Numerical analysis of spin foam dynamics and the flatness problem

Abstract

In this paper we apply a recently proposed numerical algorithm for finding stationary phase points in spin foam amplitudes. We study a spin foam amplitude with three vertices and a bulk face in 4D BF theory. We fix the boundary coherent states to three possible triangulations, one with zero deficit angle on the bulk face and two with nonzero deficit angle. We compute the amplitude numerically and we find a stationary phase point already at low spins in all the three cases. We comment on how this result contrasts with the claims of flatness problem in spin foam theories. We point out where these arguments may be misleading and we propose further computations to definitively answer the question.

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