Quantum Gravity (Elective), PHYS 644, March 30 - May 1 2026

We will study how General Relativity (GR) is similar to and especially how it differs from other gauge theories. This will explain why, from a structural perspective, it is much harder to quantize GR than other theories without relying on any specific approach to quantization. To achieve this goal, we will introduce the so-called “Covariant Phase Space Method” and use to study in detail the symmetry structure of GR and how it is intimately related to its dynamics. Along the way we will touch on (parts of) the historical debate on whether gravity should be quantized at all, discuss how to think of time evolution when there is no absolute time, and go through Wald’s proposal of black hole entropy as a Noether charge.