Recent Developments in Non-Perturbative Quantum Gravity

Abstract

New results from the new variables/loop representation program of nonperturbative quantum gravity are presented, with a focus on results of Ashtekar, Rovelli and the author which greatly clarify the physical interpretation of the quantum states in the loop representation. These include: 1) The construction of a class of states which approximate smooth metrics for length measurements on scales, $L$, to order $l_{Planck}/L$. 2) The discovery that any such state must have discrete structure at the Planck length. 3) The construction of operators for the area of arbitrary surfaces and volumes of arbitrary regions and the discovery that these operators are finite. 4) The diagonalization of these operators and the demonstration that the spectra are discrete, so that in quantum gravity areas and volumes are quantized in Planck units. 5) The construction of finite diffeomorphism invariant operators that measure geometrical quantities such as the volume of the universe and the areas of minimal surfaces. These results are made possible by the use of new techniques for the regularization of operator products that respect diffeomorphism invariance. Several new results in the classical theory are also reviewed including the solution of the hamiltonian and diffeomorphism constraints in closed form of Capovilla, Dell and Jacobson and a new form of the action that induces Chern-Simon theory on the boundaries of spacetime. A new classical discretization of the Einstein equations is also presented.