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An introduction to quantum gravity
Giampiero Esposito,
INFN, Sezione di Napoli,
Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo,
Via Cintia, Edicio 6, 80126 Napoli, Italy
August 17, 2011
Abstract
Quantum gravity was born as that branch of modern theoretical
physics that tries to unify its guiding principles, i.e., quantum me-
chanics and general relativity. Nowadays it is providing new insight
into the unication of all fundamental interactions, while giving rise to
new developments in mathematics. The various competing theories,
e.g. string theory and loop quantum gravity, have still to be checked
against observations. We review the classical and quantum founda-
tions necessary to study eld-theory approaches to quantum gravity,
the passage from old to new unication in quantum eld theory, canon-
ical quantum gravity, the use of functional integrals, the properties
of gravitational instantons, the use of spectral zeta-functions in the
quantum theory of the universe, Hawking radiation, some theoretical
achievements and some key experimental issues.
1 Introduction
The aim of theoretical physics is to provide a clear conceptual framework for
the wide variety of natural phenomena, so that not only are we able to make
accurate predictions to be checked against observations, but the underlying
mathematical structures of the world we live in can also become suciently
well understood by the scientic community. What are therefore the key
elements of a mathematical description of the physical world? Can we derive
1
all basic equations of theoretical physics from a set of symmetry principles?
What do they tell us about the origin and evolution of the universe? Why is
gravitation so peculiar with respect to all other fundamental interactions?
The above questions have received careful consideration over the last
decades, and have led, in particular, to several approaches to a theory aimed
at achieving a synthesis of quantum physics on the one hand, and general
relativity on the other hand. This remains, possibly, the most important
task of theoretical physics. In early work in the thirties, Rosenfeld [131, 132]
computed the gravitational self-energy of a photon in the lowest order of
perturbation theory, and obtained a quadratically divergent result. With
hindsight, one can say that Rosenfelds result implies merely a renormaliza-
tion of charge rather than a non-vanishing photon mass [40]. A few years after
Rosenfelds papers [131, 132], Bronstein realized that the limitation posed by
general relativity on the mass density radically distinguishes the theory from
quantum electrodynamics and would ultimately lead to the need to reject
Riemannian geometry and perhaps also to reject our ordinary concepts of
space and time [20, 135].
Indeed, since the merging of quantum theory and special relativity has
given rise to quantum eld theory in Minkowski spacetime, while quantum
eld theory and classical general relativity, taken without modications, have
given rise to an incomplete scheme such as quantum eld theory in curved
spacetime [65], which however predicts substantially novel features like Hawk-
ing radiation [87, 88], here outlined in section 7, one is led to ask what would
result from the unication of quantum eld theory and gravitation, despite
the lack of a quantum gravity phenomenology in earth-based laboratories.
The resulting theory is expected to suer from ultraviolet divergences [157],
and the one-loop [94] and two-loop [74] calculations for pure gravity are out-
standing pieces of work. As is well described in Ref. [157], if the coupling
constant of a eld theory has dimension mass
d
in h = c = 1 units, then the
integral for a Feynman diagram of order N behaves at large momenta like
_
p
ANd
dp, where A depends on the physical process considered but not on
the order N. Thus, the harmful interactions are those having negative val-
ues of d, which is precisely the case for Newtons constant G, where d = 2,
since G = 6.67 10
39
GeV
2
in h = c = 1 units. More precisely, since the
scalar curvature contains second derivatives of the metric, the corresponding
momentum-space vertex functions behave like p
2
, and the propagator like
p
2
. In d dimensions each loop integral contributes p
d
, so that with L loops,
V vertices and P internal lines, the supercial degree D of divergence of a
2
Feynman diagram is given by [53]
D = dL + 2V 2P. (1)
Moreover, a topological relation holds:
L = 1 V + P, (2)
which leads to [53]
D = (d 2)L + 2. (3)
In other words, D increases with increasing loop order for d > 2, so that it
clearly leads to a non-renormalizable theory.
A quantum theory of gravity is expected, for example, to shed new light on
singularities in classical cosmology. More precisely, the singularity theorems
prove that the Einstein theory of general relativity leads to the occurrence
of spacetime singularities in a generic way [86]. At rst sight one might be
tempted to conclude that a breakdown of all physical laws occurred in the
past, or that general relativity is severely incomplete, being unable to predict
what came out of a singularity. It has been therefore pointed out that all these
pathological features result from the attempt of using the Einstein theory well
beyond its limit of validity, i.e. at energy scales where the fundamental theory
is denitely more involved. General relativity might be therefore viewed as a
low-energy limit of a richer theory, which achieves the synthesis of both the
basic principles of modern physics and the fundamental interactions in
the form currently known.
So far, no less than 16 major approaches to quantum gravity have been
proposed in the literature. Some of them make a direct or indirect use of the
action functional to develop a Lagrangian or Hamiltonian framework. They
are as follows.
1. Canonical quantum gravity [16, 17, 43, 44, 32, 99, 100, 6, 54, 144].
2. Manifestly covariant quantization [116, 33, 94, 74, 7, 152, 21, 103].
3. Euclidean quantum gravity [68, 90].
4. R-squared gravity [142].
5. Supergravity [64, 148].
6. String and brane theory [162, 98, 10].
3
7. Renormalization group and Weinbergs asymptotic safety [129, 106].
8. Non-commutative geometry [26, 75].
Among these 8 approaches, string theory is peculiar because it is not eld-
theoretic, spacetime points being replaced by extended structures such as
strings.
A second set of approaches relies instead upon dierent mathematical
structures with a more substantial (but not complete) departure from con-
ventional pictures, i.e.
9. Twistor theory [122, 123].
10. Asymptotic quantization [67, 5].
11. Lattice formulation [114, 22].
12. Loop space representation [133, 134, 136, 145, 154].
13. Quantum topology [101], motivated by Wheelers quantum geometrody-
namics [159].
14. Simplicial quantum gravity [72, 1, 109, 2] and null-strut calculus [102].
15. Condensed-matter view: the universe in a helium droplet [155].
16. Ane quantum gravity [105].
After such a concise list of a broad range of ideas, we hereafter focus
on the presentation of some very basic properties which underlie whatever
treatment of classical and quantum gravity, and are therefore of interest for
the general reader rather than (just) the specialist. He or she should revert
to the above list only after having gone through the material in sections 27.
2 Classical and quantum foundations
Before any attempt to quantize gravity we should spell out how classical
gravity can be described in modern language. This is done in the subsection
below.
4
2.1 Lorentzian spacetime and gravity
In modern physics, thanks to the work of Einstein [51], space and time are
unied into the spacetime manifold (M, g), where the metric g is a real-valued
symmetric bilinear map
g : T
p
(M) T
p
(M) R
of Lorentzian signature. The latter feature gives rise to the light-cone struc-
ture of spacetime, with vectors being divided into timelike, null or spacelike
depending on whether g(X, X) is negative, vanishing or positive, respectively.
The classical laws of nature are written in tensor language, and gravity is the
curvature of spacetime. In the theory of general relativity, gravity couples to
the energy-momentum tensor of matter through the Einstein equations
R

1
2
g

R =
8G
c
4
T

. (4)
The EinsteinHilbert action functional for gravity, giving rise to Eq. (4),
is dieomorphism-invariant, and hence general relativity belongs actually to
the general set of theories ruled by an innite-dimensional [31] invariance
group (or pseudo-group). With hindsight, following DeWitt [39], one can
say that general relativity was actually the rst example of a non-Abelian
gauge theory (about 38 years before YangMills theory [164]).
Note that the spacetime manifold is actually an equivalence class of pairs
(M, g), where two metrics are viewed as equivalent if one can be obtained
from the other through the action of the dieomorphism group Di(M). The
metric is an additional geometric structure that does not necessarily solve
any eld equation.
2.2 From Schrodinger to Feynman
Quantum mechanics deals instead, mainly, with a probabilistic description
of the world on atomic or sub-atomic scale. It tells us that, on such scales,
the world can be described by a Hilbert space structure, or suitable gener-
alizations. Even in the relatively simple case of the hydrogen atom, the ap-
propriate Hilbert space is innite-dimensional, but nite-dimensional Hilbert
spaces play a role as well. For example, the space of spin-states of a spin-s
particle is C
2s+1
and is therefore nite-dimensional. Various pictures or for-
mulations of quantum mechanics have been developed over the years, and
their key elements can be summarized as follows:
5
(i) In the Schrodinger picture, one deals with wave functions evolving in
time according to a rst-order equation. More precisely, in an abstract
Hilbert space H, one studies the Schr odinger equation
i h
d
dt
=

H, (5)
where the state vector belongs to H, while

H is the Hamiltonian
operator. In wave mechanics, the emphasis is more immediately put
on partial dierential equations, with the wave function viewed as a
complex-valued map : (x, t) C obeying the equation
i h

t
=
_

h
2
2m
+V
_
, (6)
where is the Laplacian in Cartesian coordinates on R
3
(with this
sign convention, its symbol is positive-denite).
(ii) In the Heisenberg picture, what evolves in time are instead the opera-
tors, according to the rst-order equation
i h
d

A
dt
= [

A,

H]. (7)
Heisenberg performed a quantum mechanical re-interpretation of kine-
matic and mechanical relations [93] because he wanted to formulate
quantum theory in terms of observables only.
(iii) In the Dirac quantization, from an assessment of the Heisenberg ap-
proach and of Poisson brackets [41], one discovers that quantum me-
chanics can be made to rely upon the basic commutation relations
involving position and momentum operators:
[ q
j
, q
k
] = [ p
j
, p
k
] = 0, (8)
[ q
j
, p
k
] = i h
j
k
. (9)
For generic operators depending on q, p variables, their formal Taylor
series, jointly with application of (8) and (9), should yield their com-
mutator.
6
(iv) Weyl quantization. The operators satisfying the canonical commuta-
tion relations (9) cannot be both bounded [57], whereas it would be
nice to have quantization rules not involving unbounded operators and
domain problems. For this purpose, one can consider the strongly con-
tinuous one-parameter unitary groups having position and momentum
as their innitesimal generators. These read as V (t) e
it q
, U(s) e
is p
,
and satisfy the Weyl form of canonical commutation relations, which
is given by
U(s)V (t) = e
isth
V (t)U(s). (10)
Here the emphasis was, for the rst time, on group-theoretical meth-
ods, with a substantial departure from the historical development, that
relied instead heavily on quantum commutators and their relation with
classical Poisson brackets.
(v) Feynman quantization (i.e., Lagrangian approach). The Weyl approach
is very elegant and far-sighted, with several modern applications [57],
but still has to do with a more rigorous way of doing canonical quanti-
zation, which is not suitable for an inclusion of relativity. A spacetime
approach to ordinary quantum mechanics was instead devised by Feyn-
man [62] (and partly Dirac himself [42]), who proposed to express the
Green kernel of the Schr odinger equation in the form
G[x
f
, t
f
; x
i
, t
i
] =
_
all paths
e
iS/h
d, (11)
where d is a suitable (putative) measure on the set of all spacetime
paths (including continuous, piecewise continuous, or even discontinu-
ous paths) matching the initial and nal conditions. This point of view
has enormous potentialities in the quantization of eld theories, since
it preserves manifest covariance and the full symmetry group, being
derived from a Lagrangian.
It should be stressed that quantum mechanics regards wave functions
only as a technical tool to study bound states (corresponding to the discrete
spectrum of the Hamiltonian operator

H), scattering states (corresponding
instead to the continuous spectrum of

H), and to evaluate probabilities (of
nding the values taken by the observables of the theory). Moreover, it is
meaningless to talk about an elementary phenomenon on atomic (or sub-
atomic) scale unless it is registered [160], and quantum mechanics in the
7
laboratory needs also an external observer and assumes the so-called reduc-
tion of the wave packet (see [57] and references therein). There exist indeed
dierent interpretations of quantum mechanics, e.g. Copenhagen [160], hid-
den variables [15], many worlds [60, 35].
2.3 Spacetime singularities
Now we revert to the geometric side. In Riemannian or pseudo-Riemannian
geometry, geodesics are curves whose tangent vector X moves by parallel
transport [85], so that eventually
dX

ds
+

= 0, (12)
where s is the ane parameter and

are the connection coecients. In

general relativity, timelike geodesics correspond to the trajectories of freely
moving observers, while null geodesics describe the trajectories of zero-rest-
mass particles (section 8.1 of Ref. [85]). Moreover, a spacetime (M, g) is said
to be singularity-free if all timelike and null geodesics can be extended to ar-
bitrary values of their ane parameter. At a spacetime singularity in general
relativity, all laws of classical physics would break down, because one would
witness very pathological events such as the sudden disappearance of freely
moving observers, and one would be completely unable to predict what came
out of the singularity. In the sixties, Penrose [121] proved rst an important
theorem on the occurrence of singularities in gravitational collapse (e.g. for-
mation of black holes). Subsequent work by Hawking [79, 80, 81, 82, 83],
Geroch [66], Ellis and Hawking [84, 52], Hawking and Penrose [86] proved
that spacetime singularities are generic properties of general relativity, pro-
vided that physically realistic energy conditions hold. Very little analytic use
of the Einstein equations is made, whereas the key role emerges of topological
and global methods in general relativity.
On the side of singularity theory in classical cosmology, explicit mention
should be made of the work in Ref. [14], since it has led to signicant progress
by Damour et al. [27], despite having failed to prove singularity avoidance
in classical cosmology. As pointed out in Ref. [27], the work by Belinsky et
al. is remarkable because it gives a description of the generic asymptotic be-
haviour of the gravitational eld in four-dimensional spacetime in the vicinity
of a spacelike singularity. Interestingly, near the singularity the spatial points
essentially decouple, i.e. the evolution of the spatial metric at each spatial
8
point is asymptotically governed by a set of second-order, non-linear ordinary
dierential equations in the time variable [14]. Moreover, the use of quali-
tative Hamiltonian methods leads naturally to a billiard description of the
asymptotic evolution, where the logarithms of spatial scale factors dene a
geodesic motion in a region of the Lobachevskii plane, interrupted by geomet-
ric reections against the walls bounding this region. Chaos follows because
the Bianchi IX billiard has nite volume [27]. A self-contained derivation
of the billiard picture for inhomogeneous solutions in D dimensions, with
dilaton and p-form gauge elds, has been obtained in Ref. [27].
2.4 Unication of all fundamental interactions
The fully established unications of modern physics are as follows.
(i) Maxwell: electricity and magnetism are unied into electromagnetism.
All related phenomena can be described by an antisymmetric rank-two
tensor eld, and derived from a one-form, called the potential.
(ii) Einstein: space and time are unied into the spacetime manifold. More-
over, inertial and gravitational mass, conceptually dierent, are actu-
ally unied as well.
(iii) Standard model of particle physics: electromagnetic, weak and strong
forces are unied by a non-Abelian gauge theory, normally considered
in Minkowski spacetime (this being the base space in bre-bundle lan-
guage).
The physics community is now familiar with a picture relying upon four
fundamental interactions: electromagnetic, weak, strong and gravitational.
The large-scale structure of the universe, however, is ruled by gravity only.
All unications beyond Maxwell involve non-Abelian gauge groups (either
YangMills or Dieomorphism group). At least three extreme views have
been developed along the years, i.e.,
(i) Gravity arose rst, temporally, in the very early Universe, then all other
fundamental interactions.
(ii) Gravity might result from Quantum Field Theory (this was the Sakharov
idea [139]).
(iii) The vacuum of particle physics is regarded as a cold quantum liquid
in equilibrium. Protons, gravitons and gluons are viewed as collective
excitations of this liquid [155].
9
3 Canonical quantum gravity
Although Hamiltonian methods dier substantially from the Lagrangian ap-
proach used in the construction of the functional integral (see the follow-
ing sections), they remain nevertheless of great importance both in cos-
mology and in light of modern developments in canonical quantum gravity
[6, 136, 144], which is here presented within the original framework of quan-
tum geometrodynamics. For this purpose, it may be useful to describe the
main ideas of the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (hereafter referred to as ADM) for-
malism. This is a canonical formalism for general relativity that enables one
to re-write Einsteins eld equations in rst-order form and explicitly solved
with respect to a time variable. For this purpose, one assumes that four-
dimensional spacetime (M, g) can be foliated by a family of t = constant
spacelike surfaces S
t
, giving rise to a 3 + 1 decomposition of the original
4-geometry. The basic geometric data of this decomposition are as follows
[53].
(1) The induced 3-metric h of the three-dimensional spacelike surfaces S
t
.
This yields the intrinsic geometry of the three-space. h is also called the rst
fundamental form of S
t
, and is positive-denite with our conventions.
(2) The way each S
t
is imbedded in (M, g). This is known once we are
able to compute the spatial part of the covariant derivative of the normal n
to S
t
. On denoting by the four-connection of (M, g), one is thus led to
dene the tensor
K
ij

j
n
i
. (13)
Note that K
ij
is symmetric if and only if is symmetric. In general relativity,
an equivalent denition of K
ij
is K
ij

1
2
(L
n
h)
ij
, where L
n
denotes the Lie
derivative along the normal to S
t
. The tensor K is called extrinsic-curvature
tensor, or second fundamental form of S
t
.
(3) How the coordinates are propagated o the surface S
t
. For this pur-
pose one denes the vector (N, N
1
, N
2
, N
3
)dt connecting the point (t, x
i
)
with the point (t + dt, x
i
). Thus, given the surface x
0
= t and the surface
x
0
= t +dt, Ndt d species a displacement normal to the surface x
0
= t.
Moreover, N
i
dt yields the displacement from the point (t, x
i
) to the foot of
the normal to x
0
= t through (t + dt, x
i
). In other words, the N
i
arise since
the x
i
= constant lines do not coincide in general with the normals to the
t = constant surfaces. According to a well-established terminology, N is the
lapse function, and the N
i
are the shift functions. They are the tool needed
10
to achieve the desired space-time foliation.
In light of points (1)(3) as above, the 4-metric g can be locally cast in
the form
g = h
ij
_
dx
i
+ N
i
dt
_

_
dx
j
+ N
j
dt
_
N
2
dt dt. (14)
This implies that
g
00
=
_
N
2
N
i
N
i
_
, (15)
g
i0
= g
0i
= N
i
, (16)
g
ij
= h
ij
, (17)
whereas, using the property g

, one nds
g
00
=
1
N
2
, (18)
g
i0
= g
0i
=
N
i
N
2
, (19)
g
ij
= h
ij

N
i
N
j
N
2
. (20)
Interestingly, the covariant g
ij
and h
ij
coincide, whereas the contravariant
g
ij
and h
ij
dier as shown in (20). In terms of N, N
i
and h, the extrinsic-
curvature tensor dened in (13) takes the form
K
ij

1
2N
_

h
ij
t
+ N
i|j
+ N
j|i
_
, (21)
where the stroke | denotes covariant dierentiation on the spacelike 3-surface
S
t
, and indices of K
ij
are raised using h
il
. Equation (21) can be also written
as
h
ij
t
= N
i|j
+ N
j|i
2NK
ij
. (22)
Equation (22) should be supplemented by another rst-order equation ex-
pressing the time evolution of K
ij
(recall that
ij
is related to K
ij
), i.e.
K
ij
t
= N
|ij
+ N
_
(3)
R
ij
+ K
ij
(trK) 2K
im
K
m
j
_
+
_
N
m
K
ij|m
+ N
m
|i
K
jm
+ N
m
|j
K
im
_
. (23)
11
On using the ADM variables described so far, the form of the action
integral I for pure gravity that is stationary under variations of the metric
vanishing on the boundary is (in c = 1 units)
I
1
16G
_
M
(4)
R

g d
4
x +
1
8G
_
M
K
i
i

h d
3
x
=
1
16G
_
M
_
(3)
R + K
ij
K
ij

_
K
i
i
_
2
_
N

h d
3
x dt. (24)
The boundary term appearing in (24) is necessary since
(4)
R contains second
derivatives of the metric, and integration by parts in the EinsteinHilbert
part
I
H

1
16G
_
M
(4)
R

g d
4
x
of the action also leads to a boundary term equal to
1
8G
_
M
K
i
i

h d
3
x. On
denoting by G

the Einstein tensor G

(4)
R

1
2
g

(4)
R, and dening

1
2
g

_
g

_
+

_
g

_
g

__
, (25)
one then nds [165]
(16G)I
H
=
_
M

g G

d
4
x+
_
M

g
_
g

_
d
3
x
_

,
(26)
which clearly shows that I
H
is stationary if the Einstein equations hold, and
the normal derivatives of the variations of the metric vanish on the boundary
M. In other words, I
H
is not stationary under arbitrary variations of the
metric, and stationarity is only achieved after adding to I
H
the boundary
term appearing in (24), if g

is set to zero on M. Other useful forms

of the boundary term can be found in [68, 165]. Note also that, strictly, in
writing down (24) one should also take into account a term arising from I
H
[32]:
I
t

1
8G
_
dt
_
M
d
3
x
i
_
h
_
K
l
l
N
i
h
ij
N
|j
__
. (27)
However, we have not explicitly included I
t
since it does not modify the
results derived or described hereafter.
We are now ready to apply Diracs technique to the Hamiltonian quanti-
zation of general relativity. This requires that all classical constraints which
are rst-class are turned into operators that annihilate the wave functional
12
[53]. Hereafter, we assume that this step has already been performed. As
we know, consistency of the quantum constraints is proved if one can show
that their commutators lead to no new constraints [53]. For this purpose, it
may be useful to recall the equal-time commutation relations of the canonical
variables, i.e.
_
N(x), (x

)
_
= i(x, x

), (28)
_
N
j
(x),
k
(x

)
_
= i
k

j
, (29)
_
h
jk
,
l

_
= i
l

jk
. (30)
Note that, following [32], primes have been used, either on indices or on the
variables themselves, to distinguish dierent points of three-space. In other
words, one denes

i

j
i
(x, x

), (31)

ij

kl
ij
(x, x

), (32)

kl
ij

1
2
_

k
i

l
j
+
l
i

k
j
_
. (33)
The reader can check that, since [32]
H

h
_
K
ij
K
ij
K
2

(3)
R
_
, (34)
H
i
2
ij
,j
h
il
_
2h
jl,k
h
jk,l
_

jk
, (35)
one has
_
(x),
i
(x

)
_
=
_
(x), H
i
(x

)
_
=
_
(x), H(x

)
_
=
_

i
(x), H
j
(x

)
_
=
_

i
(x), H(x

)
_
= 0. (36)
It now remains to compute the three commutators
_
H
i
, H
j

_
,
_
H
i
, H

_
,
_
H, H

_
.
The rst two commutators are obtained by using Eq. (35) and dening
H
i
h
ij
H
j
. Interestingly, H
i
is homogeneous bilinear in the h
ij
and
ij
,
with the momenta always to the right. As we said before, following Dirac,
the operator version of constraints should annihilate the wave function since
the classical constraints are rst-class (i.e. their Poisson brackets are linear
combinations of the constraints themselves). This condition reads as
_
St
H d
3
x = 0 , (37)
13
_
St
H
i

i
d
3
x = 0
i
. (38)
In the applications to cosmology, Eq. (37) is known as the WheelerDeWitt
equation, and the functional is then called the wave function of the universe
[78].
We begin by computing [32]
_
h
jk
, i
_
St
H
k

k

d
3
x

_
= h
jk,l

l
h
lk

l
,j
h
jl

l
,k
, (39)
_

jk
, i
_
St
H
k

k

d
3
x

_
=
_

jk

l
_
,l
+
lk

j
,l
+
jl

k
,l
. (40)
This calculation shows that the H
i
are generators of three-dimensional co-
ordinate transformations x
i
= x
i
+
i
. Thus, by using the denition of
structure constants of the general coordinate-transformation group [32], i.e.
c
k

ij

k

i,l

l

j

k

,l

l

i
, (41)
the results (39)(40) may be used to show that
_
H
j
(x), H
k
(x

)
_
= i
_
St
H
l
c
l

jk
d
3
x

, (42)
_
H
j
(x), H(x

)
_
= iH
,j
(x, x

). (43)
Note that the only term of H which might lead to diculties is the one
quadratic in the momenta. However, all factors appearing in this term
have homogeneous linear transformation laws under the three-dimensional
coordinate-transformation group. They thus remain undisturbed in position
when commuted with H
j
[32].
Last, we have to study the commutator
_
H(x), H(x

)
_
. The following
remarks are in order:
(i) Terms quadratic in momenta contain no derivatives of h
ij
or
ij
with
respect to three-space coordinates. Hence they commute;
(ii) The terms
_
h(x)
_
(3)
R(x)
_
and
_
h(x

)
_
(3)
R(x

)
_
contain no momenta,
so that they also commute;
(iii) The only commutators we are left with are the cross-commutators,
and they can be evaluated by using the variational formula [32]

_
h
(3)
R
_
=

h h
ij
h
kl
_
h
ik,jl
h
ij,kl
_

h
_
(3)
R
ij

1
2
h
ij
_
(3)
R
_
_
h
ij
, (44)
14
which leads to
__
St
H
1
d
3
x,
_
St
H
2
d
3
x
_
= i
_
St
H
l
_

1

2,l

1,l

2
_
d
3
x. (45)
The commutators (42)(43) and (45) clearly show that the constraint equa-
tions of canonical quantum gravity are rst-class. The Wheeler-DeWitt equa-
tion (37) is an equation on the superspace (here is a Riemannian 3-manifold
dieomorphic to S
t
)
S() Riem()/Diff().
In this quotient space, two Riemannian metrics on are identied if they
are related through the action of the dieomorphism group Di().
Two very useful classical formulae frequently used in Lorentzian canonical
gravity are
H (16G)G
ijkl
p
ij
p
kl

h
16G
_
(3)
R
_
, (46)
H (16G)
1
_
G
ijml
K
ij
K
ml

h
_
(3)
R
__
, (47)
where the rank-4 tensor density is the DeWitt supermetric on superspace,
with covariant and contravariant forms
G
ijkl

1
2

h
_
h
ik
h
jl
+ h
il
h
jk
h
ij
h
kl
_
, (48)
G
ijkl

h
2
_
h
ik
h
jl
+ h
il
h
jk
2h
ij
h
kl
_
, (49)
and p
ij
is here dened as

h
16G
_
K
ij
h
ij
K
_
. Note that the factor 2
multiplying h
ij
h
kl
in (49) is needed so as to obtain the identity
G
ijmn
G
mnkl
=
1
2
_

k
i

l
j
+
l
i

k
j
_
. (50)
Equation (46) clearly shows that H contains a part quadratic in the momenta
and a part proportional to
(3)
R (cf. (34)). On quantization, it is then hard
to give a well-dened meaning to the second functional derivative

2
h
ij
h
kl
,
whereas the occurrence of
(3)
R makes it even more dicult to solve exactly
the Wheeler-DeWitt equation.
15
It should be stressed that wave functions built from the functional integral
(see the following sections) which generalizes the path integral of ordinary
quantum mechanics (see (11)) do not solve the WheelerDeWitt equation
(37) unless some suitable assumptions are made [77], and counterexamples
have been built, i.e. a functional integral for the wave function of the universe
which does not solve the WheelerDeWitt equation [37].
4 From old to new unication
Here we outline how the space-of-histories formulation provides a common
ground for describing the old and new unications of fundamental theories.
4.1 Old unication
Quantum eld theory begins once an action functional S is given, since the
rst and most fundamental assumption of quantum theory is that every iso-
lated dynamical system can be described by a characteristic action functional
[31]. The Feynman approach makes it necessary to consider an innite-
dimensional manifold such as the space of all eld histories
i
. On this
space there exist (in the case of gauge theories) vector elds
Q

= Q
i

i
(51)
that leave the action invariant, i.e. [39]
Q

S = 0. (52)
The Lie brackets of these vector elds lead to a classication of all gauge
theories known so far.
4.2 Type-I gauge theories
The peculiar property of type-I gauge theories is that these Lie brackets are
equal to linear combinations of the vector elds themselves, with structure
constants, i.e. [38]
[Q

, Q

] = C

, (53)
16
where
C

i
= 0. The Maxwell, YangMills, Einstein theories are all ex-
ample of type-I theories (this is the unifying feature). All of them, being
gauge theories, need supplementary conditions, since the second functional
derivative of S is not an invertible operator. After imposing such conditions,
the theories are ruled by an invertible dierential operator of DAlembert
type (or Laplace type, if one deals instead with Euclidean eld theory), or a
non-minimal operator at the very worst (for arbitrary choices of gauge pa-
rameters). For example, when Maxwell theory is quantized via functional
integrals in the Lorenz [110] gauge, one deals with a gauge-xing functional
(A) =

, (54)
and the second-order dierential operator acting on the potential in the
gauge-xed action functional reads as
P

+ R

+
_
1
1

, (55)
where is an arbitrary gauge parameter. The Feynman choice = 1 leads
to the minimal operator

+ R

,
which is the standard wave operator on vectors in curved spacetime. Such
operators play a leading role in the one-loop expansion of the Euclidean
eective action, i.e. the quadratic order in h in the asymptotic expansion of
the functional ruling the quantum theory with positive-denite metrics.
The closure property expressed by Eq. (53) implies that the gauge group
decomposes the space of histories into sub-spaces to which the Q

are
tangent. These sub-spaces are known as orbits, and may be viewed as a
principal bre bundle of which the orbits are the bres. The space of orbits
is, strictly, the quotient space /G, where G is the proper gauge group, i.e.
the set of transformations of into itself obtained by exponentiating the
innitesimal gauge transformation

i
= Q
i

, (56)
and taking products of the resulting exponential maps. Suppose one performs
the transformation [39]

i
I
A
, K

(57)
17
from the eld variables
i
to a set of bre-adapted coordinates I
A
and K

.
With this notation, the Is label the bres, i.e. the points in /G, and are
gauge invariant because
Q

I
A
= 0. (58)
The Ks label the points within each bre, and one often makes specic
choices for the Ks, corresponding to the choice of supplementary condition
[31], more frequently called gauge condition. One normally picks out a base
point

in and chooses the K

s to be local functionals of the s in such

a way that the formula

= K

,i
Q
i

(59)
denes a non-singular dierential operator, called the ghost operator, at and
in a neighbourhood of

. Thus, what is often called choosing a gauge

amounts to choosing a hypersurface K

= constant in a bre-adapted coor-

dinate patch. The elds acted upon by the ghost operator are called ghost
elds, and have opposite statistics with respect to the elds occurring in the
gauge-invariant action functional (see Refs. [63, 61, 33] for the rst time that
ghost elds were considered in quantized gauge theories). The gauge-xed
action in the functional integral reads as [39]
S
g.f.
= S +
1
2
K

, (60)
where

is a non-singular matrix of gauge parameters (strictly, it is written

with matrix notation, but it contains Diracs delta, i.e.

(x, x

)).
4.3 Type-II gauge theories
For type-II gauge theories, Lie brackets of vector elds Q

are as in Eq. (53)

for type-I theories, but the structure constants are promoted to structure
functions. An example is given by simple supergravity (a supersymmetric
[73, 158] gauge theory of gravity, with a symmetry relating bosonic and
fermionic elds) in four spacetime dimensions, with auxiliary elds [148].
4.4 Type-III gauge theories
In this case, the Lie bracket (53) is generalized by
[Q

, Q

] = C

+ U
i

S
,i
, (61)
18
and it therefore reduces to (53) only on the mass-shell, i.e. for those eld
congurations satisfying the EulerLagrange equations. An example is given
by theories with gravitons and gravitinos such as BoseFermi supermulti-
plets of both simple and extended supergravity in any number of spacetime
dimensions, without auxiliary elds [148].
4.5 From general relativity to supergravity
It should be stressed that general relativity is naturally related to supersym-
metry, since the requirement of gauge-invariant RaritaSchwinger equations
[128] in curved spacetime implies Ricci-atness in four dimensions [29], which
is then equivalent to vacuum Einstein equations. Of course, despite such a
relation does exist, general relativity can be (and is) formulated without any
use of supersymmetry.
The Dirac operator [56] is more fundamental in this framework, since
the m-dimensional spacetime metric is entirely re-constructed from the -
matrices, in that
g

= 2
[m/2]1
tr(

). (62)
In four-dimensional spacetime, one can use the tetrad formalism, with Latin
indices (a, b) corresponding to tensors in at space (the tangent frames, the
freely falling lifts) while Greek indices (, ) correspond to coordinates in
curved space. The contravariant form of the spacetime metric g is then given
by
g

=
ab
e

a
e

b
, (63)
where
ab
is the Minkowski metric and e

a
are the tetrad vectors. The curved-
space -matrices

are then obtained from the at-space -matrices

a
and
from the tetrad according to

=
a
e

a
. (64)
In Ref. [64], the authors assumed that the action functional describing the
interaction of tetrad elds and RaritaSchwinger elds in curved spacetime,
subject to the Majorana constraint

(x) = C

(x)
T
, reads as
I =
_
d
4
x
_
1
4

gR
1
2

(x)
5

(x)
_
, (65)
where the covariant derivative of RaritaSchwinger elds is dened by
D

(x)

(x)

+
1
2

ab

ab

. (66)
19
With a standard notation,

are the Christoel symbols built from the

curved spacetime metric g

,
ab
is the spin-connection (the gauge eld
associated to the generators of the Lorentz algebra)

ab
=
1
2
_
e

a
(

e
b

e
b
) + e

a
e

b
(

e
c
)e
c

_
(a b), (67)
while
ab
is proportional to the commutator of -matrices in Minkowski
spacetime, i.e.

ab

1
4
[
a
,
b
]. (68)
To investigate the possible supersymmetry possessed by the above action
functional, the authors of Ref. [64] considered the transformation laws

(x) =
1
D

(x), (69)
e
a

(x) = i(x)
a

(x), (70)
g

(x) = i(x)
_

(x) +

(x)
_
, (71)
where the supersymmetry parameter is taken to be an arbitrary Majorana
spinor eld (x) of dimension square root of length. The assumption of local
supersymmetry was non-trivial, and was made necessary by the coordinate-
invariant Lagrangian (i.e. at that stage one had to avoid, for consistency, the
coordinate-dependent notion of constant, space-time-independent spinor).
After a lengthy calculation the authors of Ref. [64] managed to prove full
gauge invariance of the supergravity action. With geometrical hindsight, one
can prove it in a quicker and more elegant way by looking at a formulation
of Supergravity as a YangMills Theory [149].
4.6 New unication
In modern high energy physics, the emphasis is no longer on elds (sections of
vector bundles in classical eld theory [156], operator-valued distributions in
quantum eld theory [161]), but rather on extended objects such as strings
[28]. In string theory, particles are not described as points, but instead
as strings, i.e., one-dimensional extended objects. While a point particle
sweeps out a one-dimensional worldline, the string sweeps out a worldsheet,
i.e., a two-dimensional real surface. For a free string, the topology of the
worldsheet is a cylinder in the case of a closed string, or a sheet for an
20
open string. It is assumed that dierent elementary particles correspond to
dierent vibration modes of the string, in much the same way as dierent
minimal notes correspond to dierent vibrational modes of musical string
instruments [28]. The ve dierent string theories [4] are dierent aspects of
a more fundamental unied theory, called M-theory [13].
In the latest developments, one deals with branes, which are classical
solutions of the equations of motion of the low-energy string eective action,
that correspond to new non-perturbative states of string theory, break half of
the supersymmetry, and are required by duality arguments in theories with
open strings. They have the peculiar property that open strings have their
end-points attached to them [45, 46]. Branes have made it possible not only
to arrive at the formulation of M theory, but also to study perturbative and
non-perturbative properties of the gauge theories living on the world-volume
[47]. The so-called Dirichlet branes [124], or Dp branes, admit indeed two
distinct descriptions. On the one hand, they are classical solutions of the
low-energy string eective action (as we said before) and may be therefore
described in terms of closed strings. On the other hand, their dynamics is
determined by the degrees of freedom of the open strings with endpoints at-
tached to their world-volume, satisfying Dirichlet boundary conditions along
the directions transverse to the branes. They may be thus described in terms
of open strings as well. Such a twofold description of Dp branes laid the foun-
dations of the Maldacena conjecture [112] providing the equivalence between
a closed string theory, as the IIB theory on ve-dimensional anti-de Sitter
space times the 5-sphere, and N = 4 super YangMills with degrees of free-
dom corresponding to the massless excitations of the open strings having
their endpoints attached to a D3 brane.
For the impact of braneworld picture on phenomenology and unication,
we refer the reader to the seminal work in Refs. [126, 127], while for the
role of extra dimensions in cosmology we should mention also the work in
Refs. [137, 138]. With the language of pseudo-Riemannian geometry, branes
are timelike surfaces embedded into bulk spacetime [11, 10]. According to
this picture, gravity lives on the bulk, while standard-model gauge elds are
conned on the brane [12]. For branes, the normal vector N is spacelike with
respect to the bulk metric G
AB
, i.e.,
G
AB
N
A
N
B
= N
C
N
C
> 0. (72)
For a wide class of brane models, the action functional S pertaining to the
combined eect of bulk and brane geometry can be taken to split into the
21
sum [10] (g

(x) being the brane metric)

S = S
4
[g

(x)] + S
5
[G
AB
(X)], (73)
while the eective action [38] is formally given by
e
i
=
_
DG
AB
(X) e
iS
gauge xing term. (74)
In the functional integral, the gauge-xed action reads as (here there is sum-
mation as well as integration over repeated indices [31, 38, 10])
S
g.f.
= S
4
+ S
5
+
1
2
F
A

AB
F
B
+
1
2

, (75)
where F
A
and

are bulk and brane gauge-xing functionals, respectively,

while
AB
and

are non-singular matrices of gauge parameters, similarly

to the end of section 4.2. The gauge-invariance properties of bulk and brane
action functionals can be expressed by saying that there exist vector elds
on the space of histories such that (cf. Eq. (52))
R
B
S
5
= 0, R

S
4
= 0, (76)
whose Lie brackets obey a relation formally analogous to Eq. (53) for ordi-
nary type-I theories, i.e.
[R
B
, R
D
] = C
A
BD
R
A
, (77)
[R

, R

] = C

. (78)
Equations (77) and (78) refer to the sharply dierent Lie algebras of dif-
feomorphisms on the bulk and the brane, respectively. The bulk and brane
ghost operators are therefore
Q
A
B
R
B
F
A
= F
A
,a
R
a
B
, (79)
J

,i
R
i

, (80)
respectively, where the commas denote functional dierentiation with respect
to the eld variables. The full bulk integration means integrating rst with
respect to all bulk metrics G
AB
inducing on the boundary M the given
brane metric g

(x), and then integrating with respect to all brane metrics.

22
Thus, one rst evaluates the cosmological wave function [10] of the bulk
spacetime (which generalizes the wave function of the universe encountered
in canonical quantum gravity), i.e.

Bulk
=
_
G
AB
[M]=g

(G
AB
, S
C
, T
D
)e
i

S
5
, (81)
where is taken to be a suitable measure, the S
C
, T
D
are ghost elds, and

S
5
S
5
[G
AB
] +
1
2
F
A

AB
F
B
+ S
A
Q
A
B
T
B
. (82)
Eventually, the eective action results from
e
i
=
_
(g

)e
i

S
4

Bulk
, (83)
where is another putative measure,

and

are brane ghost elds, and

S
4
S
4
+
1
2

. (84)
We would like to stress here that innite-dimensional manifolds are the
natural arena for studying the quantization of the gravitational eld, even
prior to considering a space-of-histories formulation. There are, indeed, at
least three sources of innite-dimensionality in quantum gravity:
(i) The innite-dimensional Lie group (or pseudo-group) of spacetime dif-
feomorphisms, which is the invariance group of general relativity in the
rst place [31], [143].
(ii) The innite-dimensional space of histories in a functional-integral quan-
tization [38, 39].
(iii) The innite-dimensional Geroch space of asymptotically simple space-
times [67].
5 Functional integrals and background elds
We now study in greater detail some aspects of the use of functional integrals
in quantum gravity, after the previous (formal) applications to a space of
histories formulation.
23
5.1 The one-loop approximation
In the one-loop approximation (also called stationary phase or JWKB meth-
od) one rst expands both the metric g and the elds coupled to it about
a metric g
0
and a eld
0
which are solutions of the classical eld equations:
g = g
0
+ g, (85)
=
0
+ . (86)
One then assumes that the uctuations g and are so small that the dom-
inant contribution to the functional integral for the in-out amplitude comes
from the quadratic order in the Taylor-series expansion of the action about
the background elds g
0
and
0
[90]:
I
E
[g, ] = I
E
[g
0
,
0
] + I
2
[g, ] + higher order terms, (87)
so that the logarithm of the quantum-gravity amplitude

A can be expressed
as
log
_

A
_
I
E
[g
0
,
0
] + log
_
D[g, ]e
I
2
[g,]
. (88)
It should be stressed that background elds need not be a solution of any eld
equation [36], but this possibility will not be exploited in our presentation.
For our purposes we are interested in the second term appearing on the right-
hand side of (88). An useful factorization is obtained if
0
can be set to zero.
One then nds that I
2
[g, ] = I
2
[g] + I
2
[], which implies [91]
log
_

A
_
I
E
[g
0
] + log
_
D[]e
I
2
[]
+ log
_
D[g]e
I
2
[g]
. (89)
The one-loop term for matter elds with various spins (and boundary con-
ditions) is extensively studied in the literature. We here recall some basic
results, following again Ref. [91].
A familiar form of I
2
[] is
I
2
[] =
1
2
_
B

g
0
d
4
x, (90)
where the elliptic dierential operator B depends on the background metric
g
0
. Note that B is a second-order operator for bosonic elds, whereas it
is rst-order for fermionic elds. In light of (90) it is clear that we are
interested in the eigenvalues
_

n
_
of B, with corresponding eigenfunctions
24
_

n
_
. If boundaries are absent, it is sometimes possible to know explicitly
the eigenvalues with their degeneracies. This is what happens for example
in de Sitter space. If boundaries are present, however, very little is known
about the detailed form of the eigenvalues, once boundary conditions have
been imposed.
We here assume for simplicity to deal with bosonic elds subject to (ho-
mogeneous) Dirichlet conditions on the boundary surface: = 0 on M, and

n
= 0 on M, n. It is in fact well-known that the Laplace operator subject
to Dirichlet conditions has a positive-denite spectrum [23]. The eld can
then be expanded in terms of the eigenfunctions
n
of B as
=

n=n
0
y
n

n
, (91)
where the eigenfunctions
n
are normalized so that
_

n

g
0
d
4
x =
nm
. (92)
Another formula we need is the one expressing the measure on the space of
all elds as
D[] =

n=n
0
dy
n
, (93)
where the normalization parameter has dimensions of mass or (length)
1
.
Note that, if gauge elds appear in the calculation, the choice of gauge-
xing and the form of the measure in the functional integral are not a trivial
problem.
On using well-known results about Gaussian integrals, the one-loop am-
plitudes

A
(1)

can be now obtained as

A
(1)

_
D[]e
I
2
[]
=

n=n
0
_
dy
n
e

n
2
y
2
n
=

n=n
0
_
2
2

1
n
_1
2
=
1
_
det
_
1
2

2
B
_
. (94)
25
When fermionic elds appear in the functional integral for the in-out
amplitude, one deals with a rst-order elliptic operator, the Dirac opera-
tor, acting on independent spinor elds and

. These are anticommuting
Grassmann variables obeying the Berezin integration rules
_
dw = 0,
_
w dw = 1. (95)
The formulae (95) are all what we need, since powers of w greater than or
equal to 2 vanish in light of the anticommuting property. The reader can
then check that the one-loop amplitude for fermionic elds is

A
(1)

= det
_
1
2

2
B
_
. (96)
The main dierence with respect to bosonic elds is the direct proportionality
to the determinant. The following comments can be useful in understanding
the meaning of (96).
Let us denote again by

the curved-space -matrices, and by

i
the
eigenvalues of the Dirac operator

, and suppose that no zero-modes ex-

ist. More precisely, the eigenvalues of

occur in equal and opposite pairs:

1
,
2
, ..., whereas the eigenvalues of the Laplace operator on spinors oc-
cur as (
1
)
2
twice, (
2
)
2
twice, and so on. For Dirac fermions (D) one thus
nds
det
D
_

_
=
_

i=1
|
i
|
__

i=1
|
i
|
_
=

i=1
|
i
|
2
, (97)
whereas in the case of Majorana spinors (M), for which the number of degrees
of freedom is halved, one nds
det
M
_

_
=

i=1
|
i
|=
_
det
D
_

_
. (98)
5.2 Zeta-function regularization of functional integrals
The formal expression (94) for the one-loop quantum amplitude clearly di-
verges since the eigenvalues
n
increase without bound, and a regularization
is thus necessary. For this purpose, the following technique has been de-
scribed and applied by many authors [48, 89, 91].
Bearing in mind that Riemanns zeta-function
R
(s) is dened as

R
(s)

n=1
n
s
, (99)
26
one rst denes a generalized (also called spectral) zeta-function (s) ob-
tained from the (positive) eigenvalues of the second-order, self-adjoint oper-
ator B. Such a (s) can be dened as (cf. [141])
(s)

n=n
0

m=m
0
d
m
(n)
s
n,m
. (100)
This means that all the eigenvalues are completely characterized by two in-
teger labels n and m, while their degeneracy d
m
only depends on n. Note
that formal dierentiation of (100) at the origin yields
det
_
B
_
= e

(0)
. (101)
This result can be given a sensible meaning since, in four dimensions, (s)
converges for Re(s) > 2, and one can perform its analytic extension to a
meromorphic function of s which only has poles at s =
1
2
, 1,
3
2
, 2. Since
det
_
B
_
=
(0)
det
_
B
_
, one nds the useful formula
log
_

A

_
=
1
2

(0) +
1
2
log
_
2
2
_
(0). (102)
As we said following (90), it may happen quite often that the eigenvalues
appearing in (100) are unknown, since the eigenvalue condition, i.e. the
equation leading to the eigenvalues by virtue of the boundary conditions, is
a complicated equation which cannot be solved exactly for the eigenvalues.
However, since the scaling properties of the one-loop amplitude are still given
by (0) (and

(0)) as shown in (102), eorts have been made to compute

(0) also in this case. The various steps of this program are as follows [89].
(1) One rst studies the heat equation for the operator B, i.e.

F(x, y, ) +BF(x, y, ) = 0, (103)

where the Greens function F satises the initial condition F(x, y, 0) =
(x, y).
(2) Assuming completeness of the set
_

n
_
of eigenfunctions of B, the
eld can be expanded as
=

n=n
i
a
n

n
.
27
(3) The Greens function F(x, y, ) is then given by
F(x, y, ) =

n=n
0

m=m
0
e
n,m

n,m
(x)
n,m
(y). (104)
(4) The corresponding integrated heat kernel is then
G() =
_
M
Tr F(x, x, )

g d
4
x =

n=n
0

m=m
0
e
n,m
. (105)
(5) In light of (100) and (105), the generalized zeta-function can be also
obtained as an integral transform (also called inverse Mellin transform) of
the integrated heat kernel, i.e. [89, 71]
(s) =
1
(s)
_

0

s1
G() d. (106)
(6) The hard part of the analysis is now to prove that G() has an
asymptotic expansion as 0
+
[76]. This property has been proved for
all boundary conditions such that the Laplace operator is self-adjoint and
the boundary-value problem is strongly elliptic [71, 8]. The corresponding
asymptotic expansion of G() can be written as
G() A
0

2
+ A1
2

3
2
+ A
1

1
+ A3
2

1
2
+ A
2
+ O
_

_
, (107)
which implies
(0) = A
2
. (108)
The result (108) is proved by splitting the integral in (106) into an integral
from 0 to 1 and an integral from 1 to . The asymptotic expansion of
_
1
0

s1
G() d is then obtained by using (107).
In other words, for a given second-order self-adjoint elliptic operator,
we study the corresponding heat equation, and the integrated heat kernel
G(). The (0) value is then given by the constant term appearing in the
asymptotic expansion of G() as 0
+
. The (0) value also yields the
one-loop divergences of the theory for bosonic and fermionic elds [55].
5.3 Gravitational instantons
This section is devoted to the study of the background gravitational elds.
These gravitational instantons are complete four-geometries solving the Ein-
stein equations R(X, Y )g(X, Y ) = 0 when the four-metric g has signature
28
+4 (i.e. it is positive-denite, and thus called Riemannian). They are of in-
terest because they occur in the tree-level approximation of the partition
function, and in light of their role in studying tunnelling phenomena. More-
over, they can be interpreted as the stationary phase metrics in the path
integrals for the partition functions, Z, of the thermal canonical ensemble
and the volume canonical ensemble. In these cases the action of the instan-
ton gives the dominant contribution to log Z. Following [125], essentially
three cases can be studied.
5.3.1 Asymptotically locally Euclidean instantons
Even though it might seem natural to dene rst the asymptotically Eu-
clidean instantons, it turns out that there is not much choice in this case,
since the only asymptotically Euclidean instanton is at space. It is in fact
well-known that the action of an asymptotically Euclidean metric with van-
ishing scalar curvature is 0, and it vanishes if and only if the metric is
at. Suppose now that such a metric is a solution of the Einstein equations
R(X, Y ) = 0. Its action should be thus stationary also under constant con-
formal rescalings g k
2
g of the metric. However, the whole action rescales
then as I
E
k
2
I
E
, so that it can only be stationary and nite if I
E
= 0. By
virtue of the theorem previously mentioned, the metric g must then be at
[70, 108].
In the asymptotically locally Euclidean case, however, the boundary at
innity has topology S
3
/ rather than S
3
, where is a discrete subgroup
of the group SO(4). Many examples can then be found. The simplest
was discovered by Eguchi and Hanson [49, 50], and corresponds to = Z
2
and M = RP
3
. This instanton is conveniently described using three left-
invariant 1-forms
_

i
_
on the 3-sphere, satisfying the SU(2) algebra d
i
=

1
2

jk
i

j

k
, and parametrized by Euler angles as follows:

1
= (cos )d + (sin )(sin )d, (109)

2
= (sin )d + (cos )(sin )d, (110)

3
= d + (cos )d, (111)
where [0, ], [0, 2]. The metric of the EguchiHanson instanton
may be thus written in the Bianchi-IX form [125]
g
1
=
_
1
a
4
r
4
_
1
dr dr +
r
2
4
_
(
1
)
2
+ (
2
)
2
+
_
1
a
4
r
4
_
(
3
)
2
_
, (112)
29
where r [a, [. The singularity of g
1
at r = a is only a coordinate singu-
larity. We may get rid of it by dening 4

2
a
2
1
a
4
r
4
, so that, as r a, the
metric g
1
is approximated by the metric
g
2
= d d +
2
_
d + (cos )d
_
2
+
a
2
4
_
d d + (sin )
2
d d
_
. (113)
Regularity of g
2
at = 0 is then guaranteed provided that one identies
with period 2. This implies in turn that the local surfaces r = constant have
topology RP
3
rather than S
3
, as we claimed. Note that at r = a = 0
the metric becomes that of a 2-sphere of radius
a
2
. Following Ref. [69], we
say that r = a is a bolt, where the action of the Killing vector

has a
two-dimensional xed-point set [125].
A whole family of multi-instanton solutions is obtained by taking the
group = Z
k
. They all have a self-dual Riemann-curvature tensor, and
their metric takes the form
g = V
1
_
d + dx
_
2
+ V dx dx. (114)
Following [125], V = V (x) and = (x) on an auxiliary at 3-space with
metric dx dx. This metric g solves the Einstein vacuum equations provided
that grad V = curl, which implies V = 0. If one takes
V =
n

i=1
1
| x x
i
|
, (115)
one obtains the desired asymptotically locally Euclidean multi-instantons. In
particular, if n = 1 in (115), g describes at space, whereas n = 2 leads to the
EguchiHanson instanton. If n > 2, there are (3n6) arbitrary parameters,
related to the freedom to choose the positions x
i
of the singularities in V .
These singularities correspond actually to coordinate singularities in (113),
and can be removed by using suitable coordinate transformations [125].
5.3.2 Asymptotically at instantons
This name is chosen since the underlying idea is to deal with metrics in the
functional integral which tend to the at metric in three directions but are
periodic in the Euclidean-time dimension. The basic example is provided
30
by the Riemannian version g
(1)
R
(also called Euclidean) of the Schwarzschild
solution, i.e.
g
(1)
R
=
_
1 2
M
r
_
d d +
_
1 2
M
r
_
1
dr dr + r
2

2
, (116)
where
2
= d d + (sin )
2
d d is the metric on a unit 2-sphere. It
is indeed well-known that, in the Lorentzian case, the metric g
L
is more
conveniently written by using KruskalSzekeres coordinates
g
L
= 32M
3
r
1
e

r
2M
_
dz dz + dy dy
_
+ r
2

2
, (117)
where z and y obey the relations
z
2
+ y
2
=
_
r
2M
1
_
e
r
2M
, (118)
(y + z)
(y z)
= e
t
2M
. (119)
In the Lorentzian case, the coordinate singularity at r = 2M can be thus
avoided, whereas the curvature singularity at r = 0 remains and is described
by the surface z
2
y
2
= 1. However, if we set = iz, the analytic continu-
ation to the section of the complexied space-time where is real yields the
positive-denite (i.e. Riemannian) metric
g
(2)
R
= 32M
3
r
1
e

r
2M
_
d d + dy dy
_
+ r
2

2
, (120)
where

2
+ y
2
=
_
r
2M
1
_
e
r
2M
. (121)
It is now clear that also the curvature singularity at r = 0 has disappeared,
since the left-hand side of (121) is 0, whereas the right-hand side of (121)
would be equal to 1 at r = 0. Note also that, by setting z = i and
t = i in (119), and writing
2
+ y
2
as (y + i)(y i) in (121), one nds
y + i = e
i
4M
_
r
2M
1 e
r
4M
, (122)
y = cos
_

4M
_
_
r
2M
1 e
r
4M
, (123)
31
which imply that the Euclidean time is periodic with period 8M. This
periodicity on the Euclidean section leads to the interpretation of the Rie-
mannian Schwarzschild solution as describing a black hole in thermal equi-
librium with gravitons at a temperature (8M)
1
[125]. Moreover, the fact
that any matter-eld Greens function on this Schwarzschild background is
also periodic in imaginary time leads to some of the thermal-emission prop-
erties of black holes. This is one of the greatest conceptual revolutions in
modern gravitational physics.
Interestingly, a new asymptotically at gravitational instanton has been
found by Chen and Teo in Ref. [24]. It has an U(1) U(1) isometry group
and some novel global features with respect to the other two asymptotically
at instantons, i.e. Euclidean Schwarzschild and Euclidean Kerr.
There is also a local version of the asymptotically at boundary condition
in which M has the topology of a non-trivial S
1
-bundle over S
2
, i.e. S
3
/,
where is a discrete subgroup of SO(4). However, unlike the asymptot-
ically Euclidean boundary condition, the S
3
is distorted and expands with
increasing radius in only two directions rather than three [125]. The simplest
example of an asymptotically locally at instanton is the self-dual (i.e. with
self-dual curvature 2-form) Taub-NUT solution, which can be regarded as a
special case of the two-parameter Taub-NUT metrics
g =
(r + M)
(r M)
dr dr +4M
2
(r M)
(r + M)
(
3
)
2
+
_
r
2
M
2
__
(
1
)
2
+(
2
)
2
_
, (124)
where the
_

i
_
have been dened in (109)(111). The main properties of
the metric (124) are
(I) r [M, [, and r = M is a removable coordinate singularity provided
that is identied modulo 4;
(II) the r = constant surfaces have S
3
topology;
(III) r = M is a point at which the isometry generated by the Killing
vector

has a zero-dimensional xed-point set.

In other words, r = M is a nut, using the terminology in Ref. [69].
There is also a family of asymptotically locally at multi-Taub-NUT in-
stantons. Their metric takes the form (114), but one should bear in mind
that the formula (115) is replaced by
V = 1 +
n

i=1
2M
| x x
i
|
. (125)
32
Again, the singularities at x = x
i
can be removed, and the instantons are all
self-dual.
5.3.3 Compact instantons
Compact gravitational instantons occur in the course of studying the topo-
logical structure of the gravitational vacuum. This can be done by rst of all
normalizing all metrics in the functional integral to have a given 4-volume
V , and then evaluating the instanton contributions to the partition function
as a function of their topological complexity. One then sends the volume
V to innity at the end of the calculation. If one wants to constrain the
metrics in the functional integral to have a volume V , this can be obtained
by adding a term

8
V to the action. The stationary points of the modied
action are solutions of the Einstein equations with cosmological constant ,
i.e. R(X, Y ) g(X, Y ) = 0.
The few compact instantons that are known can be described as follows [125].
(1) The 4-sphere S
4
, i.e. the Riemannian version of de Sitter space ob-
tained by analytic continuation to positive-denite metrics. Setting to 3 for
convenience the cosmological constant, the metric on S
4
takes the form [125]
g
I
= d d +
1
4
(sin )
2
_
(
1
)
2
+ (
2
)
2
+ (
3
)
2
_
, (126)
where [0, ]. The apparent singularities at = 0, can be made into
regular nuts, provided that the Euler angle is identied modulo 4. The
= constant surfaces are topologically S
3
, and the isometry group of the
metric (126) is SO(5).
(2) If in C
3
we identify (z
1
, z
2
, z
3
) and (z
1
, z
2
, z
3
), C {0},
we obtain, by denition, the complex projective space CP
2
. For this two-
dimensional complex space one can nd a real four-dimensional metric, which
solves the Einstein equations with cosmological constant . If we set to 6
for convenience, the metric of CP
2
takes the form [125]
g
II
= d d +
1
4
(sin )
2
_
(
1
)
2
+ (
2
)
2
+ (cos )
2
(
3
)
2
_
, (127)
where
_
0,

2
_
. A bolt exists at =

2
, where

has a two-dimensional
xed-point set. The isometry group of g
II
is locally SU(3), which has a U(2)
subgroup acting on the three-spheres = constant.
33
(3) The Einstein metric on the product manifold S
2
S
2
is obtained as
the direct sum of the metrics on two 2-spheres, i.e.
g =
1

i=1
_
d
i
d
i
+ (sin
i
)
2
d
i
d
i
_
. (128)
The metric (128) is invariant under the SO(3) SO(3) isometry group of
S
2
S
2
, but is not of Bianchi-IX type as (126)-(127). This can be achieved
by a coordinate transformation leading to [125]
g
III
= d d + (cos )
2
(
1
)
2
+ (sin )
2
(
2
)
2
+ (
3
)
2
, (129)
where = 2 and
_
0,

2
_
. Regularity at = 0,

2
is obtained provided
that is identied modulo 2 (cf. (126)). Remarkably, this is a regular
Bianchi-IX Einstein metric in which the coecients of
1
,
2
and
3
are all
dierent.
(4) The nontrivial S
2
-bundle over S
2
has a metric which, by setting = 3,
may be cast in the form [118, 125]
g
IV
= (1 +
2
)
_
f
1
(x)dx dx + f
2
(x)
_
(
1
)
2
+ (
2
)
2
_
+ f
3
(x)(
3
)
2
_
, (130)
where x [0, 1], is the positive root of
w
4
+ 4w
3
6w
2
+ 12w 3 = 0, (131)
and the functions f
1
, f
2
, f
3
are dened by
f
1
(x)
(1
2
x
2
)
(3
2

2
(1 +
2
)x
2
)(1 x
2
)
, (132)
f
2
(x)
(1
2
x
2
)
(3 + 6
2

4
)
, (133)
f
3
(x)
(3
2

2
(1 +
2
)x
2
)(1 x
2
)
(3
2
)(1
2
x
2
)
. (134)
The isometry group corresponding to (130) may be shown to be U(2).
(5) Another compact instanton of fundamental importance is the K3
surface, whose explicit metric has not yet been found. K3 is dened as the
compact complex surface whose rst Betti number and rst Chern class are
34
vanishing. A physical picture of the K3 gravitational instanton has been
obtained by Page [119].
Two topological invariants exist which may be used to characterize the var-
ious gravitational instantons studied so far. These invariants are the Euler
number and the Hirzebruch signature . The Euler number can be dened
as an alternating sum of Betti numbers, i.e.
B
0
B
1
+ B
2
B
3
+ B
4
. (135)
The Hirzebruch signature can be dened as
B
+
2
B

2
, (136)
where B
+
2
is the number of self-dual harmonic 2-forms, and B

2
is the number
of anti-self-dual harmonic 2-forms [in terms of the Hodge-star operator

F
ab

1
2

abcd
F
cd
, self-duality of a 2-form F is expressed as

F = F, and anti-self-
duality as

F = F]. In the case of compact four-dimensional manifolds
without boundary, and can be expressed as integrals of the curvature
[91]
=
1
128
2
_
M
R

g d
4
x, (137)
=
1
96
2
_
M
R

g d
4
x. (138)
For the instantons previously listed one nds [125]
EguchiHanson: = 2, = 1.
Asymptotically locally Euclidean multi-instantons: = n, = n 1.
Schwarzschild: = 2, = 0.
Taub-NUT: = 1, = 0.
Asymptotically locally at multi-Taub-NUT instantons: = n, = n 1.
S
4
: = 2, = 0.
CP
2
: = 3, = 1.
S
2
S
2
: = 4, = 0.
S
2
-bundle over S
2
: = 4, = 0.
K3: = 24, = 16.
35
6 Spectral zeta-functions in one-loop quan-
tum cosmology
In the late nineties a systematic investigation of boundary conditions in
quantum eld theory and quantum gravity has been performed (see Refs.
[111, 150, 55, 117, 8] and the many references therein). It is now clear that
the set of fully gauge-invariant boundary conditions in quantum eld theory,
providing a unied scheme for Maxwell, YangMills and General Relativity
is as follows:
_
A
_
M
= 0, (139)
_
(A)
_
M
= 0, (140)
[]
M
= 0, (141)
where is a projection operator, A is the Maxwell potential, or the Yang
Mills potential, or the metric (more precisely, their perturbation about a
background value which can be set to zero for Maxwell or YangMills), is
the gauge-xing functional, denotes the set of ghost elds for these bosonic
theories. Equations (139) and (140) are both preserved under innitesimal
gauge transformations provided that the ghost obeys homogeneous Dirichlet
conditions as in Eq. (141). For gravity, it may be convenient to choose so
as to have an operator P of Laplace type in the Euclidean theory.
6.1 Eigenvalue condition for scalar modes
In a quantum theory of the early universe via functional integrals, the semi-
classical analysis remains a valuable tool, but the tree-level approximation
might be an oversimplication. Thus, it seems appropriate to consider at
least the one-loop approximation. On the portion of at Euclidean 4-space
bounded by a 3-sphere, called Euclidean 4-ball and relevant for one-loop
quantum cosmology [78, 92, 55] when a portion of 4-sphere bounded by a
3-sphere is studied in the limit of small 3-geometry [140], the metric pertur-
bations h

can be expanded in terms of scalar, transverse vector, transverse-

traceless tensor harmonics on the 3-sphere S
3
of radius a. For vector, tensor
and ghost modes, boundary conditions reduce to Dirichlet or Robin. For
scalar modes, one nds eventually the eigenvalues E = X
2
from the roots X
of [58, 59]
J

n
(x)
n
x
J
n
(x) = 0, (142)
36
J

n
(x) +
_

x
2

n
x
_
J
n
(x) = 0, (143)
where J
n
are the Bessel functions of rst kind. Note that both x and x
solve the same equation.
6.2 Four spectral zeta-functions for scalar modes
By virtue of the Cauchy theorem and of suitable rotations of integration
contours in the complex plane [19], the eigenvalue conditions (142) and (143)
give rise to the following four spectral zeta-functions [58, 59]:

A,B
(s)
sin(s)

n=3
n
(2s2)
_

0
dz

z
log F

A,B
(zn)
z
2s
, (144)
where, denoting by I
n
the modied Bessel functions of rst kind (here
+

n,

n + 2),
F

A
(zn) z

_
znI

n
(zn) nI
n
(zn)
_
, (145)
F

B
(zn) z

_
znI

n
(zn) +
_
z
2
n
2
2
n
_
I
n
(zn)
_
. (146)
Regularity at the origin is easily proved in the elliptic sectors, corresponding
to

A
(s) and

B
(s) [58, 59].
6.3 Regularity at the origin of
+
B
With the notation in Refs. [58, 59], if one denes the variable (1+z
2
)

1
2
,
one can write the uniform asymptotic expansion of F
+
B
in the form [58, 59]
F
+
B

e
n()
h(n)

(1
2
)

_
_
1 +

j=1
r
j,+
()
n
j
_
_
. (147)
On splitting the integral
_
1
0
d =
_

0
d +
_
1

d with small, one gets an

asymptotic expansion of the left-hand side of Eq. (144) by writing, in the
rst interval on the right-hand side,
log
_
_
1 +

j=1
r
j,+
()
n
j
_
_

j=1
R
j,+
()
n
j
, (148)
37
and then computing [58, 59]
C
j
()
R
j,+

= (1 )
j1
4j

a=j1
K
(j)
a

a
. (149)
Remarkably, by virtue of the identity obeyed by the spectral coecients K
(j)
a
on the 4-ball, i.e.
g(j)
4j

a=j
(a + 1)
(a j + 1)
K
(j)
a
= 0, (150)
which holds j = 1, ..., , one nds [58, 59]
lim
s0
s
+
B
(s) =
1
6
12

a=3
a(a 1)(a 2)K
(3)
a
= 0, (151)
and [58, 59]

+
B
(0) =
5
4
+
1079
240

1
2
12

a=2
(a)K
(3)
a
+

j=1
f(j)g(j) =
296
45
, (152)
where, on denoting here by the logarithmic derivative of the -function
[58, 59],
(a)
1
6
(a + 1)
(a 2)
_
log(2)
(6a
2
9a + 1)
4
(a 2)
(a + 1)
+ 2(a + 1) (a 2) (4)
_
, (153)
f(j)
(1)
j
j!
_
1 2
2j
+
R
(j 2)(1
j,3
) +
j,3
_
. (154)
Equation (150) achieves three goals:
(i) Vanishing of log(2) coecient in (152);
(ii) Vanishing of

j=1
f(j)g(j) in (152);
(iii) Regularity at the origin of
+
B
.
38
6.4 Interpretation of the result
Since all other (0) values for pure gravity obtained in the literature are neg-
ative, the analysis here briey outlined shows that only fully dieomorphism-
invariant boundary conditions lead to a positive (0) value for pure gravity on
the 4-ball, and hence only fully dieomorphism-invariant boundary conditions
lead to a vanishing cosmological wave function for vanishing 3-geometries at
one-loop level, at least on the Euclidean 4-ball. If the probabilistic interpre-
tation is tenable for the whole universe, this means that the universe has
vanishing probability of reaching the initial singularity at a = 0, which is
therefore avoided by virtue of quantum eects [58, 59], since the one-loop
wave function is proportional to a
(0)
[140].
Interestingly, quantum cosmology can have observational consequences as
well. For example, the work in Ref. [104] has derived the primordial power
spectrum of density uctuations in the framework of quantum cosmology,
by performing a BornOppenheimer approximation of the WheelerDeWitt
equation for an inationary universe with a scalar eld. In this way one
rst recovers the scale-invariant power spectrum that is found as an ap-
proximation in the simplest inationary models. One then obtains quantum
gravitational corrections to this spectrum, discussing whether they lead to
measurable signatures in the Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropy spec-
trum [104].
7 Hawkings radiation
Hawkings theoretical discovery of particle creation by black holes [87, 88] has
led, along the years, to many important developments in quantum eld theory
in curved spacetime, quantum gravity and string theory. Thus, we devote
this section to a brief review of such an eect, relying upon the DAMTP
lecture notes by Townsend [147]. For this purpose, we consider a massless
scalar eld in a Schwarzschild black hole spacetime. The positive-frequency
outgoing modes of are known to behave, near future null innity F
+
, as

e
iu
. (155)
According to a geometric optics approximation, a particles worldline is a
null ray of constant phase u, and we trace this ray backwards in time from
F
+
. The later it reaches F
+
, the closer it must approach the future event
39
horizon H
+
in the exterior spacetime before entering the star. The ray
belongs to a family of rays whose limit as t is a null geodesic generator,
denoted by
H
, of H
+
. One can specify by giving its ane distance from

H
along an ingoing null geodesic passing through H
+
. The ane parameter
on this ingoing null geodesic is U, so U = . One can thus write, on near
H
+
( being the surface gravity),
u =
1

log , (156)
so that positive-frequency outgoing modes have, near H
+
, the approximate
form

e
i

log
. (157)
This describes increasingly rapid oscillations as 0, and hence the geo-
metric optics approximation is indeed justied at late times.
The positive-frequency outgoing modes should be matched onto a solution
of the KleinGordon equation near past null innity F

. When geometric
optics holds, one performs parallel transport of the vectors n parallel to F

and l orthogonal to n back to F

along the continuation of

H
. Such a
continuation can be taken to meet F

at v = 0. The continuation of the null

ray back to F

meets F

at an ane distance along an outgoing null

geodesic on F

. The ane parameter on outgoing null geodesics in F

is v,
because the line element takes on F

the form
ds
2
= du dv + r
2
d
2
, (158)
d
2
being the line element on a unit 2-sphere, so that v = and

e
i

log(v)
. (159)
This holds for negative values of v. When v is instead positive, an ingoing
null ray from F

passes through H
+
and does not reach F
+
, hence the
positive-frequency outgoing modes depend on v on F

, where

(v) = 0 if v > 0, e
i

log(v)
if v < 0. (160)
Consider now the Fourier transform

e
i

(v)dv
=
_
0

e
i

v+
i

log(v)
dv. (161)
40
In this integral, let us choose the branch cut in the complex v-plane to lie
along the real axis. For positive

let us rotate contour to the positive

imaginary axis and then set v = ix to get

) = i
_

0
e

x+
i

log
_
xe
i/2
_
dx
= e

2
_

0
e

x+
i

log(x)
dx. (162)
Since

is positive the integral converges. When

is negative one can rotate

the contour to the negative imaginary axis and then set v = ix to get

) = i
_

0
e

x+
i

log
_
xe
i/2
_
dx
= e

2
_

0
e

x+
i

log(x)
dx. (163)
From the two previous formulae one gets

) = e

) if

> 0. (164)
Thus, a mode of positive frequency on F
+
matches, at late times, onto
positive and negative modes on F

. For positive

one can identify

A

), (165)
B

) = e

), (166)
as the Bogoliubov coecients. These formulae imply that
B
ij
= e

A
ij
. (167)
On the other hand, the matrices A and B should satisfy the Bogoliubov
relations, from which

ij
= (AA

BB

)
ij
=

l
(A
il
A

jl
B
il
B

jl
)
=
_
e
(
i
+
j
)

1
_

l
B
il
B

jl
, (168)
41
where we have inserted the formula relating B
ij
to A
ij
. Now one can take
i = j to get
(BB

)
ii
=
1
e
2
i

1
. (169)
Eventually, one needs the inverse Bogoliubov coecients corresponding to
a positive-frequency mode on F

matching onto positive- and negative-

frequency modes on F
+
. Since the inverse B coecient is found to be
B

= B
T
, (170)
the late-time particle ux through F
+
, given a vacuum on F

, turns out to
be
N
i

F
+ =
_
(B

_
ii
=
_
B

B
T
_
ii
=
_
BB
T
_

ii
. (171)
From reality of (BB
T
)
ii
, the previous formulae lead to
N
i

F
+ =
1
e
2
i

1
. (172)
Remarkably, this is the Planck distribution for black body radiation from a
Schwarzschild black hole at the Hawking temperature
T
H
=
h
2
. (173)
8 Achievements and open problems
At this stage, the general reader might well be wondering what has been
gained by working on the quantum gravity problem over so many decades.
Indeed, at the theoretical level, at least the following achievements can be
brought to his (or her) attention:
(i) The ghost elds [63] necessary for the functional-integral quantization of
gravity and YangMills theories [33, 61] have been discovered, jointly with a
deep perspective on the space of histories formulation.
(ii) The VilkoviskyDeWitt gauge-invariant eective action [151, 38] has been
obtained and thoroughly studied.
(iii) We know that black holes emit a thermal spectrum and have temperature
and entropy by virtue of semiclassical quantum eects [87, 88, 40]. A full
42
theory of quantum gravity should account for this and should tell us whether
or not the black hole evaporation process comes to an end [153].
(iv) The manifestly covariant theory leads to the detailed calculation of phys-
ical quantities such as cross-sections for gravitational scattering of identical
scalar particles, scattering of gravitons by scalar particles, scattering of one
graviton by another and gravitational bremsstrahlung [34], but no laboratory
experiment is in sight for these eects.
(v) The ultimate laboratory for modern high energy physics is the whole uni-
verse. We have reasons to believe that either we need string and brane theory
with all their (extra) ingredients, or we have to resort to radically dierent
approaches such as, for example, loop space or twistors, the latter two living
however in isolation with respect to deep ideas such as supersymmetry and
supergravity (but we acknowledge that twistor string theory [163] is making
encouraging progress [113, 146]).
Although string theory may provide a nite theory of quantum grav-
ity that unies all fundamental interactions at once, its impact on particle
physics phenomenology and laboratory experiments remains elusive. Some
key issues are therefore in sight:
(i) What is the impact (if any) of Planck-scale physics on cosmological
observations [166]?
(ii) Will general relativity retain its role of fundamental theory, or shall we
have to accept that it is only the low-energy limit of string or M-theory?
(iii) Are renormalization-group methods a viable way to do non-perturba-
tive quantum gravity [129, 18], after the recent discovery of a non-
Gaussian ultraviolet xed point [106, 130, 107] of the renormalization-
group ow?
(iv) Is there truly a singularity avoidance in quantum cosmology [58, 59] or
string theory [97, 95, 96]?
8.1 Experimental side
As is well stressed, for example, in Ref. [75], gravity is so weak that it can
only produce measurable eects in the presence of big masses, and this makes
it virtually impossible to detect radiative corrections to it. Nevertheless, at
43
least four items can be brought to the attention of the reader within the
experimental framework.
(i) Colella et al. [25] have used a neutron interferometer to observe the
quantum-mechanical phase shift of neutrons caused by their interaction with
the Earths gravitational eld.
(ii) Page and Geilker [120] have considered an experiment that gave results
inconsistent with the simplest alternative to quantum gravity, i.e. the semi-
classical Einstein equation. This evidence supports, but does not prove, the
hypothesis that a consistent theory of gravity coupled to quantized matter
should also have the gravitational eld quantized [30].
(iii) Balbinot et al. have shown [9] that, in a black hole-like conguration
realized in a BoseEinstein condensate, a particle creation of the Hawking
type does indeed take place and can be unambiguously identied via a char-
acteristic pattern in the density-density correlations. This has opened the
concrete possibility of the experimental verication of this eect.
(iv) Mercati et al. [115], for the study of the Planck-scale modications [3]
of the energy-momentum dispersion relations, have considered the possible
role of experiments involving nonrelativistic particles and particularly atoms.
They have extended a recent result, establishing that measurements of atom-
recoil frequency can provide insight that is valuable for some theoretical
models.
We are already facing unprecedented challenges, where the achievements
of spacetime physics and quantum eld theory are called into question. The
years to come will hopefully tell us whether the many new mathematical con-
cepts considered in theoretical physics lead really to a better understanding
of the physical universe and its underlying structures.
Acknowledgments The author is grateful to the Dipartimento di Sci-
enze Fisiche of Federico II University, Naples, for hospitality and support.
He dedicates to Maria Gabriella his work.
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