Step-by-Step Canonical Quantum Gravity -- Part I: Ashtekar's New Variables

Abstract: Canonical quantum gravity was first developed by Abhay Ashtekar, Lee Smolin, Carlo Rovelli and their collaborators in the late 1980s. It was a major breakthrough that successfully brought Einstein's theory of General Relativity (GR) into a Yang-Mills-type gauge theory. A new era of quantum gravity research has since started, and with decades of continued efforts from a relatively small community, the area now known as Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) has flourished, making it a promising theory of quantum gravity. Due to its incredibly high level of complexity, many technical details were left out in introductory texts on LQG. In particular, resources that are appropriate to the undergraduate level are extremely limited. Consequently, there exists a huge gap between the knowledge base of an undergraduate physics major and the necessary readiness to carry out LQG research. In an effort to fill this gap, we aim to develop a pedagogical user guide that provides a step-by-step walk-through of canonical quantum gravity, without compromising necessary technical details. We hope that our attempt will bring more exposure to undergraduates on the exciting early developments of canonical quantum gravity, and provide them with the necessary foundation to explore active research fields such as black hole thermodynamics, Wheeler-DeWitt equation, and so on. This work will also serve as a solid base for anyone hoping to pursue further study in LQG at a higher level.