Core lecture abstracts for QG school

[marcus]

Like the list of invited talks at the biannual QG conference, the list of lecture series at the ESF-QG schools gives a snapshot of where the field currently is. What work stands out---who is giving the main talks---what topics get mentioned in the abstracts.

So it's something to learn from. The ESF (Euro. Sci. Found.) has a Quantum Geometry and Quantum Gravity ("QGQG" or simply QG) branch coordinated by John Barrett and Hermann Nicolai. Starting in 2007 the ESF-QG has sponsored some schools and workshops---the first school was in Zakopane. There are series of several introductory lectures aimed at entry-level researchers who want to get into active lines of investigation---and need a map of the field.

So I will run down the list of core lecture series to be held at the next QG school. We may be able to comment, discuss some of what is covered in the abstracts, or there may be questions about some of the people. I notice that Krajewski, who recently took a permanent position at Marseille, is doing the series on Group Field Theory.

 

[marcus]

==quote==
The aim of the School

The purpose of the school is to provide current PhD students, potdocs and other researchers with an up-to-date introduction to the main research topics of the network: loop quantum gravity, spin foam models, matrix models, and the application of non-commutative geometry and quantum groups to quantum gravity as well as more recent developments like group field theory. The emphasize will be on progress made during the four years of the ESF network program Quantum geometry and Quantum Gravity.

Core lectures

The heart of the program will be a series of core lectures by leading researchers which will give students a solid introduction to the topics of the school.

Hanno Sahlmann/Kristina Giesel - Loop quantum gravity
The field of loop quantum gravity is the technically highest developed construction in quantum gravity. As in the last two schools there will be a thorough introduction into the underlying ideas and mathematical methods. The lectures will cover the basic construction of the kinematical hilbert space and some simple operators, working up to the dynamical Hilbert spaces and physical Hamiltonians following from the deparametrization models.

Carlo Rovelli - Spin foams
The most active field in the network in the last years has been spin foam models, starting with the development of the graviton propagator and the new models, to coherent state techniques and recent asymptotic results, the generalisation to arbitrary 2-complexes and cosmological applications. The lectures will present the current perspective on the construction of these models in terms of 2-complexes.

Harold Steinacker - Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
Non-commutative geometry is a natural extension of geometry in the context of quantum theories that potentially, may also include gravity.. NCG naturally occurs in particle physics, as shown by Alain Connes, and also appears naturally in the context of three-dimensional quantum gravity via Chern-Simons theory. It is also used as a technical tool in state sum models, particularly via quantum groups, which provide deformations of the usual spin network calculus which can be used to construct quantum gravity models. The lectures will cover the definition and construction of non-commutative spaces as well as the construction of QFTs on them. Another theme will be the relationship to matrix models.

Thomas Krajewski (to be confirmed) - Group field theories
Recently group field theories, generalisations of matrix models to higher dimensions, have received renewed attention. In the last year work has begun to take them serious as quantum field theories and analyse their properties using the tools of QFT. The lectures will cover the general structure of GFTs and introduce the QFT tools used to study their renormalisation theory.

Stefan Hollands - Exact QFT in curved backgrounds
QFT on curved backgrounds is the formulation of QFT which does not require the symmetries of Minkowski or (Anti) de Sitter space times. From the mathematical point of view this is the highest development of QFT. It is also an important intermediate step beetwing the standard QFT and quantum gravity. As an approximation to quantum gravity it supplies some of the most potent intuitions of the field (holography, black hole entropy). The lecture will cover the recent results and successes in the exact construction of these quantum field theories.

Alain Connes (to be confirmed) - Non-commutative geometry
===endquote===

There will also be auxilliary lectures, for example by:

Singh - Loop quantum cosmology
Jurkiewicz (an Ambjorn Loll co-author) on CDT
Barrett on the large j limit of spinfoam amplitudes
Rivasseau on EPRL-GFT
Noui on SL(2,C)_q the quantum deformation of the Lorentz group
http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~kostecki/school3/

 

[marcus]

There is some thematic overlap between the two-week Zakopane QG school (28 February-12 March) and the one-week Lisbon school and workshop taking place a month earlier (7-13 February)
https://sites.google.com/site/hgtqgr/speakers
https://sites.google.com/site/hgtqgr/home

Both are supported by the ESF-QG (Euro. Sci. Found. network for Quantum Geometry and Quantum Gravity).

 

[marcus]

More information about the March 2011 school has become available. There are now abstracts for the Auxilliary lectures (as well as for the Core lecture series listed earlier)

Auxiliary lectures

The lectures of the core program will be augmented by a set of smaller lectures that either deepen a particular aspect of a subject introduced in the core lectures or give brief introductions to related and relevant topics and techniques. Rather than providing a deep technical introduction they should show students further ideas to pursue and study.

Parampreet Singh - Loop quantum cosmology

Symmetry reduced models are one of the key areas of applications of loop techniques in physically relevant contexts. Following the Core LQG course these lectures will show how to apply these and related techniques in the symmetry reduced sector of GR.

Karim Noui - SL(2,C)_q

Following the introduction on non-commutative spaces this lecture will introduce the quantum deformation of the Lorentz group SL(2,C)_q. Quantum deformations of SU(2) are a key area of application of non-commutative geometry as a technical tool in quantum gravity models and SL(2,C)_q deformations are expected to play a similar role in the future.

Catherine Meusburger - 2+1 gravity

Many techniques and ideas used in the context of 4 dimensional quantum gravity research are motivated by exact results obtained in the 3 dimensional theory or were first developed in its context altogether. The 3 dimensional theory remains one of the most important toy models for quantum gravity in existence. This lecture will give an introduction into the structure of 2+1 gravity and its quantisation.

John Barrett - Large j limit of spin foam amplitudes

Following the core lectures on spin foam models, this lecture will introduce the use of geometric asymptotics in order to understand the geometric content of spin foam amplitudes. This is the most powerful tool for the analysis of spin foam models known so far. Specifically it will demonstrate how to characterise the dominant contributions in the large spin limit of the theory through geometries and the Regge action.

Vincent Rivasseau (to be confirmed) - EPRL GFT

Following the core lectures on group field theories these lectures will introduce the specific GFTs associated to recent spin foam models and present first results concerning the scaling behaviour and renormalisability of its amplitudes.

Maja Burić (to be confirmed)/Harold Grosse - Renormalisation of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model

Following the core lectures on matrix models and field theories on non commutative space time these lectures will cover the detailed analysis of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model. This theory is a nontrivial quantum field theory on a non-commutative space time which is fully renormalisable.

Bianca Dittrich - Diffeomorphisms, renormalisation and perfect action in discrete theories

Spin foam models, when taken as discretisations of a continuum action, require renormalisation to find a continuum limit. This lecture course will introduce the notions of renormalisation and perfect actions in discrete theories with special emphasize on the role of (the breaking of) diffeomorphism invariance.

Jerzy Jurkiewicz - Causal dynamical triangulations

An alternative approach to the definition of the path integral of quantum gravity is to sum not over geometric moduli of a fixed discretisation, but instead to sum over all discretisations with fixed geometric building blocks. This lecture will give an introductory overview of causal dynamical triangulations, the most successful and sophisticated such technique.

Planned individual talks

Claudio Perini - Graviton propagator
Eugenio Bianchi - Friedmann equation from the EPRL vertex amplitude
Wojciech Kamiński - EPRL map: SO(4) and SO(1,3), integrability
Johannes Brunemann - Volume operator
Simone Speziale - LQG and twisted geometries
Joseph Ben Geloun - EPRL GFT

==============================
Abhay Ashtekar will give the opening talk.
In the list of Core lecture series, Krajewski has been confirmed, and Connes not confirmed.
So the list is now definite at 5.
Sahlmann/Giesel
Rovelli
Steinacker
Krajewski
Hollands
http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~kostecki/school3/

 

[f-h]

Just a note: It's best to think of this info as preliminary for now.

fh

 

[marcus]

Thanks fh,
I'd say that the preceding remark, post #5, is as reliable as it might be if it came from one of the committee organizing the school :-|

Chances are they've settled on the lineup of Core lecture series, but aren't sure yet about the Auxiliary talks.

This two-week school strikes me, from what we've seen so far, as likely to be one of the best QG events to date. In some way potentially more informative than the regular bi-annual conference Loops 2011 at Madrid.

 

[MTd2]

So, Allain Connes won't be there...

 

[marcus]

So, Alain Connes won't be there...

Probably he won't be there. But two remarks are in order:

fh (who should know) says the information is preliminary, so what we have so far could change.

Harold Steinacker is expected to give a series of lectures on Noncommutative Geometry.

==quote==
Harold Steinacker - Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
Non-commutative geometry is a natural extension of geometry in the context of quantum theories that potentially, may also include gravity. NCG naturally occurs in particle physics, as shown by Alain Connes, and also appears naturally in the context of three-dimensional quantum gravity via Chern-Simons theory. It is also used as a technical tool in state sum models, particularly via quantum groups, which provide deformations of the usual spin network calculus which can be used to construct quantum gravity models. The lectures will cover the definition and construction of non-commutative spaces as well as the construction of QFTs on them. Another theme will be the relationship to matrix models.
==endquote==

It seems to me that from the standpoint of the target audience, which I think is probably on the order of 100 PhD students and new postdocs interested in entering background-independent QG research, Steinacker is as good as Connes. He has a group at Vienna. He collaborates with a bunch of other people and does a variety of Connes-like stuff. In my untutored estimation, you couldn't ask for a better introduction to the field. http://homepage.univie.ac.at/harold.steinacker/

This is going to be a good school. And two weeks. I only wish we could expect online video of the lectures.

BTW this 2008 Rome workshop website is kind of a who's-who for *quantum spacetime and noncommutative geometry* with slide presentations and photographs (click on the thumbnails). It gives a bit of perspective: you get a feel for where the QST&NG movement was back in 2008. How the people looked and what their slides were about. Of course Steinacker is there, if you want to take a glance at his slides.
Connes and Rovelli too.
http://www.mat.uniroma2.it/08QSTNG/contributions.php

 

[marcus]

The preliminary schedule of lectures is posted
http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~kostecki/school3/schedule.html
Most of the lectures are 2 hours long.Mar 1
A. Ashtekar 2h
C. Rovelli 2h
K. Giesel 2h
H. Sahlmann 2h

Mar 2
K. Giesel 2h
H. Sahlmann 2h
C. Rovelli 2h

Mar 3
K. Giesel 1h
H. Sahlmann 1h
J. Brunnemann 2h
C. Rovelli 2h

Mar 4 Break (Friday)

Mar 5
C.Rovelli 2h
W. Kamiński 2h
P. Singh 2h

Mar 6
S. Hollands 2h
C. Rovelli 2h
P. Singh 2h

Mar 7
S. Hollands 2h
S. Speziale 2h
C. Perini 1h
E. Bianchi 1h

Mar 8
T. Krajewski 2h
S. Hollands 2h
J.B. Geloun/V. Rivasseau 2h

Mar 9 Break (Wednesday)

Mar 10
H. Steinacker 2h
J. Barrett 2h
T. Krajewski 2h

Mar 11
H. Steinacker 2h
H. Grosse 2h
M. Burić 2h

Mar 12
H. Steinacker 2h
K. Noui 2h
W. Faibairn 2h

Mar 13
B. Dittrich 2h
J. Jurkiewicz 2h
C. Meusburger 2h

 

[marcus]

To give a more concrete idea of the balance of topics and overall content of the school, I will add the topics—Mar 1
A. Ashtekar 2h — Opening lecture
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams
K. Giesel 2h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 2h — Loop quantum gravity

Mar 2
K. Giesel 2h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 2h — Loop quantum gravity
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams

Mar 3
K. Giesel 1h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 1h — Loop quantum gravity
J. Brunnemann 2h — Volume operator
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams

Mar 4 Break (Friday)

Mar 5
C.Rovelli 2h — Spin foams
W. Kamiński 2h — EPRL map: SO(4) and SO(1,3), integrability
P. Singh 2h — Loop quantum cosmology

Mar 6
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams
P. Singh 2h — Loop quantum cosmology

Mar 7
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds
S. Speziale 2h— LQG and twisted geometries
C. Perini 1h — Graviton propagator
E. Bianchi 1h — Friedmann equation from the EPRL vertex amplitude

Mar 8
T. Krajewski 2h — Group field theories
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds
J.B. Geloun/V. Rivasseau 2h — EPRL GFT

Mar 9 Break (Wednesday)

Mar 10
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
J. Barrett 2h — Large j limit of spin foam amplitudes
T. Krajewski 2h — Group field theories

Mar 11
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
H. Grosse 2h — Renormalisation of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model
M. Burić 2h — Renormalisation of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model

Mar 12
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
K. Noui 2h — SL_q(2,C)
W. Fairbairn 2h — SL_q(2,C) EPRLK model

Mar 13
B. Dittrich 2h — Diffeomorphisms, renormalisation and perfect action in discrete theories
J. Jurkiewicz 2h — Causal dynamical triangulations
C. Meusburger 2h — 2+1 gravity

 

[marcus]

Everybody here should realize that LQG has a kind of Baltic/Mediterranean tectonic plate movement with the Baltic associated with a more conservative manifold-based approach and the Medi more combinatorial and comparatively free of manifold. Warsaw is on the Baltic and many of those lecturing at the school are students or co-authors of Warsaw's Jerzy Lewandowski. I want to see how it looks if I polarize and color-code, with Baltic navy (dark) blue and Mediterranean light blue. And inbetween or neither just neutral color. Some of the assignments may seem a bit arbitrary, for instance Catherine Meusburger is at Hamburg which is directly on the Baltic so what could she be but navy blue.Mar 1
A. Ashtekar 2h — Opening lecture
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams
K. Giesel 2h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 2h — Loop quantum gravity

Mar 2
K. Giesel 2h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 2h — Loop quantum gravity
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams

Mar 3
K. Giesel 1h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 1h — Loop quantum gravity
J. Brunnemann 2h — Volume operator
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams

Mar 4 Break (Friday)

Mar 5
C.Rovelli 2h — Spin foams
W. Kamiński 2h — EPRL map: SO(4) and SO(1,3), integrability
P. Singh 2h — Loop quantum cosmology

Mar 6
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams
P. Singh 2h — Loop quantum cosmology

Mar 7
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds
S. Speziale 2h— LQG and twisted geometries
C. Perini 1h — Graviton propagator
E. Bianchi 1h — Friedmann equation from the EPRL vertex amplitude

Mar 8
T. Krajewski 2h — Group field theories
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds
J.B. Geloun/V. Rivasseau 2h — EPRL GFT

Mar 9 Break (Wednesday)

Mar 10
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
J. Barrett 2h — Large j limit of spin foam amplitudes
T. Krajewski 2h — Group field theories

Mar 11
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
H. Grosse 2h — Renormalisation of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model
M. Burić 2h — Renormalisation of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model

Mar 12
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
K. Noui 2h — SL_q(2,C)
W. Fairbairn 2h — SL_q(2,C) EPRLK model

Mar 13
B. Dittrich 2h — Diffeomorphisms, renormalisation and perfect action in discrete theories
J. Jurkiewicz 2h — Causal dynamical triangulations
C. Meusburger 2h — 2+1 gravity

Offhand it seems like the school lineup is evenly balanced in respect to manifoldy/manifoldless or however you want to imagine the shifting directions of tectonic drift.
http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~kostecki/school3/

 

[marcus]

The school now has over 95 registered participants. Probably close to capacity.
http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~kostecki/school3/
Some minor schedule changes were posted in the last couple of days. Here is the update:

Mar 1
A. Ashtekar 1h — Opening lecture
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams
K. Giesel 2h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 2h — Loop quantum gravity

Mar 2
K. Giesel 2h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 2h — Loop quantum gravity
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams

Mar 3
K. Giesel 1h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 1h — Loop quantum gravity
J. Brunnemann 2h — Volume operator
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams

Mar 4 Break (Friday)

Mar 5
C.Rovelli 2h — Spin foams
T. Krajewski 2h — Group field theories
W. Kamiński 2h — EPRL map: SO(4) and SO(1,3), integrability

March 6
K. Noui (or C. Meusburger) 2h — SL_q(2,C)
W. Fairbairn 2h — SL_q(2,C) EPRLK model
T. Krajewski 2h — Group field theories

Mar 7
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds
S. Speziale 2h— LQG and twisted geometries
P. Singh 2h — Loop quantum cosmology

Mar 8
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds
B. Dittrich 2h — Diffeomorphisms, renormalisation and perfect action in discrete theories
P. Singh 2h — Loop quantum cosmology

Mar 9 Break (Wednesday)

Mar 10
A. Baratin 2h — (to be confirmed) might be about 1101.0590 diffeomorphisms in GFT
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds

Mar 11
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
H. Grosse 2h — Renormalisation of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model
M. Burić 2h — Renormalisation of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model

Mar 12
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
J. Barrett 2h — Large j limit of spin foam amplitudes
C. Perini 1h — Graviton propagator

Mar 13

J. Jurkiewicz 2h — Causal dynamical triangulations
E. Bianchi 1h — Friedmann equation from the EPRL vertex amplitude
C. Meusburger 2h — 2+1 gravity

 

[marcus]

The school now has 107 registered participants. My guess is that they have reached capacity, based on the size of rooms at Zakopane and the earlier QG school that was held there.
There has been no change in the schedule from what I copied in the post preceding this one, except that on 6 March Meusburger will give the talk instead of Noui. That had not been decided earlier.

John Barrett will be there, scheduled to give a talk on 12 March. I should imagine he will be urged to give an extra talk about his new paper (Induced gravity and unification, went on arxiv at the beginning of February) which had not appeared when the school talks were chosen and scheduled. There ought to be some interest and he may need to give an impromptu exposition during some coffeebreak or to non-skiers on one of the free days.
A lot of new things are coming together in that school.

 

[marcus]

The school now has 108 registered participants. Probably at capacity.
http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~kostecki/school3/
Updated schedule:

Mar 1
A. Ashtekar 1h — Opening lecture
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams
K. Giesel 2h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 2h — Loop quantum gravity

Mar 2
K. Giesel 2h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 2h — Loop quantum gravity
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams

Mar 3
K. Giesel 1h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 1h — Loop quantum gravity
J. Brunnemann 2h — Volume operator
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams

Mar 4 Break (Friday)

Mar 5
C.Rovelli 2h — Spin foams
T. Krajewski 2h — Group field theories
W. Kamiński 2h — EPRL map: SO(4) and SO(1,3), integrability

March 6
C. Meusburger 2h — SL_q(2,C)
W. Fairbairn 2h — SL_q(2,C) EPRLK model
T. Krajewski 2h — Group field theories

Mar 7
E. Bianchi 2h — Friedmann equation from the EPRL vertex amplitude
S. Speziale 2h— LQG and twisted geometries
P. Singh 2h — Loop quantum cosmology

Mar 8
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds
B. Dittrich 2h — Diffeomorphisms, renormalisation and perfect action in discrete theories
P. Singh 2h — Loop quantum cosmology

Mar 9 Break (Wednesday)

Mar 10
A. Baratin 2h — Geometric constructions of GFTs
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds

Mar 11
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
H. Grosse 2h — Renormalisation of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds

Mar 12
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
J. Barrett 2h — Large j limit of spin foam amplitudes
M. Burić 2h — Renormalisation of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model

Mar 13
J. Jurkiewicz 2h — Causal dynamical triangulations
C. Perini 1h — Graviton propagator
C. Meusburger 2h — 2+1 gravity

 

[marcus]

Lectures started today at the Lisbon school
"Higher gauge, TQFT, and Quantum Gravity"
The school and workshop run 7-13 February.
Here is a schedule of the first three days school lectures.

Monday
Chris Schommer-Pries Two-Dimensional Extended Topological Field Theories
Tim Porter Homotopy Quantum Field Theories
John Huerta Higher Gauge Theory
Christoph Wockel Higher gauge theory in infinite-dimensional Lie theory

Tuesday
John Huerta Higher Gauge Theory
Tim Porter Homotopy Quantum Field Theories
Christoph Wockel Higher gauge theory in infinite-dimensional Lie theory
Chris Schommer-Pries Two-Dimensional Extended Topological Field Theories

Wednesday
Christoph Wockel Higher gauge theory in infinite-dimensional Lie theory
Tim Porter Homotopy Quantum Field Theories
Chris Schommer-Pries Two-Dimensional Extended Topological Field Theories
Chris Schommer-Pries Two-Dimensional Extended Topological Field Theories

Notes: the minicourse sessions are 45+45 minutes with a break, except for the 45 min. sessions before lunch.

Abstracts and more details on parts of individual lectures here:
https://sites.google.com/site/hgtqgr/programme
======================

Zakopane QG school begins in three weeks from today and runs 2 weeks.
http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~kostecki/school3/

I suppose that these two schools, together with the June Zurich conference "Quantum Theory and Gravitation", will serve to define the field for the next several years.
So it should be interesting to see what the topics of the main invited talks and school lectures are.
The list of participants already registered for the June conference at the Zurich ETH (Einstein's alma mater) reads in part like a QG Who's Who
http://www.conferences.itp.phys.ethz.ch/doku.php?id=qg11:participants

 

[marcus]

Zakopane QG school reopened registration 16-20 February

Registration was closed 28 Jaunuary when 108 participants had registered. Now late-registration has been opened until 20 February. Same as before but no scholarship support. Late-comers must pay their own travel and full tuition.
But the tuition is not not much anyway.

http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~kostecki/school3/

Some slight changes in the schedule were indicated today. Here is the updated schedule as of 16 February. I have bolded the first 7 days of the school because at one point the option of just going for one week came up in discussion and I want to concentrate on thinking through what would be covered in just the first week.

Mar 1
A. Ashtekar 1h — Opening lecture
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams
K. Giesel 2h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 2h — Loop quantum gravity

Mar 2
K. Giesel 2h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 2h — Loop quantum gravity
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams

Mar 3
K. Giesel 1h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 1h — Loop quantum gravity
J. Brunnemann 2h — Volume operator
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams

Mar 4 Break (Friday)

Mar 5
C.Rovelli 2h — Spin foams
T. Krajewski 2h — Group field theories
W. Fairbairn 2h — SL_q(2,C) EPRLK model

March 6
C. Meusburger 2h — SL_q(2,C)
W. Fairbairn 2h — SL_q(2,C) EPRLK model
T. Krajewski 2h — Group field theories

Mar 7
C. Meusburger 2h — 2+1 gravity
S. Speziale 2h— LQG and twisted geometries
A. Baratin 2h — Geometric constructions of GFTs

Mar 8
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds
B. Dittrich 2h — Diffeomorphisms, renormalisation and perfect action in discrete theories
P. Singh 2h — Loop quantum cosmology

Mar 9 Break (Wednesday)

Mar 10
P. Singh 2h — Loop quantum cosmology
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds

Mar 11
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
H. Grosse 2h — Renormalisation of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds

Mar 12
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
E. Bianchi 2h — Friedmann equation from the EPRL vertex amplitude
M. Burić 2h — Renormalisation of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model

Mar 13
J. Jurkiewicz 2h — Causal dynamical triangulations
C. Perini 2h — Graviton propagator
W. Kamiński 2h — EPRL map: SO(4) and SO(1,3), integrability

I think if I could only afford to take off work for a week and had to pick 7 days to be there, I would choose to attend the school from 1 March thru 7 March. Just those 7 days. That would be about all I could assimilate comfortably in any case.

 

[marcus]

Finalized schedule for the March 2011 QG school

The final schedule for the Zakopane school has been posted. Essentially no change. Except for Abhay Ashtekar's opening talk which is at 11 o'clock Tuesday morning, all the lectures will be in the afternoon 1-8 PM (13-20 h), with two half-hour coffee-breaks.

That means if you like to ski you have mornings free. There are also two breaks, Sunday 6th and Wednesday 9th, when you can ski all day.

http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~kostecki/school3/Mar 1
A. Ashtekar 1h — Opening lecture
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams
K. Giesel 2h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 2h — Loop quantum gravity

Mar 2
K. Giesel 2h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 2h — Loop quantum gravity
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams

Mar 3
K. Giesel 1h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 1h — Loop quantum gravity
J. Brunnemann 2h — Volume operator
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams

Mar 4
C.Rovelli 2h — Spin foams
T. Krajewski 2h — Group field theories
W. Fairbairn 2h — SL_q(2,C) EPRLK model

Mar 5
C. Meusburger 2h — SL_q(2,C)
W. Fairbairn 2h — SL_q(2,C) EPRLK model
T. Krajewski 2h — Group field theories

Mar 6 Sunday free day

Mar 7
C. Meusburger 2h — 2+1 gravity
S. Speziale 2h — LQG and twisted geometries
A. Baratin 2h — Geometric constructions of GFTs

Mar 8
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds
B. Dittrich 2h — Diffeomorphisms, renormalisation and perfect action in discrete theories
P. Singh 2h — Loop quantum cosmology

Mar 9 Wednesday free day

Mar 10
P. Singh 2h — Loop quantum cosmology
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds

Mar 11
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
H. Grosse 2h — Renormalisation of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds

Mar 12
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
E. Bianchi 2h — Friedmann equation from the EPRL vertex amplitude
M. Burić 2h — Renormalisation of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model

Mar 13
J. Jurkiewicz 2h — Causal dynamical triangulations
C. Perini 2h — Graviton propagator
W. Kamiński 2h — EPRL map: SO(4) and SO(1,3), integrability

After the QG school, an interesting Quantum Geometry/Gravity gathering to watch taking shape will be the Zurich conference on "Quantum Theory and Gravitation".

Here is a kind of "mission statement" defining the scope of the conference:
http://www.conferences.itp.phys.ethz.ch/doku.php?id=qg11:start
What I think it does is merge a half dozen different approaches into a new combined research field where people going at QG different ways should share ideas and know what each other are doing, like different climbing parties going up the same mountain might keep in touch. It is a bold idea IMHO, and I think it is the right idea now.

Here is the list of 30 invited speakers:
http://www.conferences.itp.phys.ethz.ch/doku.php?id=qg11:speakers

The Zurich conference is not until early June. Already 68 people have registered and all but two of the invited speakers are listed as confirmed. (The two not shown as confirmed have registered as participants so I think this implies they will speak, and this simply has not been noted on the webpage.)

In case anyone is interested here are links for a couple of related conferences scheduled for this year:
http://www.iem.csic.es/loops11/ (late May)
http://www-conference.slu.se/strings2011/programme.html (late June)
https://www.akademikonferens.se/list.jsf?conf=strings2011

 

[marcus]

One comment to make about the QG schedule is the potential surprise of Brunnemann's talk on the volume operator.

If you consider the first five days of the school, Tuesday through Saturday, we have read and discussed papers (here at Beyond forum) relating to nearly all of the presentations.

But we have not discussed the work of Johannes Brunnemann and David Rideout which applies matroid theory to study the volume operator in the embedded graph version of LQG.

Matroid analysis is a combinatorial technique that seems suited to capture and deal with topological information (varieties of interconnectedness). Rideout, at Perimeter, is an expert user of SHARCNET a high performance computing network based in Southern Ontario running the Cactus system.

I suspect that the Brunnemann Rideout matroid work on the Vol operator has a chance of "shaking up" LQG a bit. Because the Vol operator is the locus of some unresolved questions.
There are alternative definitions drifting around, yielding different versions of the operator spectrum. And it is basic to defining matter fields in the Loop context. At least if one goes with embedded graphs.

I want to understand this Brunnemann talk better, so I will get some related abstracts.

Brunnemann is a postdoc in Christian Fleischhack's young researcher team funded by the Emmy Noether agency. Emmy gives a few outstanding young PhD's a chance to set up and lead their own independent research projects (not under the wing of some senior) and gather 2 or 3 others of their own choosing, to work with. As an example of a Noether young researcher group at Uni Paderborn, here is Fleischhack's page:
http://www2.math.uni-paderborn.de/people/christian-fleischhack.html

http://arxiv.org/abs/1003.2348
Oriented Matroids -- Combinatorial Structures Underlying Loop Quantum Gravity
Johannes Brunnemann, David Rideout
43 pages, 26 figures. Version published in CQG.
(Submitted on 11 Mar 2010)

"We analyze combinatorial structures which play a central role in determining spectral properties of the volume operator in loop quantum gravity (LQG). These structures encode geometrical information of the embedding of arbitrary valence vertices of a graph in 3-dimensional Riemannian space, and can be represented by sign strings containing relative orientations of embedded edges. We demonstrate that these signature factors are a special representation of the general mathematical concept of an oriented matroid. Moreover, we show that oriented matroids can also be used to describe the topology (connectedness) of directed graphs. Hence the mathematical methods developed for oriented matroids can be applied to the difficult combinatorics of embedded graphs underlying the construction of LQG. As a first application we revisit the analysis of [4-5], and find that enumeration of all possible sign configurations used there is equivalent to enumerating all realizable oriented matroids of rank 3, and thus can be greatly simplified. We find that for 7-valent vertices having no coplanar triples of edge tangents, the smallest non-zero eigenvalue of the volume spectrum does not grow as one increases the maximum spin j_max at the vertex, for any orientation of the edge tangents. This indicates that, in contrast to the area operator, considering large j_max does not necessarily imply large volume eigenvalues. In addition we give an outlook to possible starting points for rewriting the combinatorics of LQG in terms of oriented matroids."

 

[marcus]

I was wrong when I guessed earlier there wouldn't online resource material like notes posted from the Zakopane school.
Ashtekar's slide set is here:
http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~kostecki/school3/pdf/Abhay.pdf

Brunnemann's slide set is here:
http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~kostecki/school3/pdf/Brunnemann_volume.pdf
I think it is an important contribution because it resolves some problems with volume that were outstanding until recently.

Earlier I did not expect slides from the school talks to be posted online.

So far, for a *new* Loop Gravity tutorial you can't do better than the Lectures write-up that Rovelli posted on arxiv before the school started
http://arxiv.org/abs/1102.3660
but there are also what look like screenshots of what he wrote during the talks:
http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~kostecki/school3/pdf/Rovelli_1.pdf
http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~kostecki/school3/pdf/Rovelli_2.pdf
http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~kostecki/school3/pdf/Rovelli_3.pdf
http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~kostecki/school3/pdf/Rovelli_4.pdf

My guess is that students in the audience would have had a one-sided print-outs of 1102.3660 in front of them so instead of having to take notes they could just mark up their copy: underlining, writing in the margins or on the back of a page.

More slides, as they are posted:
http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~kostecki/school3/

Revised Zakopane school schedule:

Mar 1
A. Ashtekar 1h — Opening lecture
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams
K. Giesel 2h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 2h — Loop quantum gravity

Mar 2
K. Giesel 2h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 2h — Loop quantum gravity
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams

Mar 3
K. Giesel 1h — Loop quantum gravity
H. Sahlmann 1h — Loop quantum gravity
J. Brunnemann 2h — Volume operator
C. Rovelli 2h — Spin foams

Mar 4
C.Rovelli 2h — Spin foams
T. Krajewski 2h — Group field theories
W. Fairbairn 2h — SL_q(2,C) EPRLK model

Mar 5
E. Bianchi 2h — Friedmann equation from the EPRL vertex amplitude
W. Fairbairn 2h — SL_q(2,C) EPRLK model
T. Krajewski 2h — Group field theories

Mar 6 Sunday free day

Mar 7
C. Perini 2h — Graviton propagator
S. Speziale 2h — LQG and twisted geometries
A. Baratin 2h — Geometric constructions of GFTs

Mar 8
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds
B. Dittrich 2h — Diffeomorphisms, renormalisation and perfect action in discrete theories
P. Singh 2h — Loop quantum cosmology

Mar 9 Wednesday free day

Mar 10
P. Singh 2h — Loop quantum cosmology
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds

Mar 11
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
H. Grosse 2h — Renormalisation of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model
S. Hollands 2h — Exact QFT in curved backgrounds

Mar 12
H. Steinacker 2h — Non-commutative geometry and matrix models
M. Burić 2h — Renormalisation of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model

Mar 13
J. Jurkiewicz 2h — Causal dynamical triangulations
W. Kamiński 2h — EPRL map: SO(4) and SO(1,3), integrability

Another interesting Quantum Geometry/Gravity gathering to watch taking shape will be the Zurich conference on "Quantum Theory and Gravitation".

There is a kind of "mission statement" defining the scope of the conference:
http://www.conferences.itp.phys.ethz.ch/doku.php?id=qg11:start
What aims to do is merge a half dozen different approaches into a new combined research field where people going at QG different ways should share ideas and know what each other are doing. The field seems ready for that. Here is the list of 30 invited speakers:
http://www.conferences.itp.phys.ethz.ch/doku.php?id=qg11:speakers
There are already 71 registered participants.
The main organizers are Barrett, Grosse, Nicolai, Picken, Rovelli