EPRL/FK asymptotics and the flatness problem

Spin foam models are an approach to quantum gravity based on the concept of sum over states, which aims to describe quantum spacetime dynamics in a way that its parent framework, loop quantum gravity, has not as of yet succeeded. Since these models' relation to classical Einstein gravity is not...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Classical and quantum gravity 2018-05, Vol.35 (9), p.95003
Main Author: Oliveira, José Ricardo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
asymptotics
EPRL
flatness
quantum gravity
spin foams
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Summary:Spin foam models are an approach to quantum gravity based on the concept of sum over states, which aims to describe quantum spacetime dynamics in a way that its parent framework, loop quantum gravity, has not as of yet succeeded. Since these models' relation to classical Einstein gravity is not explicit, an important test of their viabilitiy is the study of asymptotics-the classical theory should be obtained in a limit where quantum effects are negligible, taken to be the limit of large triangle areas in a triangulated manifold with boundary. In this paper we will briefly introduce the EPRL/FK spin foam model and known results about its asymptotics, proceeding then to describe a practical computation of spin foam and semiclassical geometric data for a simple triangulation with only one interior triangle. The results are used to comment on the 'flatness problem'-a hypothesis raised by Bonzom (2009 Phys. Rev. D 80 064028) suggesting that EPRL/FK's classical limit only describes flat geometries in vacuum.
ISSN:0264-9381
1361-6382
DOI:10.1088/1361-6382/aaae82