Quantum Gravity

1. A theory of Quantum Gravity can describe the universe as a whole, including

its beginning and possible end, structure, reason behind its existence,
fundamental properties of space, time & their geometry at the quantum level
that shall remain valid at all scales and energies and this shall certainly shed light
on cosmological puzzles like the nature of dark energy, and on the fate of Lorentz
and Poincare' symmetry at higher energies.

2. Formulation of a theory of quantum gravity that can define fundamental

properties of space, time and their geometry at quantum level and shall remain
valid at all scales of distances and energies, but reducing to General Relativity at
large distances and in a semi-classical approximation

3. Closely related but back ground independent approaches such as Group Field
Theories, Tensor Models, Loop Quantum Gravity, Spin Foam Models etc. are
believed to be the basic building blocks of developing the complete theory of
Quantum Gravity.

4. These approaches are all background independent, in the sense that they do
not assume a fixed background space time structure, but deal with how space
time itself (in both its geometric and topological properties) is dynamically
generated from some basic building blocks, and thus describe it as fundamentally
discrete.

5. With different assumptions and using different techniques, it is expected to

achieve different kinematical description of quantum space, and the tentative
description of its dynamics. Establishing the links between them and by merging
the different insights that each of them provides about space and time at the
Planck scale, we can ultimately derive the hypothesis of Quantum Gravity.

6. The important questions that all these approaches to quantum gravity have to
answer are-:

a. If space time is fundamentally discrete?

b. Where does the continuum space time we experience at low energies and
macroscopic scales come from?

c. How does such a continuum space time emerge from its fundamentally discrete
building blocks, and end up being described by General Relativity?

d. What are the phenomenological and experimental implications of the

fundamental quantum discrete structure of space time in their macroscopic
regime and of their microscopic dynamics?

7. We also aim at producing effective descriptions of the fundamental quantum

dynamics of space and matter, which could be used to predict new phenomena
and quantum gravity corrections to the cosmological dynamics, of the early
universe in particular.

8. We use mathematical tools and physical insights coming from other areas of
theoretical physics, for example condensed matter theory and statistical field
theory.
9. We look at analog gravity models in condensed matter physics, as instances of
the transition between discrete microscopic and continuum macroscopic realms,
and of the emergence of gravity (and matter) from non-gravitational systems.

10. Bridging the gap between our (tentative) descriptions of quantum space time
at the Planck scale and the world as we see it also means constructing effective
models of a quantum space time and making contact with quantum gravity
phenomenology.

11. To this aim, we study the relation between the above-mentioned approaches
and effective non-commutative models of space time and matter in the near flat
regime, and with non-commutative geometry in general. Indeed, they form the
basis of much of current quantum gravity phenomenology, focusing on the
possibility of quantum gravity-induced deformation of relativistic dispersion
relations and scattering thresholds.

13. We work on the extraction, from fundamental theories, of simplified quantum

gravity models suitable for the description of the universe at large scales. Using
them, we aim at obtaining new insights on the role that quantum gravity effects
play in the early phases of the evolution of the universe, close to the big bang,
and in the formation of large scale structures (including the universe itself).