arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Carlo Rovelli.
We consider the eigenvalues of the three-dimensional Weyl operator defined in terms of the (Euclidean) Ashtekar variables, and we study their dependence on the gravitational field. We notice that these eigenvalues can be used as gravitational variables, and derive explicit formulas for their Poisson brackets and their time evolution.
We reformulate the problem of the "interpretation of quantum mechanics" as the problem of DERIVING the quantum mechanical formalism from a set of simple physical postulates. We suggest that the common unease with taking quantum mechanics as a fundamental description of nature could derive from the use of an incorrect notion, as the unease with the Lorentz transformations before Einstein derived from the notion of observer independent time. Following an an analysis of the measurement process as seen by different observers, we propose a reformulation of quantum mechanics in terms of INFORMATION THEORY. We propose three different postulates out of which the formalism of the theory can be reconstructed; these are based on the notion of information about each other that systems contain. All systems are assumed to be equivalent: no observer-observed distinction, and information is interpreted as correlation. We then suggest that the incorrect notion that generates the unease with quantum mechanichs is the notion of OBSERVER INDEPENDENT state of a system.
A quantum hamiltonian which evolves the gravitational field according to time as measured by constant surfaces of a scalar field is defined through a regularization procedure based on the loop representation, and is shown to be finite and diffeomorphism invariant. The problem of constructing this hamiltonian is reduced to a combinatorial and algebraic problem which involves the rearrangements of lines through the vertices of arbitrary graphs. This procedure also provides a construction of the hamiltonian constraint as a finite operator on the space of diffeomorphism invariant states as well as a construction of the operator corresponding to the spatial volume of the universe.
We show that the Hilbert space basis that defines the Ponzano-Regge- Turaev-Viro-Ooguri combinatorial definition of 3-d Quantum Gravity is the same as the one that defines the Loop Representation. We show how to compute lengths in Witten's 3-d gravity and how to reconstruct the 2-d geometry from a state of Witten's theory. We show that the non-degenerate geometries are contained in the Witten's Hilbert space. We sketch an extension of the combinatorial construction to the physical 4-d case, by defining a modification of Regge calculus in which areas, rather than lengths, are taken as independent variables. We provide an expression for the scalar product in the Loop representation in 4-d. We discuss the general form of a nonperturbative quantum theory of gravity, and argue that it should be given by a generalization of Atiyah's topological quantum field theories axioms.
An experiment that would measure non--commuting quantum mechanical observables without collapsing the wave function has been recently proposed by Y Aharonov and J Anandan. These authors argue that this "protected measurement" may give indication on "the reality of the wave function". We argue that, depending of the precise version of the experiment considered, either the author's prediction is incorrect and the wave function does collapse, or the measurement is not a measurement on a quantum system. In either case, the experiment does not provide a way for measuring non--commuting observables without collapse, and it does not bear on the issue of the "reality of the wave function".
Results that illuminate the physical interpretation of states of nonperturbative quantum gravity are obtained using the recently introduced loop variables. It is shown that: i) While local operators such as the metric at a point may not be well-defined, there do exist {\it non-local} operators, such as the area of a given 2-surface, which can be regulated diffeomorphism invariantly and which are finite {\it without} renormalization; ii)there exist quantum states which approximate a given flat geometry at large scales, but such states exhibit a discrete structure at the Planck scale; iii) these results are tied together by the fact that the spectra of the operators that measure the areas of surfaces are quantized in integral units of the Planck area.
Quantum theory of the free Maxwell field in Minkowski space is constructed using a representation in which the self dual connection is diagonal. Quantum states are now holomorphic functionals of self dual connections and a decomposition of fields into positive and negative frequency parts is unnecessary. The construction requires the introduction of new mathematical techniques involving ``holomorphic distributions''. The method extends also to linear gravitons in Minkowski space. The fact that one can recover the entire Fock space --with particles of both helicities-- from self dual connections alone provides independent support for a non-perturbative, canonical quantization program for full general relativity based on self dual variables.
Quantization of the free Maxwell field in Minkowski space is carried out using a loop representation and shown to be equivalent to the standard Fock quantization. Because it is based on coherent state methods, this framework may be useful in quantum optics. It is also well-suited for the discussion of issues related to flux quantization in condensed matter physics. Our own motivation, however, came from a non-perturbative approach to quantum gravity. The concrete results obtained in this paper for the Maxwell field provide independent support for that approach. In addition, they offer some insight into the physical interpretation of the mathematical structures that play, within this approach, an essential role in the description of the quantum geometry at Planck scale.
The recently proposed loop representation, used previously to find exact solutions to the quantum constraints of general relativity, is here used to quantize linearized general relativity. The Fock space of graviton states and its associated algebra of observables are represented in terms of functionals of loops. The ``reality conditions'' are realized by an inner product that is chiral asymmetric, resulting in a chiral asymmetric ordering for the Hamiltonian and in an asymmetric description of the left and right handed gravitons. This chirally asymmetric formulation depends on a splitting of the linearized field into self-dual and anti-self dual parts rather than into positive and negative frequency parts; as the former, but not the latter, is meaningful away from flat backgrounds this is expected to be useful in connecting the nonperturbative theory to the linearized theory. The formalism depends on an arbitrary ``averaging'' function that controls certain divergences, but does not appear in the final physical quantities. Inspite of these somewhat unusual features, the loop quntization presented here is completely equivalent to the standard quantization of linearized gravity.