Quantum Gravity as a Broken Symmetry Phase of a BF Theory

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how General Relativity with a cosmological constant can be derived as a broken symmetry phase of a BF theory, and proposes a spin foam perturbation approach for its quantization.

Contribution

It introduces a novel formulation of quantum gravity by linking it to a BF theory and develops a spin foam perturbation method for quantization.

Findings

Unified treatment of de Sitter and anti-de Sitter cases

Formulation of a spin foam perturbation quantization

Discussion on calculating the effective action

Abstract

We explain how General Relativity with a cosmological constant arises as a broken symmetry phase of a BF theory. In particular we show how to treat de Sitter and anti-de Sitter cases simultaneously. This is then used to formulate a quantisation of General Relativity through a spin foam perturbation theory. We then briefly discuss how to calculate the effective action in this quantization procedure.