By Abhay Ashtekar and Jorge Pullin (eds.)
World Scientific
This book, which is part of the “100 Years of General Relativity” series of monographs, aims to provide an overview of the foundations and recent developments of loop quantum gravity (LQG).
This is a theory that merges quantum mechanics and general relativity in an effort to unify gravity with the other three fundamental forces. In the approach of LQG, space–time is not a continuum, but it is quantised, and is considered as a dynamic entity. Different from string theory, loop quantum gravity is a “background-independent” theory, which aims to explain space and time instead of being plugged into an already existing space–time structure.
The book comprises eight chapters, distributed in three parts. The first is a general introduction that sets the scene and anticipates what will be discussed in detail in the following sections. The second part, comprising five chapters, introduces the conceptual, mathematical and physical foundation of LQG. In part three, the application of this theory to cosmology and black holes is discussed, also introducing predictions that might be testable in the foreseeable future.
Written by young theoretical physicists who are expert in the field, this volume is meant both to provide an introduction to the field and to offer a review of the latest developments, not discussed in many other existing books, for senior researchers. It will also appeal to scientists who do not work directly on LQG but are interested in issues at the interface of general relativity and quantum physics.
