Area-angle variables for general relativity

Abstract

We introduce a modified Regge calculus for general relativity on a triangulated four dimensional Riemannian manifold where the fundamental variables are areas and a certain class of angles. These variables satisfy constraints which are local in the triangulation. We expect the formulation to have applications to classical discrete gravity and non-perturbative approaches to quantum gravity.

Comments: 7 pages, 1 figure. v2 small changes to match published version