Frank Hellmann

Asymptotic analysis of the Engle―Pereira-Rovelli―Livine four-simplex amplitude

The semiclassical limit of a four-simplex amplitude for a spin foam quantum gravity model with an Immirzi parameter is studied. If the boundary state represents a nondegenerate four-simplex geometry, the asymptotic formula contains the Regge action for general relativity. A canonical choice of phase for the boundary state is introduced and is shown to be necessary to obtain the results.

Lorentzian spin foam amplitudes: graphical calculus and asymptotics

The amplitude for the 4-simplex in a spin foam model for quantum gravity is defined using a graphical calculus for the unitary representations of the Lorentz group. The asymptotics of this amplitude are studied in the limit when the representation parameters are large, for various cases of boundary data. It is shown that for boundary data corresponding to a Lorentzian simplex, the asymptotic formula has two terms, with phase plus or minus the Lorentzian signature Regge action for the 4-simplex geometry, multiplied by an Immirzi parameter. Other cases of boundary data are also considered, including a surprising contribution from Euclidean signature metrics.

Holonomy Spin Foam Models: Definition and Coarse Graining

We propose a new holonomy formulation for spin foams, which naturally extends the theory space of lattice gauge theories. This allows current spin foam models to be defined on arbitrary 2-complexes as well as to generalize current spin foam models to arbitrary, in particular, finite groups. The similarity with standard lattice gauge theories allows us to apply standard coarse graining methods, which for finite groups can now be easily considered numerically. We will summarize other holonomy and spin network formulations of spin foams and group field theories and explain how the different representations arise through variable transformations in the partition function. A companion paper will provide a description of boundary Hilbert spaces as well as a canonical dynamic encoded in transfer operators.

QUANTUM GRAVITY ASYMPTOTICS FROM THE SU(2) 15j-SYMBOL

The asymptotics of the SU(2) 15j-symbol are obtained using coherent states for the boundary data. The geometry of all nonsuppressed boundary data is given. For some boundary data, the resulting formula is interpreted in terms of the Regge action of the geometry of a 4-simplex in four-dimensional Euclidean space. This asymptotic formula can be used to derive and extend the asymptotics of the spin foam amplitudes for quantum gravity models. The relation of the SU(2) Ooguri model to these quantum gravity models and their continuum Lagrangians is discussed.

Asymptotics of 4d spin foam models

We study the asymptotic properties of four-simplex amplitudes for various four-dimensional spin foam models. We investigate the semi-classical limit of the Ooguri, Euclidean and Lorentzian EPRL models using coherent states for the boundary data. For some classes of geometrical boundary data, the asymptotic formulae are given, in all three cases, by simple functions of the Regge action for the four-simplex geometry.

Asymptotic analysis of the Ponzano–Regge model for handlebodies

Using the coherent state techniques developed for the analysis of the EPRL model we give the asymptotic formula for the Ponzano–Regge model amplitude for non-tardis triangulations of handlebodies in the limit of large boundary spins. The formula produces a sum over all possible immersions of the boundary triangulation and its value is given by the cosine of the Regge action evaluated on these. Furthermore the asymptotic scaling registers the existence of flexible immersions. We verify numerically that this formula approximates the 6j-symbol for large spins.

A Summary of the Asymptotic Analysis for the EPRL Amplitude

We review the basic steps in building the asymptotic analysis of the Euclidean sector of new spin foam models using coherent states, for Immirzi parameter less than one. We try to focus on conceptual issues and by so doing omit peripheral proofs and the original discussion on spin structures.

Holonomy spin foam models: Asymptotic geometry of the partition function

A bstractWe study the asymptotic geometry of the spin foam partition function for a large class of models, including the models of Barrett and Crane, Engle, Pereira, Rovelli and Livine, and, Freidel and Krasnov.The asymptotics is taken with respect to the boundary spins only, no assumption of large spins is made in the interior. We give a sufficient criterion for the existence of the partition function. We find that geometric boundary data is suppressed unless its interior continuation satisfies certain accidental curvature constraints. This means in particular that most Regge manifolds are suppressed in the asymptotic regime. We discuss this explicitly for the case of the configurations arising in the 3-3 Pachner move.We identify the origin of these accidental curvature constraints as an incorrect twisting of the face amplitude upon introduction of the Immirzi parameter and propose a way to resolve this problem, albeit at the price of losing the connection to the SU(2) boundary Hilbert space.The key methodological innovation that enables these results is the introduction of the notion of wave front sets, and the adaptation of tools for their study from micro local analysis to the case of spin foam partition functions.

On the Expansions in Spin Foam Cosmology

We discuss the expansions used in spin foam cosmology. We point out that already at the one vertex level arbitrarily complicated amplitudes contribute, and discuss the geometric asymptotics of the five simplest ones. We discuss what type of consistency conditions would be required to control the expansion. We show that the factorisation of the amplitude originally considered is best interpreted in topological terms. We then consider the next higher term in the graph expansion. We demonstrate the tension between the truncation to small graphs and going to the homogeneous sector, and conclude that it is necessary to truncate the dynamics as well.

Holonomy spin foam models: boundary Hilbert spaces and time evolution operators

In this and the companion paper, a novel holonomy formulation of the so-called spin foam models of lattice gauge gravity is explored. After giving a natural basis for the space of simplicity constraints, we define a universal boundary Hilbert space on which the imposition of different forms of the simplicity constraints can be studied. We detail under which conditions this Hilbert space can be mapped to a Hilbert space of projected spin networks or an ordinary spin network space. These considerations allow us to derive the general form of the transfer operators which generates discrete time evolution. We will describe the transfer operators for some current models on the different boundary Hilbert spaces and highlight the role of the simplicity constraints determining the concrete form of the time evolution operators.