The Equivalence between the Connection and the Loop Representation of Quantum Gravity

Abstract

The recent developments of the ``connection'' and ``loop'' representations have given the possibility to show that the two representation are equivalent and that it is possible to transform any result from one representation into the other. The glue between the two representations is the loop transform. Its use, combined with the techincs Penrose's binor calculus, gives the possibility to establish the exact correspondence between operators and states in the connection representation and those in the loop representation. The main ingredients in the prove of the equivalence are: the concept of embedded spin network, the Penrose graphical method of SU(2) calculus, and the existence of a generalized measure on the space of connections.