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The Quantization of a Globally Hyperbolic Spacetime

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Part of the book series: Fundamental Theories of Physics ((FTPH,volume 194))

Abstract

The quantization of gravity is hampered by the fact that the Einstein–Hilbert Lagrangian is singular. Switching to a Hamiltonian setting requires to impose two constraints, the Hamilton constraint and the diffeomorphism constraint. Though we were able to eliminate the diffeomorphism constraint in a recent paper [16], the Hamilton constraint is a serious obstacle. Quantization of a Hamiltonian setting requires a model in which the quantized variables, which turn into operators, act, and, in case of constraints, preferably given as an equation, to quantize this equation.

The original version of this chapter was revised: Belated corrections have been updated. The erratum to this chapter is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77371-1_8

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Note that the left-hand side of this equation is a variant of the evolution equation of the mean curvature of the foliation hypersurfaces, cf. (1.6.16) on page 42, i.e., the implementation of the Hamilton constraint is very similar for these two models.

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Correspondence to Claus Gerhardt .

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Gerhardt, C. (2018). The Quantization of a Globally Hyperbolic Spacetime. In: The Quantization of Gravity. Fundamental Theories of Physics, vol 194. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77371-1_1

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