Spinor gravity and diffeomorphism invariance on the lattice

Abstract

The key ingredient for lattice regularized quantum gravity is diffeomorphism symmetry. We formulate a lattice functional integral for quantum gravity in terms of fermions. This allows for a diffeomorphism invariant functional measure and avoids problems of boundedness of the action. We discuss the concept of lattice diffeomorphism invariance. This is realized if the action does not depend on the positioning of abstract lattice points on a continuous manifold. Our formulation of lattice spinor gravity also realizes local Lorentz symmetry. Furthermore, the Lorentz transformations are generalized such that the functional integral describes simultaneously euclidean and Minkowski signature. The difference between space and time arises as a dynamical effect due to the expectation value of a collective metric field. The quantum effective action for the metric is diffeomorphism invariant. Realistic gravity can be obtained if this effective action admits a derivative expansion for long wavelengths.