Sandipan Sengupta

Topological Interpretation of Barbero-Immirzi Parameter

We set up a canonical Hamiltonian formulation for a theory of gravity based on a Lagrangian density made up of the Hilbert-Palatini term and, instead of the Holst term, the Nieh-Yan topological density. The resulting set of constraints in the time gauge are shown to lead to a theory in terms of a real SU(2) connection which is exactly the same as that of Barbero and Immirzi with the coefficient of the Nieh-Yan term identified as the inverse of the Barbero-Immirzi parameter. This provides a topological interpretation for this parameter. Matter coupling can then be introduced in the usual manner, without changing the universal topological Nieh-Yan term.

Effective actions from loop quantum cosmology: correspondence with higher curvature gravity

Quantum corrections of certain types and relevant in certain regimes can be summarized in terms of an effective action calculable, in principle, from the underlying theory. The demands of symmetries, local form of terms and dimensional considerations limit the form of the effective action to a great extent leaving only the numerical coefficients to distinguish different underlying theories. The effective action can be restricted to particular symmetry sectors to obtain the corresponding, reduced effective action. Alternatively, one can also quantize a classically (symmetry) reduced theory and obtain the corresponding effective action. These two effective actions can be compared. As an example, we compare the effective action(s) known in isotropic loop quantum cosmology with the Lovelock actions, as well as with more general actions, specialized to homogeneous isotropic spacetimes and find that the -scheme is singled out.

Topological parameters in gravity

We present the Hamiltonian analysis of the theory of gravity based on a Lagrangian density containing Hilbert-Palatini term along with three topological densities, Nieh-Yan, Pontryagin and Euler. The addition of these topological terms modifies the symplectic structure non-trivially. The resulting canonical theory develops a dependence on three parameters which are coefficients of these terms. In the time gauge, we obtain a real SU (2) gauge theoretic description with a set of seven first class constraints corresponding to three SU (2) rotations, three spatial diffeomorphism and one to evolution in a timelike direction. Inverse of the coefficient of Nieh-Yan term, identified as Barbero-Immirzi parameter, acts as the coupling constant of the gauge theory.

Gravity asymptotics with topological parameters

In four-dimensional gravity theory, the Barbero-Immirzi parameter has a topological origin, and can be identified as the coefficient multiplying the Nieh-Yan topological density in the gravity Lagrangian, as proposed by Date et al. [Phys. Rev. D 79, 044008 (2009)]. Based on this fact, a first order action formulation for spacetimes with boundaries is introduced. The bulk Lagrangian, containing the Nieh-Yan density, needs to be supplemented with suitable boundary terms so that it leads to a well-defined variational principle. Within this general framework, we analyze spacetimes with and without a cosmological constant. For locally anti\char21{}de Sitter (or de Sitter) asymptotia, the action principle has nontrivial implications. It admits an extremum for all such solutions provided the SO(3,1) Pontryagin and Euler topological densities are added to it with fixed coefficients. The resulting Lagrangian, while containing all three topological densities, has only one independent topological coupling constant, namely, the Barbero-Immirzi parameter. In the final analysis, it emerges as a coefficient of the SO(3,2) [or SO(4,1)] Pontryagin density, and is present in the action only for manifolds for which the corresponding topological index is nonzero.

Torsional instanton effects in quantum gravity

We show that, in the first order gravity theory coupled to axions, the instanton number of the Giddings-Strominger wormhole can be interpreted as the Nieh-Yan topological index. The axion charge of the baby universes is quantized in terms of the Nieh-Yan integers. Tunneling between universes of different Nieh-Yan charges implies a nonperturbative vacuum state. The associated topological vacuum angle can be identified with the Barbero-Immirzi parameter.

Asymptotic Flatness and Quantum Geometry

We construct a canonical quantization of the two dimensional theory of a parametrized scalar field on noncompact spatial slices. The kinematics is built upon generalized charge-network states which are labelled by smooth embedding spacetimes, unlike the standard basis states carrying only discrete labels. The resulting quantum geometry corresponds to a nondegenerate vacuum metric, which allows a consistent realization of the asymptotic conditions on the canonical fields. Although the quantum counterpart of the classical symmetry group of conformal isometries consists only of continuous global translations, Lorentz invariance can still be recovered in an effective sense. The quantum spacetime as characterized by a gauge invariant state is shown to be made up of discrete strips at the interior, and smooth at asymptotia. The analysis here is expected to be particularly relevant for a canonical quantization of asymptotically flat gravity using kinematical states labelled by smooth geometries.

Quantum geometry with a nondegenerate vacuum: A toy model

Motivated by a recent proposal (by Koslowski-Sahlmann) of a kinematical representation in Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) with a nondegenerate vacuum metric, we construct a polymer quantization of the parametrised massless scalar field theory on a Minkowskian cylinder. The dif- feomorphism covariant kinematics is based on states which carry a continuous label corresponding to smooth embedding geometries, in addition to the discrete embedding and matter labels. The physical state space, obtained through group averaging procedure, is nonseparable. A physical state in this theory can be interpreted as a quantum spacetime, which is composed of discrete strips and supercedes the classical continuum. We find that the conformal group is broken in the quantum theory, and consists of all Poincare translations. These features are remarkably different compared to the case without a smooth embedding. Finally, we analyse the length operator whose spectrum is shown to be a sum of contributions from the continuous and discrete embedding geometries, being in perfect analogy with the spectra of geometrical operators in LQG with a nondegenerate vacuum geometry.

Quantum realizations of Hilbert?Palatini second-class constraints

In a classical theory of gravity, the Barbero–Immirzi parameter (η) appears as a topological coupling constant through the Lagrangian density containing the Hilbert–Palatini term and the Nieh–Yan invariant. In a quantum framework, the topological interpretation of η can be captured through a rescaling of the wavefunctional representing the Hilbert–Palatini theory, as in the case of the QCD vacuum angle. However, such a rescaling cannot be realized for pure gravity within the standard (Dirac) quantization procedure where the second-class constraints of Hilbert–Palatini theory are eliminated beforehand. Here, we present a different treatment of the Hilbert–Palatini second-class constraints in order to set up a general rescaling procedure (a) for gravity with or without matter and (b) for any choice of gauge (e.g. time gauge). The analysis is developed using the Gupta–Bleuler and the coherent state quantization methods.

Degenerate spacetimes in first order gravity

We present a systematic framework to obtain the most general solutions of the equations of motion in first order gravity theory with degenerate tetrads. There are many possible solutions. Generically, these exhibit non-vanishing torsion even in the absence of any matter coupling. These solutions are shown to contain a special set of eight configurations which are associated with the homogeneous model three-geometries of Thurston.

SU(2) gauge theory of gravity with topological invariants

The most general gravity Lagrangian in four dimensions contains three topological densities, namely Nieh-Yan, Pontryagin and Euler, in addition to the Hilbert-Palatini term. We set up a Hamiltonian formulation based on this Lagrangian. The resulting canonical theory depends on three parameters which are coefficients of these terms and is shown to admit a real SU(2) gauge theoretic interpretation with a set of seven first-class constraints. Thus, in addition to the Newtons constant, the theory of gravity contains three (topological) coupling constants, which might have non-trivial imports in the quantum theory, e.g. in quantum geometry.