Review on the quantization of gravity

Abstract

This is a review article on quantum gravity. In section 1, the Penrose singularity theorem is proven. In section 2, the covariant quantization approach of gravity is reviewed. In section 3, an article by Hawking is reviewed that shows the gravitational path integral at one loop level to be dominated by contributions from some kind of virtual gravitational instantons. In section 4, the canonical, non-perturbative quantization approach is reviewed. In section 5, arguments from Hawking are mentioned which show the gravitational path integral to be an approximate solution of the Wheeler deWitt equation. In section 6, the black hole entropy is derived in various ways. Section 6.1 uses the gravitational path integral for this calculation. Section 6.2 shows how the black hole entropy can be derived from canonical quantum gravity. In section 7.1, arguments from Dvali and Gomez who claim that gravity can be quantized in a way which would be in some sense self-complete are critically assessed. In section 7.2 a model from Dvali and Gomez for the description of quantum mechanical black holes is critically assessed and compared with the standard quantization methods of gravity.