Quantum Gravity at the Corner

Abstract

We investigate the quantum geometry of a 2d surface S bounding the Cauchy slices of a 4d gravitational system. We investigate in detail for the first time the boundary symplectic current that naturally arises in the first-order formulation of general relativity in terms of the Ashtekar–Barbero connection. This current is proportional to the simplest quadratic form constructed out of the pull back to S of the triad field. We show that the would-be-gauge degrees of freedo arising from S U ( 2 ) gauge transformations plus diffeomorphisms tangent to the boundary are entirely described by the boundary 2-dimensional symplectic form, and give rise to a representation at each point of S of S L ( 2 , R ) × S U ( 2 ) . Independently of the connection with gravity, this system is very simple and rich at the quantum level, with possible connections with conformal field theory in 2d. A direct application of the quantum theory is modelling of the black horizons in quantum gravity.