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Loll works on developing a theory of quantum gravity, reconciling the beautiful geometric
description of space and time laid out in Einstein's theory of General Relativity
with the insight that all of physics at its most fundamental level must be described by
quantum laws of motion. She is one of the pioneers of a nonperturbative and
purely quantum field-theoretic approach to the
quantization of gravity, using Causal Dynamical Triangulations, or CDT for short.
This, most modern, version
of so-called lattice quantum gravity has already produced a number of remarkable results.
They include a dynamical derivation of the fact that spacetime on large scales is four-dimensional,
something that can only be taken for granted in classical gravity.
In addition, when zooming in on the ultrashort Planck scale, the spacetime dimension
becomes gradually smaller and approaches the value two(!). This completely
unexpected quantum feature cannot be explained perturbatively, and is a possible smoking gun
for quantum gravity. Further numerical simulations of quantum spacetime have shown that its
average shape and curvature are compatible with those of a de Sitter Universe, a
solution to the Einstein equations that plays an important role
in theories of cosmology. This exciting development has opened the door to
deriving and testing from first quantum principles certain properties of the very
early universe, which our standard perturbative descriptions merely assume.
- What has enabled these unprecedented findings is a functioning computational "lab" that allows us
to probe physics in a fully nonperturbative, background-independent regime,
somewhat of a rarity in quantum gravity research.
Loll is
recipient of a VICI award by the
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).
She is Editorial Board member and Subject Editor of the international journal
Living
Reviews in Relativity,
and Editor of
Combinatorics, Physics and their Interactions (Annales de l'institut Henri Poincare D).
Loll is member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and
the
Academia Europaea, and
Knight of the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands.
She is Chair of the Gravitational Physics Division of the
European Physical Society
and an elected Fellow of the
International Society of General Relativity and Gravitation.
Selected Publications
- J. van der Duin and R. Loll:
Curvature Correlators in Nonperturbative 2D Lorentzian Quantum Gravity,
The European Physical Journal C 84 (2024)
[arXiv: 2404.17556, hep-th].
- N. Klitgaard and R. Loll:
How round is the quantum de Sitter universe?,
The European Physical Journal C 80 (2020) 990
[arXiv: 2006.06263, hep-th].
- R. Loll:
Quantum Gravity from Causal Dynamical Triangulations: A Review,
Classical and Quantum Gravity 37 (2020) 013002
[arXiv: 1905.08669, hep-th].
- N. Klitgaard and R. Loll:
Introducing Quantum Ricci Curvature,
Physical Review D 97 (2018) 046008
[arXiv: 1712.08847, hep-th].
- J. Ambjørn, A. Görlich, J. Jurkiewicz, A. Kreienbuehl and R. Loll:
Renormalization Group Flow in CDT,
Classical and Quantum Gravity 31 (2014) 165003
[arXiv: 1405.4585, hep-th].
- S. Jordan and R. Loll:
Causal Dynamical Triangulations without Preferred Foliation,
Physics Letters B 724 (2013) 155
[arXiv: 1305.4582, hep-th].
-
J. Ambjørn, S. Jordan, J. Jurkiewicz and R. Loll:
Second- and First-Order Phase Transitions in CDT,
Physical Review D 85 (2012) 124044
[arXiv: 1205.1229, hep-th].
- J. Ambjørn, A. Görlich, J. Jurkiewicz and R. Loll:
Planckian Birth of the Quantum de Sitter Universe,
Physical Review Letters 100 (2008) 091304
[arXiv: 0712.2485, hep-th].
- J. Ambjørn, J. Jurkiewicz and R. Loll:
Emergence of a 4D World from Causal Quantum Gravity,
Physical Review Letters 93 (2004) 131301 [arXiv: hep-th/0404156].
- A. Dasgupta and R. Loll:
Proper-Time Cure for the Conformal Sickness in Quantum Gravity,
Nuclear Physics B 606 (2001) 357-379
[arXiv: hep-th/0103186].
- J. Ambjørn and R. Loll:
Non-perturbative Lorentzian Quantum Gravity, Causality and Topology Change,
Nuclear Physics B 536 (1998) 407-434
[arXiv: hep-th/9805108].
- R. Loll:
Volume Operator in Discretized Quantum Gravity,
Physical Review Letters 75 (1995) 3048-51
[arXiv: gr-qc/9506014].
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