A lattice worldsheet sum for 4-d Euclidean general relativity

Abstract

A lattice model for four dimensional Euclidean quantum general relativity is proposed for a simplicial spacetime. It is shown how this model can be expressed in terms of a sum over worldsheets of spin networks, and an interpretation of these worldsheets as spacetime geometries is given, based on the geometry defined by spin networks in canonical loop quantized GR. The spacetime geometry has a Planck scale discreteness which arises "naturally" from the discrete spectrum of spins of SU(2) representations (and not from the use of a spacetime lattice). The lattice model of the dynamics is a formal quantization of the classical lattice model of \cite{Rei97a}, which reproduces, in a continuum limit, Euclidean general relativity.