Hamiltonian spinfoam gravity

Abstract

This paper presents a Hamiltonian formulation of spinfoam gravity, which leads to a straightforward canonical quantization. To begin with, we derive a continuum action adapted to a simplicial decomposition of space-time. The equations of motion admit a Hamiltonian formulation, allowing us to perform the constraint analysis. We do not find any secondary constraints, but only get restrictions on the Lagrange multipliers enforcing the reality conditions. This comes as a surprise—in the continuum theory, the reality conditions are preserved in time, only if the torsionless condition (a secondary constraint) holds true. Studying an additional conservation law for each spinfoam vertex, we discuss the issue of torsion and argue that spinfoam gravity may still miss an additional constraint. Finally, we canonically quantize and recover the EPRL (Engle–Pereira–Rovelli–Livine) face amplitudes.Communicated by P R L V Moniz