What Are the Key Concepts in Loop Quantum Gravity You Should Explore?

[Sauron]

Sorry if i repeat something already commented.

I have been a few time out of these forum.

I have recently returned to read about LQG. (i hhave been dedicated to another questions for a while)

I had readed the review of Rovelli in livingreviews.org.

I even readed superficially a book by Rovelly and another (doesnt remember who) about LQG written in 1998.

Also i had readed superficially the 92 pags review of thieman ( arXiv:gr-qc/0210094 v1 28 Oct 2002).

Now i returned and printed the 303 ags review , also by theiman (arXiv:gr-qc/0110034 v1 5 Oct 2001).

But i found it hard, and boring, so I printed the short article and readed it carfully. I also readed the original Asthekar article (new variables for hamiltonian formultaion of general relaitivity).

Afhter reading boths I printed and readed an article by Rovelly (arXiv:gr-qc/9910079 v2 20 Dec 1999) titled "Loop Quantum Gravity and the Meaning of
Dieomorphism Invariance".

My feeling is that i have decently understood the basics of the matter.

But i want to go further, as far as i can. ANd now it comes my doubt.

Should i read the big article of Thieman?

My math basics is good (i have been refreshing some things i have a bit forgoted) so i can read it.

But anyway, does it desesrve to worry that much about catgories C* algebras, etc?

Or maybe it is better to get another way?

My interest is , now, reading about the inclusion of matter. About weaves, t gravitons and black holes.

I know these topics are covered in the "big" article, but i am in the pag 92, and iam becoming very bored.

Do you know some better articles to read aobut these concrete topics?

Another question. I readed in the "short" article of Thieman the way the entropy of black holes was calculated. Also he told that the Hawking radiation was not still deduced in the LQG formalim.

Has ther been any recent advance in Dedcuing HAwking radiation form LQG?

 

[marcus]

Sorry if i repeat something already commented.

I have been a few time out of these forum.

I have recently returned to read about LQG. (i hhave been dedicated to another questions for a while)

I had readed the review of Rovelli in livingreviews.org.

I even readed superficially a book by Rovelly...

Hi Sauron, glad to see you back!
I remember you as knowledgeable and helpful to others
back in the time you were posting frequently here.

I have tried to gather useful links in the "Intuitive...Rovelli's program"
thread---using that thread as a random catch-bin for storing LQG links. I will update it, in case there is anything useful.

I also find the long Thiemann article unusable.

there is a recent review article by Ashtekar Lewandowski
http://arxiv.org/gr-qc/0404018
"Background Independent Quantum Gravity: a Status Report"

this has an extensive current bibliography
(although it probably could be more up-to-date even though
it just came out)

I like Rovelli's book "Quantum Gravity" which will be published
by Cambridge U. Press this year----a draft is online at Rovelli's website.
But this may not suit your needs. You may be looking for a different
approach from what is in Rovelli's book. The book is 350 pages long and
has chapters of history and philosophy about quantum gravity, as well
as technical development. I do not know what you like, so I cannot recommend this book to you (although I personally find it very interesting).

I do not know what to recommend.
I do not know any introduction to the subject better than what you have
already read (Rovelli and Marcus Gaul, also 1998 Rovelli Living Review, Thiemann Lectures--the shorter treatment)
Maybe the bibliography in the Ashtekar/Lewandowski article will help
you find something.

 

[marcus]

Sauron, here is a sample of links copied from that other thread.
More there in case you want to browse

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=187184#post187184


-------Loop Gravity texts--------
Rovelli posted the 30 December 2003 draft of his book "Quantum Gravity", to be published this year by Cambridge University Press.
The PDF file is at his homepage
http://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~rovelli/rovelli.html
The book is around 350 pages long and takes a few (like ten?) minutes to download and convert.
To download the 30 December 2003 draft of the book directly:
http://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~rovelli/book.pdf

Here are Thiemann's Lecture Notes (they have been published in Berlin by Springer Verlag)
"Lectures on Loop Quantum Gravity".
A draft is online at
http://arxiv.org/gr-qc/0210094


------recent newsletter-----
the Spring 2004 issue of Jorge Pullin's "Matters of Gravity" came out last month
http://arxiv.org./abs/gr-qc/0403051

-------recent conferences------

Strings meet Loops (Albert Einstein Institute, MPI-Potsdam) October 2003
http://www.aei-potsdam.mpg.de/events/stringloop.html

Loop Gravity Workshop (Mexico City) January 2004
http://www.nuclecu.unam.mx/~corichi/lqg.htm

International Conference on Gravity and Cosmology (India) January 2004
http://www.cusat.ac.in/icgc04/

Quantum Gravity Phenomenology, (40th annual Polish Winterschool in Theoretical Physics) February 2004
http://www.ws2004.ift.uni.wroc.pl/html.html

--------upcoming conference--------

Loop/SpinFoam Conference (Marseille) May 2004
http://w3.lpm.univ-montp2.fr/~philippe/quantumgravitywebsite/

 

[Sauron]

Thanks Marcus.

I have viewed the links you told. Interesting.

Besides it i readed the whole thread about rovellis´s program.

I learned a lot there. Mainly i got points which i could probably have not realized in a fast reading of articles.

Only one comment. I know personally E. Alvarez (Enrique). It was one of my teachers. He has a somewhat old owadays report aobut quantum gravity: Maybe he did someone else afther that, but i odn´t have news.

I wouldn´t clasify him as an "string phisican". He has interest in quantum gravity. In all it´s aproachs. At least his article covered all of them.

I must say that in his course of mechanics he teached constrained systems. And that his general relativity course covered (making a fast introduction to the necessary math) the modern tetrad formalism for general relativity.

So be sure he never had lost interest in the achievements of canonical quantum gravity. But if strings looked promising of course i understand everybody would investigate on them.

If it is of interest to you, i will try to pick some articles in themes i have a particular interest (listed in the rovellis thread) and will rserve the thiemans "long" article, and the Rovelli bood as material of consult.

 

[marcus]

... I know personally E. Alvarez (Enrique). It was one of my teachers.


He has a somewhat old nowadays report about quantum gravity: Maybe he did someone else after that, but i don´t have news.

I have a lot of respect for E. Alvarez and you are lucky to have studied with him, I think.

I know him mainly from one paper
"Loops versus Strings"
http://arxiv.org/gr-qc/0307090

this is a balanced review, friendly to both lines of research
it is clear-sighted and written in good efficient style
it encourages mutual understanding and cooperation rather than
a military (two "camps") psychology

This paper was written to present to a July 2003 conference of particle physicists called "What comes beyond the standard model?"

I think this is probably the paper you mention in your post. I have not found anything more recent by Alvarez.

This paper is especially impressive to me because when I looked to see
what papers Alvarez has published in the past 5 years or so they were
(if I remember) all or mostly string. So here is someone who can do mainly string research and still keep a balanced open-minded perspective on the alternatives.

I think you know all this about him, since he was your teacher at the university, but I will say these details anyway in case other people are reading, and don't know the Alvarez paper

BTW Alvarez gave the survey talk on Quantum Gravity at this years Polish Winterschool, which was about Quantum Gravity Phenomenology. It was in February I think, or early March. The list of speakers is at
http://www.ws2004.ift.uni.wroc.pl/html.html