Modern physics rests on two fundamental building blocks: general relativity and quantum theory. General relativity is a geometric interpretation of gravity while quantum theory governs the microscopic behaviour of matter. Since matter is described by quantum theory which in turn couples to geometry, we need a quantum theory of gravity. In order to construct quantum gravity one must reformulate quantum theory on a background independent way. Modern Canonical Quantum General Relativity provides a complete treatise of the canonical quantisation of general relativity. The focus is on detailing the conceptual and mathematical framework, on describing physical applications and on summarising the status of this programme in its most popular incarnation, called loop quantum gravity. Mathematical concepts and their relevance to physics are provided within this book, which therefore can be read by graduate students with basic knowledge of quantum field theory or general relativity.

Author Biography

Thomas Thiemann is Staff Scientist at the Max Planck Institut fur Gravitationsphysik (Albert Einstein Institut), Potsdam, Germany. He is also a long-term researcher at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Thomas Thiemann obtained his PhD in theoretical physics from the Rheinisch-Westfalisch Technische Hochschule, Aachen, Germany. He held two year postdoctoral positions at The Pennsylvania State University and Harvard University. As of 2005 he holds a guest professor position at Beijing Normal University, China.