Renormalization and Coarse-graining of Loop Quantum Gravity

TL;DR

This paper explores coarse-graining methods in loop quantum gravity, focusing on large-scale observables and fixed graph dynamics, to address the continuum limit challenge in a diffeomorphism-invariant framework.

Contribution

It introduces loopy spin networks and analyzes hyperbolic tetrahedra to develop a coarse-graining approach for loop quantum gravity.

Findings

Defined loopy spin networks for coarse-graining

Identified surface holonomies as large-scale observables

Established a foundation for a coarse-graining program

Abstract

The continuum limit of loop quantum gravity is still an open problem. Indeed, no proper dynamics in known to start with and we still lack the mathematical tools to study its would-be continuum limit. In the present PhD dissertation, we will investigate some coarse-graining methods that should become helpful in this enterprise. We concentrate on two aspects of the theory's coarse-graining: finding natural large scale observables on one hand and studying how the dynamics of varying graphs could be cast onto fixed graphs on the other hand. To determine large scale observables, we study the case of hyperbolic tetrahedra and their natural description in a language close to loop quantum gravity. The surface holonomies in particular play an important role. This highlights the structure of double spin networks, which consist in a graph and its dual, which seems to also appear in works from Freidel et al. To solve the problem of varying graphs, we consider and define loopy spin networks. They encode the local curvature with loops around an effective vertex and allow to describe different graphs by hidding them in a coarse-graining process. Moreover, their definition gives a natural procedure for coarse-graining allowing to relate different scales. Together, these two results constitute the foundation of a coarse-graining programme for diffeomorphism invariant theories.