Quantum spin dynamics (QSD): IV. 2+1 Euclidean quantum gravity as a model to test 3+1 Lorentzian quantum gravity

The quantization of Lorentzian or Euclidean 2 + 1 gravity by canonical methods is a well studied problem. However, the constraints of 2 + 1 gravity are those of a topological field theory and therefore resemble very little those of the corresponding Lorentzian 3 + 1 constraints. In this paper we canonically quantize Euclidean 2 + 1 gravity for an arbitrary genus of the spacelike hypersurface with new, classically equivalent constraints that maximally probe the Lorentzian 3 + 1 situation. We choose the signature to be Euclidean because this implies that the gauge group is, as in the 3 + 1 case, SU(2) rather than SU(1, 1). We employ, and carry out to full completion, the new quantization method introduced in preceding papers of this series which resulted in a finite 3 + 1 Lorentzian quantum field theory for gravity. The space of solutions to all constraints turns out to be much larger than that obtained by traditional approaches, however, it is fully included. Thus, by a suitable restriction of the solution space, we can recover all former results which gives confidence in the new quantization methods. The meaning of the remaining 'spurious solutions' is discussed.