Spectrum of area in the Faddeev formulation of gravity

Abstract: Faddeev formulation of general relativity (GR) is considered where the metric is composed of ten vector fields or a ten-dimensional tetrad. Upon partial use of the field equations, this theory results in the usual GR. Earlier we have proposed first-order representation of the minisuperspace model for the Faddeev formulation where the tetrad fields are piecewise constant on the polytopes like 4-simplices or, say, cuboids into which ${\rm R}^4$ can be decomposed, an analogue of the Cartan-Weyl connection-type form of the Hilbert-Einstein action in the usual continuum GR. In the Hamiltonian formalism, the tetrad bilinears are canonically conjugate to the orthogonal connection matrices. We evaluate the spectrum of the elementary areas, functions of the tetrad bilinears. The spectrum is discrete and proportional to the Faddeev analog $\gamma_{\rm F}$ of the Barbero-Immirzi parameter $\gamma$. The possibility of the tetrad and metric discontinuities in the Faddeev gravity allows to consider any surface as consisting of a set of virtually independent elementary areas and its spectrum being the sum of the elementary spectra. Requiring consistency of the black hole entropy calculations known in the literature we are able to estimate $\gamma_{\rm F}$.