How the cosmological constant q-deforms symmetries in Loop Quantum Gravity

Tuesday, September 21st

Qiaoyin Pan, Perimeter Institute

How the cosmological constant q-deforms symmetries in LQG
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By Jorge Pullin, LSU

Ashtekar showed in 1986 how to rewrite general relativity in terms of variables that make it look like the Yang-Mills theories that describe particle physics. This was the cornerstone that allowed the introduction of loop variables by Rovelli and Smolin and led to the development of loop quantum gravity.

Yang-Mills theories are generalizations of Maxwell's electromagnetism which have several electric and magnetic fields. These theories have a symmetry through which multiple field values correspond to the same physical situations. The transformations among the fields that keep the physical situation invariant form a mathematical structure called a group. The particular group that arises in loop quantum gravity is called SU(2) and is similar to the one that appears in the theory of the weak interactions.

When a cosmological constant is present, things can be reconfigured in such a way that the group that arises is a mathematical structure called q-deformed group, with q a parameter related to the value of the cosmological constant. Observations indicate that our current universe indeed has a cosmological constant present that makes its expansion accelerate, therefore this is a situation of physical interest.

The talk described the mathematical structures that arise when one formulates loop quantum gravity in terms of the q-deformed structures, including the dynamics of the theory. It also points to connections with another mathematical structure known as quantum groups.