Volovik and the present speaker over the last years and which goes under the name of q-theory. This approach provides a possible solution of the main cosmological constant problem, why is |Lambda|^(1/4) negligible compared to the energy scales of the electroweak standard model (not to mention the Planck energy)? The next problem is, of course, the small but nonzero value of the actual cosmological constant, responsible for the observed "accelerating universe." This problem can also be addressed in the framework of q-theory. In fact, the observed value Lambda ~ (meV)^4 may correspond to the remnant vacuum energy density of dynamical processes taking place at a cosmic age set by the mass scale M ~ E_ew of ultramassive particles with electroweak interactions. A first estimate of the required value of the energy scale E_ew ranges from 3 to 9 TeV. If correct, this estimate implies the existence of new TeV-scale physics beyond the standard model.

Combining the principles of general relativity and quantum theory still remains as elusive as ever. Recent work, that concentrated on one of the points of contact (and conflict) between quantum theory and general relativity, suggests a new perspective on gravity. It appears that the gravitational dynamics in a wide class of theories - including, but not limited to, standard Einstein's theory - can be given a purely thermodynamic interpretation. In this approach gravity appears as an emergent phenomenon, like e.g., gas or fluid dynamics. I will describe the necessary background, key results and their implications as suggested by my recent work in this area.

Attempts to go beyond the framework of local quantum field theory include scenarios in which the action of external symmetries on the quantum fields Hilbert space is deformed. A common feature of these models is that the quantum group symmetry of their Hilbert spaces induces additional structure in the multiparticle states which in turns reflects a non-trivial momentum-dependent statistics. In certain particular models which might be relevant for quantum gravity the richer structure of the deformed Fock space allows for the possibility of entanglement between the field modes and certain ''planckian'' degrees of freedom invisible to an observer that cannot probe the Planck scale.

Loop quantum gravity and spin foams are two closely related theories of quantum gravity. There is an expectation that the sum over histories or path integral formulation of LQG will take the form of a spin foam, although a rigorous connection between the two is available only in 2+1 gravity. Understanding the relation between them will resolve many open questions of both theories. We probe the connection through an exactly soluble model of loop quantum cosmology. Beginning from the canonical theory we construct a spin foam like expansion of LQC. This construction reveals a number of insights into spin foams including the nature of the continuum limit.

I will describe a very special (infinite-parameter) family of gravity theories that all describe, exactly like General Relativity, just two propagating degrees of freedom. The theories are obtained by generalizing Plebanski's self-dual (chiral) formulation of GR. I will argue that this class of gravity theories provides a potentially powerful new framework for testing the asymptotic safety conjecture in quantum gravity.

A quantum theory of gravity implies a quantum theory of geometries. To this end we will introduce different phases spaces and choices for the space of discretized geometries. These are derived through a canonical analysis of simplicity constraints - which are central for spin foam models - and gluing constraints. We will discuss implications for spin foam models and map out how to obtain a path integral quantization starting from a canonical quantization.

Diffeomorphism symmetry is the underlying symmetry of general relativity and deeply intertwined with its dynamics. The notion of diffeomorphism symmetry is however obscured in discrete gravity, which underlies most of the current quantum gravity models. We will propose a notion of diffeomorphism symmetry in discrete models and find that such a symmetry is weakly broken in many models. This is connected to the problem of finding a consistent canonical dynamics for discrete gravity. Finally we will discuss methods to construct models with exact symmetries and elaborate on the connection between diffeomorphism symmetry and triangulation independence.

We will give a short overview of non-perturbative quantum gravity models and discuss some key common problems for these models. In particular we will analyze what background independence requires from a theory of quantum gravity.

In causal set quantum gravity, spacetime is assumed to have a fundamental atomicity or discreteness, and is replaced by a locally finite poset, the causal set. After giving a brief review of causal sets, I will discuss two distinct approaches to constructing a quantum dynamics for causal sets. In the first approach one borrows heavily from the continuum to construct a partition function for causal sets. This is illustrated in a 2-d model of causal sets, in which typicality replaces quantum probabilities. The second approach is intrinsic, and uses the quantum measure formulation in which dynamics is described in the language of measure theory and observables are measurable sets in an event algebra. Using the example of complex percolation dynamics I will show that naive attempts to carry out this process for the quantum measure may not work. I will end by discussing possible ways to address this question.

The concept of renormalization lies at the heart of fundamental physics. I introduce in this talk the Connes-Kreimer algebraic approach for expressing renormalizability in quantum field theories as well as the extension of these notions to the manifestly non-local framework of noncommutative quantum field theories. Finally, I will present an attempt to further generalize these concepts to quantum gravity models. based on: 0909.5631 [gr-qc], Class. Quant. Grav. (in press)

"Extended" topological field theory generalizes ordinary TQFT to include spacetimes with boundary. Starting from a gauge theory of flat G-connections, and its boundary restriction, I will describe a plan for constructing an extended topological field theory, for any compact Lie group G. This is based on work-in-progress with Jeffrey Morton.

It has recently uncovered that the intertwiner space for LQG carries a natural representation of the U(N) unitary group. I will describe this U(N) action in details and show how it can be used to compute the LQG black hole entropy, to define coherent intertwiner states and to reformulate the LQG dynamics in new terms.