Quantum Gravity, Constant Negative Curvatures, and Black Holes

Abstract

For purposes of quantization, classical gravity is normally expressed by canonical variables, namely the metric $g_{ab}(x)$ and the momentum $\pi^{cd}(x)$. Canonical quantization requires a proper promotion of these classical variables to quantum operators, which, according to Dirac, the favored operators should be those arising from classical variables that formed Cartesian coordinates; sadly, in this case, that is not possible. However, an affine quantization features promoting the metric $g_{ab}(x)$ and the momentric $\pi^c_d(x)\;[\equiv \pi^{ce}(x) \,g_{de}(x)]$ to operators. Instead of these classical variables belonging to a constant zero curvature space (i.e., instead of a flat space), they belong to a space of constant negative curvatures. This feature may even have its appearance in black holes, which could strongly point toward an affine quantization approach to quantize gravity.