Quantum gravity a la Eyo Eyo Ita III

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the research and publications of Eyo Eyo Ita III, particularly focusing on his work related to quantum gravity and the Plebanski theory. Participants explore the reception of his papers within the loop quantum gravity (LQG) community, his struggles with publication, and the implications of his recent updates to his work.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants note that Ita's papers are lengthy and elaborate but seem to lack consideration from other LQG specialists.
  • It is mentioned that Ita has not collaborated with other researchers in the field, raising questions about his visibility and impact.
  • Participants discuss Ita's challenges in publishing, including being asked to resolve longstanding unsolved problems in the field.
  • There is mention of Ita's upcoming talk at GR19 and speculation about the content and reception of his updated paper.
  • One participant shares that Ita has expanded a previous paper significantly in response to referee feedback, which could potentially renew interest in his work.
  • Concerns are raised about the lack of citations from prominent figures in LQG, such as Smolin and Rovelli, regarding Ita's work.
  • Some participants express curiosity about the anonymity of referees and the acceptance status of Ita's revised paper.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views regarding Ita's work, with some showing interest and others questioning its reception and impact. There is no consensus on the reasons for the lack of citations or the overall evaluation of Ita's contributions to the field.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight the challenges of publication in academic journals, the nature of peer review, and the potential biases within the LQG community. The discussion reflects uncertainty about the implications of Ita's work and its reception by peers.

Who May Find This Useful

Researchers and students interested in quantum gravity, loop quantum gravity, and the dynamics of academic publishing may find this discussion relevant.

tom.stoer
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Hi,

has anybody studied the papers from Eyo Eyo Ita III?

E.g. recently

http://arxiv.org/abs/0805.4004v3
Canonical quantization of Plebanski gravityEyo Eyo Ita III
(Submitted on 26 May 2008 (v1), last revised 30 Apr 2010 (this version, v3))
Abstract: In this paper we show that the Plebanski theory of gravity implies a theory dual to the Ashtekar variables where the antiself-dual Weyl curvature is the fundamental momentum space variable. The dual theory implies the Einstein equations modulo the initial value constraints, and appears to be consistent in the Dirac sense. Using the dual theory we have obtained a reduced phase space for gravity through implementation of the initial value constraints. Additionally we have computed the classical dynamics and have performed a quantization on this space, constructing a Hilbert space of states for vanishing cosmological constant. Finally, we have clarified the canonical structure of the dual theory in relation to the Ashtekar theory.

His papers are usually rather long and elaborated, but they do not seem to be considered by any other LQG specialist. I have never seen him collaborating with other LQG people nor have I found any peer reviewed articles - except one from 2008.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
I am starting to read them. He sent me an email 3 days ago with some guidance on how to read them. Did you talk to him too?
 
MTd2 said:
Did you talk to him too?
No.

I was never in contact with him. I only saw from time to time that he publishes a series of long and interesting papers w/o any collaboration with others and w/o feedback; I have never checked a citation index, but I doubt that he is mentioned by the "mainstream LGQ guys".

This is rather strange; that's why I am asking.
 
He is struggling to publish his papers on journals. So, he uploaded lots of them to arxiv.org to explain his ideas to them. If you search for "instaton" among his papers, you will see that there is an odd list of 10 papers, which begins at II and ends at XVIII, skipping lots of numbers.

That happened because the mods from arxiv.org did not allow him to publish so many papers with a similar title. In fact, he has written 25 papers in that series! :biggrin:

He's giving a talk at GR19 in Mexico this summer on 0806.3959 regarding the Kodama state.
 
MTd2 said:
He is struggling to publish his papers on journals.
Do you know why?
 
tom.stoer said:
Do you know why?

They are asking him to solve several 50 year old unsolved problems.
 
MTd2 said:
They are asking him to solve several 50 year old unsolved problems.

How come Smolin, Rovelli, et all never seem to cite his works?
 
tom.stoer said:
His papers are usually rather long and elaborated, but they do not seem to be considered by any other LQG specialist. I have never seen him collaborating with other LQG people nor have I found any peer reviewed articles - except one from 2008.

E.E.Ita was invited (probably by Smolin) to give a seminar talk at Perimeter some years back. There is a video. My impression is the audience (Smolin, Freidel etc.) was gentle and forbearing. They asked a few polite questions. Then he used the blackboard as I recall. The was somehow unconvincing. I'm not sure but I'm inclined to say confused.

Later we indirectly heard from Ita that he had sent them email responses to their questions but at that time he felt they hadn't adequately replied.

People who have met Ita and hung out with him at conference say he is a very nice person.
He was rather old when he got his PhD, if I remember right, almost like a late career change. Previously a Navy officer? I forget. He seems firmly convinced of the value of his research.

I don't want to make judgement---I simply pass along the details I know, you can fish up the video of Ita's Perimeter seminar talk if you want.

Andy Randono has done work (his PhD thesis) on the Kodama state and cited Ita at least once. He then got out of that line of investigation and published a bunch of pagers on other QG topics. You might want to compare their research tracks, to see where another bright person goes who starts out with that same dissertation research topic.

Assuming MTd2 is right about Ita at GR19 (he may have direct email news from Ita about that), it will be interesting to see what Ita says this summer at conference! I hope it's available online.
 
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marcus said:
The was somehow unconvincing.

I don`t get the meaning of this...
 
  • #10
marcus said:
Assuming MTd2 is right about Ita at GR19 (he may have direct email news from Ita about that), it will be interesting to see what Ita says this summer at conference!

Yes, we've been exchanging emails since last week.

He completely changed and expanded a paper of his from 2008 to 50, from 14. He changed on behalf of the referees' opinions (he showed me part of the comunication with them), The update was done last monday, 26th april. Read it as it were a new paper:

http://arxiv.org/abs/0806.3959

Instanton representation of Plebanski gravity: XVIII. Quantization and proposed resolution of the Kodama state

Eyo Eyo Ita III
(Submitted on 24 Jun 2008 (v1), last revised 26 Apr 2010 (this version, v2))
In this paper we have constructed a Hilbert space of states solving the initial value constraints of GR in the instanton representation of Plebanski gravity. The states are labelled by two free functions of position constructed from the eigenvalues of the CDJ matrix. This comprises the physical degrees of freedom of GR with a semiclassical limit corresponding to spacetimes of Petrov Type I, D and O. The Hamiltonian constraint in this representation is a hypergeometric differential equation on the states, for which we have provided a closed form solution. Additionally, we have clarified the role of the Kodama state within this Hilbert space structure, which provides a resolution to the issue of its normalizability raised by various authors.
 
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  • #11
MTd2 said:
...
He completely changed and expanded a paper of his from 2008 to 50, from 14. He changed on behalf of the referees' opinions (he showed me part of the comunication with them), The update was done last monday, 26th april. Read it as it were a new paper:

http://arxiv.org/abs/0806.3959
...

I have not yet looked at the new 50-page version of the 2008 paper. It could be that it will renew interest in Ita's line of investigation.
Is this new version accepted for publication? I would guess that it is, since from MTd2's comment I gather that Corichi has put him on the conference lineup for the parallel session of GR19.
 
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  • #12
Do we know who the referees are?
 
  • #13
tom.stoer said:
Do we know who the referees are?

Those are anonymous. This is the standard process, I guess.

As for this paper being accepted, I don't know. But Eyo seems very confident! :)
 

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