Hidden Quantum Gravity in 4-D Feynman diagrams: Emergence of spin foams

Nov, 2006
28 pages
Published in:
  • Class.Quant.Grav. 24 (2007) 2027-2060
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Abstract:
We show how Feynman amplitudes of standard QFT on flat and homogeneous space can naturally be recast as the evaluation of observables for a specific spin foam model, which provides dynamics for the background geometry. We identify the symmetries of this Feynman graph spin foam model and give the gauge-fixing prescriptions. We also show that the gauge-fixed partition function is invariant under Pachner moves of the triangulation, and thus defines an invariant of four-dimensional manifolds. Finally, we investigate the algebraic structure of the model, and discuss its relation with a quantization of 4d gravity in the limit where the Newton constant goes to zero.
  • 04.60.-m
  • Feynman graph: higher-order
  • geometry
  • quantum gravity
  • spin: foam
  • gauge fixing
  • partition function
  • triangulation