[gr-qc/0410054] Gravity and the Quantum

Authors:  Abhay Ashtekar
Abstract:  The goal of this article is to present a broad perspective on quantum gravity for \emph{non-experts}. After a historical introduction, key physical problems of quantum gravity are illustrated. While there are a number of interesting and insightful approaches to address these issues, over the past two decades sustained progress has primarily occurred in two programs: string theory and loop quantum gravity. The first program is described in Horowitz's contribution while my article will focus on the second. The emphasis is on underlying ideas, conceptual issues and overall status of the program rather than mathematical details and associated technical subtleties.
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Anze Slosar
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Joined: September 24 2004
Affiliation: Brookhaven National Laboratory
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[gr-qc/0410054] Gravity and the Quantum

Post by Anze Slosar » October 17 2004

I would recommend this paper to anybody interested in this fascinating topic; especially the introduction part is fairy understandable and for the first time I understand why quantising gravity is a such a difficult problem; although I do get lost in the second part.

Nevertheless, in the second part Ashtekar seem to be fairly convinced that quantum loop gravity in its present incarnation is pretty close to being at least roughly correct. He must be (understandably) biased, so can anybody from the opposite camp offer some insight / critique?

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