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On The Quantization Of Plane Gravitational Waves In Loop Quantum Gravity, Elise Lepage '18

Physics Theses

Gravitational waves are oscillations in the geometry of spacetime caused by the movement of mass or energy. In loop quantum gravity, geometry is quantized so spatial quantities such as area and volume take on discrete values. We worked on quantizing plane gravitational waves, which propagate in one direction and have uniform wavefronts perpendicular to the direction of travel, using the method of canonical quantization on general relativity.

For canonical quantization, a theory is expressed in terms of its canonical variables and constraints on those variables, then the variables and constraints are taken to quantum operators and the states of the …