arXiv subjects

Hongguang Liu

Publications and source records attributed to Hongguang Liu.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Generalized analysis of a dust collapse in effective loop quantum gravity: fate of shocks and covariance

Based on modifications inspired from loop quantum gravity (LQG), spherically symmetric models have recently been explored to understand the resolution of classical singularities and the fate of the spacetime beyond. While such phenomenological studies have provided useful insights, questions remain on whether such models exhibit some of the desired properties such as consistent LTB conditions, covariance and compatibility with the improved dynamics of loop quantum cosmology in the cosmological and LTB sectors. We provide a systematic procedure to construct effective spherically symmetric models encoding LQG modifications as a $1+1$ field theory models encoding these properties following the analysis in our companion paper. As concrete examples of our generalized strategy we obtain and compare with different phenomenological models which have been investigated recently and demonstrate resolution of singularity by quantum geometry effects via a bounce. These include models with areal gauge fixing, a polymerized vacuum solution, polymerized junction conditions and an Oppenheimer-Snyder dust collapse model. An important insight from our approach is that the dynamical equations care about the $\det(e)$ part rather than the square root of the determinant of the spatial metric. As a result, shock solutions which have been argued to exist in some models are found to be absent even if one considers coordinate transformations.

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arXiv2023

Complex critical points in Lorentzian spinfoam quantum gravity: 4-simplex amplitude and effective dynamics on double-$Δ_3$ complex

The complex critical points are analyzed in the 4-dimensional Lorentzian Engle-Pereira-Rovelli-Livine (EPRL) spinfoam model in the large-$j$ regime. For the 4-simplex amplitude, taking into account the complex critical point generalizes the large-$j$ asymptotics to the situation with non-Regge boundary data and relates to the twisted geometry. For generic simplicial complexes, we present a general procedure to derive the effective theory of Regge geometries from the spinfoam amplitude in the large-$j$ regime by using the complex critical points. The effective theory is analyzed in detail for the spinfoam amplitude on the double-$Δ_3$ simplicial complex. We numerically compute the effective action and the solution of the effective equation of motion on the double-$Δ_3$ complex. The effective theory reproduces the classical Regge gravity when the Barbero-Immirzi parameter $γ$ is small.

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arXiv2023

Dynamically implementing the $\overlineμ$-scheme in cosmological and spherically symmetric models in an extended phase space model

We consider an extended phase space formulation for cosmological and spherically symmetric models in which the choice of a given $\overlineμ$-scheme can be implemented dynamically. These models are constructed in the context of the relational formalism by using a canonical transformation on the extended phase space which provides a Kuchař decomposition of the extended phase space. The resulting model can be understood as a gauge-unfixed model of a given $\overlineμ$-scheme. We use this formalism to investigate the restrictions to the allowed $\overlineμ$-scheme from this perspective and discuss the differences in the cosmological and spherically symmetric case. This method can be useful, for example, to obtain a $\overlineμ$-scheme in a top-down derivation from full LQG to symmetry reduced effective models, where for some models only the $μ_0$-scheme has been obtained so far.

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arXiv2022

Spinfoams and high performance computing

Numerical methods are a powerful tool for doing calculations in spinfoam theory. We review the major frameworks available, their definition, and various applications. We start from $\texttt{sl2cfoam-next}$, the state-of-the-art library to efficiently compute EPRL spin foam amplitudes based on the booster decomposition. We also review two alternative approaches based on the integration representation of the spinfoam amplitude: Firstly, the numerical computations of the complex critical points discover the curved geometries from the spinfoam amplitude and provides important evidence of resolving the flatness problem in the spinfoam theory. Lastly, we review the numerical estimation of observable expectation values based on the Lefschetz thimble and Markov-Chain Monte Carlo method, with the EPRL spinfoam propagator as an example.

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arXiv2022

Covariant ${\barμ}$-scheme effective dynamics, mimetic gravity, and non-singular black holes: Applications to spherical symmetric quantum gravity and CGHS model

We propose a new $\barμ$-scheme Hamiltonian effective dynamics in the spherical symmetric sector of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG). The effective dynamics is generally covariant as derived from a covariant Lagrangian. The Lagrangian belongs to the class of extended mimetic gravity Lagrangians in 4 dimensions. We apply the effective dynamics to both cosmology and black hole. The effective dynamics reproduces the non-singular Loop-Quantum-Cosmology (LQC) effective dynamics. From the effective dynamics, we obtain the non-singular black hole solution, which has a killing symmetry in addition to the spherical symmetry and reduces to the Schwarzschild geometry asymptotically near the infinity. The black hole spacetime resolves the classical singularity and approaches asymptotically the Nariai geometry $\mathrm{dS}_2\times S^2$ at the future infinity in the interior of the black hole. The resulting black hole spacetime has the complete future null infinity $\mathscr{I}^+$. Thanks to the general covariance, the effective dynamics can be reformulated in the light-cone gauge. We generalize the covariant $\barμ$-scheme effective dynamics to the Callan-Giddings-Harvey-Strominger (CGHS) model and apply the light-cone formulation to the CGHS black hole solution with the null-shell collapse. We focus on the effective dynamics projected along the null shell. The result shows that both the 2d scalar curvature and the derivative of dilaton field are finite, in contrast to the divergence in the CGHS model.

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arXiv2022

Spherical symmetric gravitational collapse of a dust cloud: polymerized dynamics in reduced phase space

Based on the effective dynamics in the $\bar μ$ scheme of the spherical symmetry reduced model in the reduced phase space formulation of loop quantum gravity (LQG), we investigate the gravitational collapse of a homogeneous dust cloud, with Gaussian dust serving as both the reference field and the source of the gravitational collapse. The effective dynamics from the considered model for a homogeneous dust cloud reduces precisely to the effective dynamics of loop quantum cosmology (LQC) with extrinsic curvature based K-quantization, indicating that the LQC effective dynamics lives as a subsector of the model presented here. In both the marginally bound and the bound cases of the collapse in effective dynamics, the singularity is resolved and replaced by a bounce. Though quantum geometric modification from spatial curvature is not directly included in the K-quantization it does affect the qualitative dynamics of the collapsing dust cloud in the sense that on the one hand for the marginally bound case, the dust cloud bounces once at fixed maximum energy density and on the other hand for the bound case, the dust cloud undergoes infinite cycles of contraction and expansion at energy densities dependent on the dust mass. Finally, the mass threshold for the formation of a trapped surface in each case is found and the matching conditions between the interior collapsing spacetime and an effective exterior static solution are discussed.

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arXiv2022

Fermions in Loop Quantum Gravity and Resolution of Doubling Problem

The fermion propagator is derived in detail from the model of fermion coupled to loop quantum gravity. As an ingredient of the propagator, the vacuum state is defined as the ground state of some effective fermion Hamiltonian under the background geometry given by a coherent state resembling the classical Minkowski spacetime. Moreover, as a critical feature of loop quantum gravity, the superposition over graphs is employed to define the vacuum state. It turns out that the graph superposition leads to the propagator being the average of the propagators of the lattice field theory over various graphs so that all fermion doubler modes are suppressed in the propagator. This resolves the doubling problem in loop quantum gravity. Our result suggests that the superposition nature of quantum geometry should, on the one hand, resolve the tension between fermion and the fundamental discreteness and, on the other hand, relate to the continuum limit of quantum gravity.

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arXiv2022

Experimental Simulation of Loop Quantum Gravity on a Photonic Chip

The unification of general relativity and quantum theory is one of the fascinating problems of modern physics. One leading solution is Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG). Simulating LQG may be important for providing predictions which can then be tested experimentally. However, such complex quantum simulations cannot run efficiently on classical computers, and quantum computers or simulators are needed. Here, we experimentally demonstrate quantum simulations of spinfoam amplitudes of LQG on an integrated photonics quantum processor. We simulate a basic transition of LQG and show that the derived spinfoam vertex amplitude falls within 4% error with respect to the theoretical prediction, despite experimental imperfections. We also discuss how to generalize the simulation for more complex transitions, in realistic experimental conditions, which will eventually lead to a quantum advantage demonstration as well as expand the toolbox to investigate LQG.

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arXiv2022

Fermions on Quantum Geometry and Resolution of Doubling Problem

The fermion doubling problem has an important impact on quantum gravity, by revealing the tension between fermion and the fundamental discreteness of quantum spacetime. In this work, we discover that in Loop Quantum Gravity, the quantum geometry involving superposition of states associated with lattice refinements provides a resolution to the fermion doubling problem. We construct and analyze the fermion propagator on the quantum geometry, and we show that all fermion doubler modes are suppressed in the propagator. Our result suggests that the superposition nature of quantum geometry should resolve the tension between fermion and the fundamental discreteness, and relate to the continuum limit of quantum gravity.

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arXiv2021

Complex critical points and curved geometries in four-dimensional Lorentzian spinfoam quantum gravity

This paper focuses on the semiclassical behavior of the spinfoam quantum gravity in 4 dimensions. There has been long-standing confusion, known as the flatness problem, about whether the curved geometry exists in the semiclassical regime of the spinfoam amplitude. The confusion is resolved by the present work. By numerical computations, we explicitly find curved Regge geometries from the large-$j$ Lorentzian Engle-Pereira-Rovelli-Livine (EPRL) spinfoam amplitudes on triangulations. These curved geometries are with small deficit angles and relate to the complex critical points of the amplitude. The dominant contribution from the curved geometry to the spinfoam amplitude is proportional to $e^{i \mathcal{I}}$, where $\mathcal{I}$ is the Regge action of the geometry plus corrections of higher order in curvature. As a result, the spinfoam amplitude reduces to an integral over Regge geometries weighted by $e^{i \mathcal{I}}$ in the semiclassical regime. As a byproduct, our result also provides a mechanism to relax the cosine problem in the spinfoam model. Our results provide important evidence supporting the semiclassical consistency of the spinfoam quantum gravity.

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arXiv2021

Finiteness of spinfoam vertex amplitude with timelike polyhedra, and the full amplitude

This work focuses on Conrady-Hnybida's 4-dimensional extended spinfoam model with timelike polyhedra, while we restrict all faces to be spacelike. Firstly, we prove the absolute convergence of the vertex amplitude with timelike polyhedra, when SU(1,1) boundary states are coherent states or the canonical basis, or their finite linear combinations. Secondly, based on the finite vertex amplitude and a proper prescription of the SU(1,1) intertwiner space, we construct the extended spinfoam amplitude on arbitrary cellular complex, taking into account the sum over SU(1,1) intertwiners of internal timelike polyhedra. We observe that the sum over SU(1,1) intertwiners is infinite for the internal timelike polyhedron that has at least 2 future-pointing and 2 past-pointing face-normals. In order to regularize the possible divergence from summing over SU(1,1) intertwiners, we develop a quantum cut-off scheme based on the eigenvalue of the ``shadow operator''. The spinfoam amplitude with timelike internal polyhedra (and spacelike faces) is finite, when 2 types of cut-offs are imposed: one is imposed on $j$ the eigenvalue of area operator, the other is imposed on the eigenvalue of shadow operator for every internal timelike polyhedron that has at least 2 future-pointing and 2 past-pointing face-normals.

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arXiv2021

Analytic Continuation of Spin foam Models

The Lorentzian Engle-Pereira-Rovelli-Livine/Freidel-Krasnov (EPRL/FK) spinfoam model and the Conrady-Hnybida (CH) timelike-surface extension can be expressed in the integral form $\int e^S$. This work studies the analytic continuation of the spinfoam action $S$ to the complexification of the integration domain. Our work extends our knowledge from the real critical points well-studied in the spinfoam large-$j$ asymptotics to general complex critical points of $S$ analytic continued to the complexified domain. The complex critical points satisfying critical equations of the analytic continued $S$. In the large-$j$ regime, the complex critical points give subdominant contributions to the spinfoam amplitude when the real critical points are present. But the contributions from the complex critical points can become dominant when the real critical point are absent. Moreover the contributions from the complex critical points cannot be neglected when the spins $j$ are not large. In this paper, we classify the complex critical points of the spinfoam amplitude, and find a subclass of complex critical points that can be interpreted as 4-dimensional simplicial geometries. In particular, we identify the complex critical points corresponding to the Riemannian simplicial geometries although we start with the Lorentzian spinfoam model. The contribution from these complex critical points of Riemannian geometry to the spinfoam amplitude give $e^{-S_{Regge}}$ in analogy with the Euclidean path integral, where $S_{Regge}$ is the Riemannian Regge action on simplicial complex.

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arXiv2021

Spinfoam on Lefschetz Thimble: Markov Chain Monte-Carlo Computation of Lorentzian Spinfoam Propagator

We compute numerically the Lorentzian Engle-Pereira-Rovelli-Livine (EPRL) spinfoam propagator on a 4-simplex, by adapting the methods of Lefschetz thimble and Markov Chain Monte-Carlo to oscillatory spinfoam integrals. Our method can compute any spinfoam observables at relatively large spins. We obtain the numerical results of the propagators at different spins and demonstrate their consistency with the expected spinfoam semi-classical behavior in the large spin limit. Our results exhibit significant quantum corrections at smaller spins. Our method is reliable and thus can be employed to discover the semi-classical and quantum behaviors of the spinfoam model.

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arXiv2021

Numerical computations of next-to-leading order corrections in spinfoam large-$j$ asymptotics

We numerically study the next-to-leading order corrections of the Lorentzian Engle-Pereira-Rovelli-Livine (EPRL) 4-simplex amplitude in the large-$j$ expansions. We perform large-$j$ expansions of Lorentzian EPRL 4-simplex amplitudes with two different types of boundary states, the coherent intertwiners and the coherent spin-network, and numerically compute the leading-order and the next-to-leading order $O(1/j)$ contributions of these amplitudes. We also study the dependences of these $O(1/j)$ corrections on the Barbero-Immirzi parameter $γ$. We show that they, as functions of $γ$, stabilize to finite real constants as $γ\to\infty$. Lastly, we obtain the quantum corrections to the Regge action because of the $O(1/j)$ contribution to the spinfoam amplitude.

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arXiv2021

Manifestly Gauge-Invariant Cosmological Perturbation Theory from Full Loop Quantum Gravity

We apply the full theory of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) to cosmology and present a top-down derivation of gauge-invariant cosmological perturbation theory from quantum gravity. The derivation employs the reduced phase space formulation of LQG and the new discrete path integral formulation defined in arXiv:1910.03763. We demonstrate that in the semiclassical approximation and continuum limit, the result coincides with the existing formulation of gauge-invariant cosmological perturbation theory in e.g. arXiv:0711.0117. Time evolution of cosmological perturbations is computed numerically from the new cosmological perturbation theory of LQG, and various power spectrums are studied for scalar mode and tensor mode perturbations. Comparing these power spectrums with predictions from the classical theory demonstrate corrections in the ultra-long wavelength regime. These corrections are results from the lattice discretization in LQG. In addition, tensor mode perturbations at late time demonstrate the emergence of spin-2 gravitons as low energy excitations from LQG. The graviton has a modified dispersion relation and reduces to the standard graviton in the long wavelength limit.

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arXiv2021

Loop Quantum Gravity on Dynamical Lattice and Improved Cosmological Effective Dynamics with Inflaton

In the path integral formulation of the reduced phase space Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG), we propose a new approach to allow the spatial cubic lattice (graph) to change dynamically in the physical time evolution. The equations of motion of the path integral derive the effective dynamics of cosmology from the full LQG, when we focus on solutions with homogeneous and isotropic symmetry. The resulting cosmological effective dynamics with the dynamical lattice improves the effective dynamics obtained earlier from the path integral with fixed spatial lattice: The improved effective dynamics recovers the FLRW cosmology at low energy density and resolves the big-bang singularity with a bounce. The critical density $ρ_c$ at the bounce is Planckian $ρ_c\sim Δ^{-1}$ where $Δ$ is a Planckian area serving as certain UV cut-off of the effective theory. The effective dynamics gives the unsymmetric bounce and has the de-Sitter (dS) spacetime in the past of the bounce. The cosmological constant $Λ_{eff}$ of the dS spacetime is emergent from the quantum effect $Λ_{eff}\simΔ^{-1}$. These results are qualitatively similar to the properties of $\barμ$-scheme Loop Quantum Cosmology (LQC). Moreover, we generalize the earlier path integral formulation of the full LQG by taking into account the coupling with an additional real scalar field, which drives the slow-roll inflation of the effective cosmological dynamics. In addition, we discuss the cosmological perturbation theory on the dynamical lattice, and the relation to the Mukhanov-Sasaki equation.

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arXiv2021

Efficient Simulation of Loop Quantum Gravity -- A Scalable Linear-Optical Approach

The problem of simulating complex quantum processes on classical computers gave rise to the field of quantum simulations. Quantum simulators solve problems, such as Boson sampling, where classical counterparts fail. In another field of physics, the unification of general relativity and quantum theory is one of the greatest challenges of our time. One leading approach is Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG). Here, we connect these two fields and design a linear-optical simulator such that the evolution of the optical quantum gates simulates the spinfoam amplitudes of LQG. It has been shown that computing transition amplitudes in simple quantum field theories falls into the class BQP -- which strongly suggests that computing transition amplitudes of LQG are classically intractable. Therefore, these amplitudes are efficiently computable with universal quantum computers which are, alas, possibly decades away. We propose here an alternative special-purpose linear-optical quantum computer, which can be implemented using current technologies. This machine is capable of efficiently computing these quantities. This work opens a new way to relate quantum gravity to quantum information and will expand our understanding of the theory.

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arXiv2020

Improved Effective Dynamics of Loop-Quantum-Gravity Black Hole and Nariai Limit

We propose a new model of the spherical symmetric quantum black hole in the reduced phase space formulation. We deparametrize gravity by coupling to the Gaussian dust which provides the material coordinates. The foliation by dust coordinates covers both the interior and exterior of the black hole. After the spherical symmetry reduction, our model is a 1+1 dimensional field theory containing infinitely many degrees of freedom. The effective dynamics of the quantum black hole is generated by an improved physical Hamiltonian ${\bf H}_Δ$ where the holonomy correction is implemented by the $\barμ$-scheme regularization with a Planckian area scale $Δ$. The effective dynamics recovers the semiclassical Schwarzschild geometry at low curvature regime and resolves the black hole singularity with Planckian curvature. Our model predicts that the evolution of the black hole at late time reaches the charged Nariai geometry ${\rm dS}_2\times S^2$ with Planckian radii. The Nariai geometry is stable under linear perturbations but may be unstable by nonperturbative quantum effects. Our model suggests the existence of quantum tunneling of the Nariai geometry and a scenario of black-hole-to-white-hole transition. During the transition, the linear perturbations exhibit chaotic dynamics with Lyapunov exponent $λ=2πT_{\rm dS}\sim Δ^{-1/2}$ relating to the Hawking temperature $T_{\rm dS}$ of ${\rm dS}_2$. In addition, the Nariai geometry in our model provides an interesting example of Wheeler's bag of gold and contains infinitely many infrared soft modes with zero energy density. These infrared modes span a Hilbert space carrying a representation of 1-dimensional spatial diffeomorphisms (or the Witt/Virasoro algebra) which are conserved charges of the effective dynamics by ${\bf H}_Δ$.

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