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# Quantum gravity and spin 1/2 particles effective dynamics

## 1 Introduction

It is commonly accepted that quantum gravity should hold at scales near Planck length $`\mathrm{}_P:=\sqrt{G_{\mathrm{Newton}}\mathrm{}/c^3}10^{33}`$cm or, equivalently, Planck energy $`E_P:=\mathrm{}c/\mathrm{}_P10^{19}`$GeV. Accordingly, neither astrophysical observations nor ground experiments were considered in the past as a means to directly reveal any quantum gravity effect but only to test indirect consequences. In recent years however this attitude has changed on the basis of potentially testable phenomena probing quantum gravity scenarios in which scales combine to lie not far from experimental resolution. Prominent among such phenomena we find in vacuo dispersion relations for gamma ray astrophysics , laser-interferometric limits on distance fluctuations , neutrino oscillations , threshold shift in certain high energy physics processes , CPT violation  and clock-comparison experiments in atomic physics. These are the prototypes of the emerging quantum gravity phenomenology .

The present work is aimed at elaborating on effective corrections to propagation in vacuo for spin-1/2 particles in the framework of loop quantum gravity as reported in . This framework also has been used previously in studying light propagation .

In essence, the specific structure of spacetime for a given quantum gravity scenario can be probed by matter propagating and interacting there: what could be considered as flat spacetime macroscopically, might produce microscopic imprints of its detailed structure on the interaction of particles. In particular, dispersion relations of propagating matter could exhibit corrections due to such effects. For particles with energy $`E<<E_P`$ and momentum $`\stackrel{}{p}`$ the following in vacuo modified dispersion relations were proposed :

$`c^2\stackrel{}{p}^2`$ $`=`$ $`E^2\left(1+\xi {\displaystyle \frac{E}{E_{QG}}}+𝒪\left({\displaystyle \frac{E}{E_{QG}}}\right)^2\right),`$ (1)
where $`E_{QG}\stackrel{<}{}E_P`$ and $`\xi 1`$. In general, such corrections might behave as $`\left(\frac{E}{E_{QG}}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}`$, where $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}0`$, namely not necessarily an integer. This possibility has been considered for photons  and spin zero particles . In this work we show it applies also to spin 1/2 particles.

According to Eq.(1) the corresponding particle’s speed yields a retardation time

$`\mathrm{\Delta }t\xi {\displaystyle \frac{E}{E_{QG}}}{\displaystyle \frac{L}{c}},`$ (2)
with respect to a speed c signal after traveling a distance $`L`$. Interestingly, for Gamma Ray Bursts (GRB’s) with $`E0.20`$MeV, $`L10^{10}`$ly and setting $`E_{QG}E_P`$, the naive estimation Eq. (2) gives $`\mathrm{\Delta }t0.01`$ms, barely two orders of magnitude below the sensitivity $`\delta t`$ for current observations of GRB’s . Moreover it is expected to improve this sensitivity in the foreseeable future . Using an expression analogous to Eq.(2) for the delay of two photons detected with an energy difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$, the observational bound $`E_{QG}/\xi 4\times 10^{16}`$ GeV was established in Ref.  by identifying events having $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=1`$ TeV arriving to earth within the time resolution of the measurement $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=280`$ s, from the active galaxy Markarian 421.

Now, accompanying GRB’s there seems to be Neutrino Bursts (NB) in the range $`10^510^{10}`$ GeV according to the so-called fireball model . If detected they could provide an excellent means to test quantum gravity effects of the type given by Eq.(2) above. Experiments like Neutrino Burst Experiment (NuBE) might detect $``$20 events per year of ultra high energy neutrinos ($`E>`$TeV) coinciding with GRB’s . Among other experiments aimed at studying ultra high energy cosmic rays including neutrinos we find the OWL-Airwatch project which could detect $`3\times 10^310^5`$ events ($`E>10^{20}`$eV) per year . This experiment also can look for time correlations between high energy neutrinos and GRB’s. Complementary to the GRB effect, there is the possibility of looking for neutrino oscillation effect as induced by quantum gravity . An analysis similar to that performed in the case of atmospheric neutrino oscillations , can help to set bounds on the parameters entering the description as we will suggest below.

In summary, astrophysical observations of photons, neutrinos or cosmic rays could make possible to test quantum gravity effects or at least to restrict quantum gravity theories.

Indeed, an alternative approach to quantum gravity is based on string theory . On such a basis modified dispersion relations of the type (1) have been regained . The main difference in the case of photons is the absence of helicity dependence that is present in the loop quantum gravity approach. As for the case of spin 1/2 particles both approaches seem to agree in its helicity independence to leading order of the corresponding effect .

Further comments in order here are: delay time effects for traveling particles have also been considered on a different basis, for example an open system approach . Also, perturbative quantum gravity has been considered to obtain effective dispersion relations .

Noticeably, the effect considered thusfar involves a Lorentz symmetry violation , which seems to be in agreement with some astrophysical and cosmological scenarios . In this way, these studies naturally overlap with the systematic approach developed by Colladay, Kostelecky and collaborators  which provides the most general power counting renormalizable extension of the standard model that incorporates both Lorentz and CPT violations. This framework has been widely used to set experimental bounds upon the interactions that produce such violations and the observations performed so far cover a wide range of experimental settings . Additional progress in establishing bounds to such symmetry violation can be found in Refs..

Finally, it is interesting to emphasize that Planck scale corrections to either particle propagation or interactions need not necessarily imply violations of Lorentz covariance . Recently the use of non-linear representations of the Lorentz group, leading to what has been called special relativity with two invariant scales, allows for a systematic construction of theories exhibiting these features .

The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2 we summarize the basics of loop quantum gravity in the case of fermions plus gravity. Section 3 is devoted to review the regularization of Thiemann for the corresponding Hamiltonian constraint. Section 4 explains general aspects of our approximation scheme whereas Section 5 provides the details of the calculations. In Section 6 the effective Hamiltonian for non-interacting spin 1/2 particles is obtained. In particular, in vacuo dispersion relations are given. Section 7 contains some preliminary estimates of the parameter $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$. To conclude, a summary and discussion of our results is presented in Section 8.

## 2 Loop quantum gravity

This section provides the basic ingredients of this approach, also known as quantum geometry , which we shall use in the sequel. Among the main results along this approach one finds: i) well defined geometric operators possessing a discrete spectrum, thus evidencing discreteness of space , ii) a microscopic account for black hole entropy  and, more recently, hints on quantum avoidance of a would be classical cosmological singularity . (For a review on these topics see for example Ref. .)

To begin with it is assumed that the spacetime manifold $`M`$ has topology $`\mathrm{\Sigma }\times IR`$, with $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ a Riemannian 3-manifold. Here a co-triad $`e_a^i`$ is defined, with $`a,b,c,\mathrm{}`$ being spatial tensor indices and $`i,j,k,\mathrm{}`$ being $`su(2)`$ indices. Thus the corresponding three-metric is given by $`q_{ab}=e_a^ie_b^i`$. In addition, a field $`K_a^i`$ is defined by $`K_{ab}=sgn[det(e_c^j)]K_a^ie_b^i`$, which is related to the extrinsic curvature $`K_{ab}`$ of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ . A canonical pair for the gravitational phase space is $`(K_a^i,E_j^b/\kappa )`$, where $`E_i^a=\frac{1}{2}ϵ^{abc}ϵ_{ijk}e_b^je_c^k`$ and $`\kappa `$ is Newton’s constant. It turns out that such a canonical pair yields a complicated form for the Hamiltonian constraint of general relativity. A convenient canonical pair, making this constraint polynomial, was introduced by Ashtekar . Nevertheless, two severe difficulties to proceed with the quantization remained: (i) the implementation of a diffeomorphism covariant regularization for the density-weight two Hamiltonian constraint hereby obtained and (ii) the extension to non-compact groups of the diffeomorphism covariant techniques already developed for gauge theories with compact groups . In fact, the Ashtekar variables ($`{}_{}{}^{IC}A_{a}^{i}=\mathrm{\Gamma }_a^iiK_a^i`$, $`iE_i^a/\kappa `$)  , with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_a^i`$ being the torsion free connection compatible with $`e_a^i`$, are complex valued. Namely the gauge group is $`SL(2,IC)`$, which is non compact.

Some proposals to come to terms with difficulty (ii) were: to consider real connection variables , to implement a Wick transform  and to define tractable reality constraints . All of these left open (i). Thiemann subsequently proposed to solve (i) and (ii) by incorporating real connection variables while keeping the density weight one character of the Hamiltonian constraint. He further provided a quantum version of the theory in the pure gravity case, as well as in those cases including the coupling of matter to gravity . His approach is next reviewed, since we rely upon it for our analysis of the fermionic case.

As for the fermionic sector a convenient canonical choice is $`(\xi ,\pi =i\xi ^{})`$. Here $`\xi =(detq)^{1/4}\eta `$ is a half density and $`\eta `$ is a Grassman $`SU(2)`$ spinor. Half densities are convenient because they do not lead to cumbersome reality conditions at the quantum level and, furthermore, they do not require a complex gravitational connection. However, problems with diffeomorphism covariance can emerge. For this reason a further canonical transformation in the fermionic sector is necessary in order to dedensitize the Grassman fields through: $`\theta (x):=_\mathrm{\Sigma }d^3y\sqrt{\delta (x,y)}\xi (y)`$ and $`\xi (x):=_{y\mathrm{\Sigma }}\sqrt{\delta (x,y)}\theta (y)`$.

The pieces of the gravity-spin-1/2 system Hamiltonian constraint read

$`H_{\mathrm{Einstein}}[N]`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Sigma }}d^3xN{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\kappa \sqrt{detq}}}\mathrm{tr}(2[K_a,K_b]F_{ab})[E_a,E_b]),`$
$`H_{\mathrm{spin}\frac{1}{2}}[N]`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Sigma }}d^3xNE_i{}_{}{}^{a}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\sqrt{det(q)}}}(i\pi ^T\tau _i𝒟_a\xi +𝒟_a\left(\pi ^T\tau _i\xi \right)+{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}K_a{}_{}{}^{i}\pi _{}^{T}\xi +c.c.)`$ (3)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{m}{2\mathrm{}}}\left(\xi ^T(i\sigma ^2)\xi +\pi ^T(i\sigma ^2)\pi \right)`$
Here $`\stackrel{}{\tau }=\frac{i}{2}\stackrel{}{\sigma }`$, where $`\stackrel{}{\sigma }=\left\{\sigma ^i\right\}`$ are the standard Pauli matrices and we have included an explicit mass term. Only one chirality fermion is used $`\eta =\frac{1}{2}(1+\gamma _5)\mathrm{\Psi }`$, which is equivalent to have a Dirac spinor $`\mathrm{\Psi }^T=(\eta ^T,\mu ^T)`$ satisfying the Majorana condition. The classical configuration space is then $`𝒜/𝒢`$ of connections modulo gauge transformations, together with that of the fermionic field.

The quantum arena is given as follows . As in any quantum field theory, because of the infinite number of degrees of freedom, an enlargement of the classical configuration space is required. This is far from trivial since the measures defining the scalar product, which are required to provide a Hilbert space, get concentrated on distributional fields and hence lie outside the classical configuration space. The key idea to build up such an enlargement is to make Wilson loop variables (traces of parallel transport operators) well defined. The resulting space $`\overline{𝒜/𝒢}`$ can be thought of as the limit of configuration spaces of lattice gauge theories for all possible floating (i.e. not necessarily rectangular) lattices. Hence, geometric structures on lattice configuration space are used to implement a geometric structure on $`\overline{𝒜/𝒢}`$. This enables to define a background independent calculus on it which, in turn, leads to the construction of the relevant measures, the Hilbert space and the regulated operators.

It turns out that the Hilbert space of gauge invariant functions of gravitational and spinor fields is given by

$$_{\mathrm{inv}}=L_2(\left[\overline{𝒜}_{SU(2)}\overline{𝒮}\right]/\overline{𝒢},d\mu _{AL}(SU(2))d\mu _F)$$
(4)
Here $`\overline{𝒢}`$ denotes the action of $`SU(2)`$ on all fields at every point of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. $`\overline{S}`$ denotes the infinite product measurable space $`_xS_x`$, $`S_x`$ being the Grassmann space at the point $`x`$. $`d\mu _F`$ is the corresponding measure on $`\overline{S}`$. An orthonormal basis using $`\mu _F`$ can be built up. Let the spinor labels be ordered $`A=1,2`$. Take $`\stackrel{}{v}`$ a finite set of mutually different points. For each $`v\stackrel{}{v}`$ denote by $`I_v`$ the array $`(A_1(v)<\mathrm{}<A_k(v))`$, with $`0k2`$ and $`A_j(v)=1,2`$ for each $`1jk`$. Also set $`|I_v|=k`$. Thus fermionic vertex functions $`F_{\stackrel{}{v},\stackrel{}{I}}`$ can be defined as $`F_{\stackrel{}{v},\stackrel{}{I}}:=\mathrm{\Pi }_{v\stackrel{}{v}}F_{v,I}`$, $`F_{v,I_v}:=\mathrm{\Pi }_{j=1}^k\theta _{A_j(v)}(v)`$ yielding the desired orthonormal basis.

Gauge invariant objects are spin network states defined as follows. Take $`\gamma `$ as a piecewise analytic graph with edges $`e`$ and vertices $`v`$ which are not necessarily closed. Every edge can be read as outcoming from a vertex by suitably subdividing edges into halves. Given a connection $`A_a`$ we can compute the holonomy along the edge $`e`$: $`h_e(A)`$. To each $`e`$ we also associate a spin $`j_e`$ corresponding to an irreducible representation of $`SU(2)`$. In addition, we attach to each vertex an integer label $`n_v`$, $`0n_v2`$, and a projector $`p_v`$. For a given $`n_v`$, one considers the vector subspace of $`Q_v`$ (the vector space spanned by holomorphic functions of $`\theta _A(v)`$, spanned by those vectors $`F_{I,v}`$ such that $`|I|=n(v)`$. The projector $`p_v`$ is a certain $`SU(2)`$ invariant matrix which projects onto one of the linearly independent trivial representations contained in the decomposition into irreducible representations of the tensor product consisting of (i) the $`n_v`$-fold tensor product of fundamental representations of $`SU(2)`$ associated with the vector subspace of $`Q_v`$ spanned by the $`F_{I,v},|I|=n(v)`$ and (ii) the tensor product of irreducible representations $`j_e`$ where $`e`$ runs through the subset of edges of $`\gamma `$ starting at $`v`$. The resulting gauge invariant states are denoted by

$$T_{\gamma ,[\stackrel{}{j},\stackrel{}{n},\stackrel{}{p}]}$$
(5)
which extend the definition of the matter free case. They form a basis of $`_{\mathrm{inv}}`$. Although not orthonormal it can be transformed into one that it is by suitably decomposing the fermionic dependence into an orthonormal basis of the $`Q_v`$.

To extract physical information we will further need a state describing a flat continuous space $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ at scales much larger than the Planck length, but not necessarily so at distances comparable to Planck length itself. States of this kind were introduced under the name of weave  for pure gravity. Flat weave states $`|W`$, having a characteristic length $``$, were first constructed by considering collections of Planck scale circles randomly oriented. If one probes distances $`d>>`$ the continuous flat classical geometry is regained, while for distances $`d<<`$ the quantum loop structure of space is manifest. In other words, one expects a behavior of the type $`W|\widehat{q}_{ab}|W=\delta _{ab}+O\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right).`$ It was soon realized that such states could not yield a non trivial volume due to the lack of self intersections . Couples of circles, intersecting at a point, were also considered as specific models of weaves to overcome this defect . With the recent advances on the kinematical Hilbert space $`_{\mathrm{aux}}`$ it became clear that all proposed weaves were afflicted by two undesirable features. First, they are defined to be peaked at a specific (flat or curved) metric, but not at a connection. This is in contrast with standard semiclassical states in terms of coherent states, for example. Second, the known weave states do not belong either to $`_{\mathrm{aux}}`$ or to a dense subspace of it . It may be possible to come to terms with such difficulties by defining coherent states for diffeomorphism covariant gauge theories  or by implementing a genuine statistical geometry , for instance. Both approaches have recently achieved substantial progress.

Nonetheless, in order to extract physics, there is the alternative possibility of using just the main features that semiclassical states should have . Namely, peakedness on both geometry and connection together with the property that they yield well defined expectation values of physical operators. An advantage of this alternative is that one may elucidate some physical consequences before the full fledged semiclassical analysis is settled down. Indeed, such alternative may be considered as complementary, in the sense of hinting at possible features of semiclassical states which could be further elaborated. After its completion, a rigorous semiclassical treatment should tell us whether the results arising from this alternative turn out to hold or not. The weakness of the treatment resides on its generality, since no detailed features of the would be semiclassical states are used -as opposed, say, to the original weave states- and hence a set of numerical coefficients cannot be calculated. Evaluating them will be the task of the rigorous semiclassical treatment.

On top of the purely gravitational semiclassical states, a generalization is required to include matter fields. For our analysis it will just suffice to exploit the same aspects of peakedness and well defined expectation values, extended to include the case of the fermion field. The semiclassical states here considered will describe flat space and a smooth spin-1/2 field living in it. Such a state is denoted by $`|W,\xi >`$ and has a characteristic length $``$. Since no detailed information is used on how the semiclassical state is constructed in terms of, say, a graph, as opposed to weave states, the present approach yields results relying only on the following assumptions: (i) peakedness of the states, (ii) well defined expectation values and iii) existence of a coarse-grained expansion involving ratios of the relevant scales of the problem: the Planck length $`\mathrm{}_P`$, the characteristic length $``$ and the fermion wavelength $`\lambda `$. States fulfilling such requirements are referred to as would be semiclassical states in the sequel.

## 3  The regularization

We will use the regularization method of Thiemann  in the following. We focus on the first term of $`H_{\mathrm{spin}1/2}[N]`$, Eq. (3). The other terms can be dealt with similarly or, in the case of $`K_a^i`$ dependence, along the lines of the purely gravitational sector $`H_{\mathrm{Einstein}}[N]`$ as shown in the sequel. The identity $`\frac{1}{\kappa }\{A_a^i,V\}=2sgn(dete_b^j)e_a^i`$ yields

$$H_{\mathrm{spin}\frac{1}{2}}^{(1)}[N]=\frac{i}{2\kappa ^2}d^3xN(x)\left(ϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{abc}4\frac{\{A_a^i(x),V(x,\delta )\}\{A_b^j(x),V(x,\delta )\}}{\sqrt{q}(x)}\right)[\pi ^T\tau _k𝒟_c\xi c.c.]$$
(6)
where $`\delta `$ is small and $`V(x,\delta )=d^3y\chi _\delta (x,y)\sqrt{q(x)}`$ is the volume with respect to the metric $`q_{ab}`$ of a box centered at $`x`$. $`\chi _\delta (x,y)=_{a=1}^3\theta (\delta /2|x^ay^a|)`$ is the characteristic function of the box. Next one changes from $`\xi `$ to $`\theta `$ variables and introduces

$$\underset{x}{}f_i^a(x)(\tau _i𝒟_a\theta )_A(x)\overline{\theta }_A(x),$$
(7)
which regularizes (6) as we show now. Here $`f_i^a`$ is a real valued ad<sub>SU(2)</sub> vector field. By defining $`(_a\theta _A)(x):=lim_{ϵ0}_{x^a}\theta _A^ϵ(x)`$, and recalling

$$\theta _A(x)=d^3y\sqrt{\delta (x,y)}\xi _A(y)=\underset{ϵ0}{lim}\theta _A^ϵ$$
(8)
with $`\theta _A^ϵ=d^3y\frac{\chi _ϵ(x,y)}{\sqrt{ϵ^3}}\xi _A`$, one gets

$$(_{x^a}\theta _A)(x)=d^3y\frac{\chi _ϵ(x,y)}{\sqrt{ϵ^3}}(_{y^a}\theta _A)(y)$$
(9)
Now let us divide $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ into boxes of Lebesgue measure $`ϵ^3`$ centered at $`x_n`$ and let Eq.(7) be the limit $`ϵ0`$ of

$$\underset{n}{}f_i^a(x_n)(\tau _i𝒟_a\theta ^ϵ)_A(x_n)\overline{\theta }_A^ϵ(x_n),$$
(10)
which upon expressing $`\theta ^ϵ`$ in terms of $`\xi `$ becomes

$$d^3xd^3y\left[\underset{n}{}f_i^a(x_n)\frac{\chi _ϵ(x,x_n)\chi _ϵ(y,x_n)}{ϵ^3}\right]\left[\tau _i_a\xi (x)+(\omega _a(x_n)\xi (x))\right]^A\overline{\xi }_A.$$
(11)
Notice that in spite of the density weight of $`\xi `$ no Christoffel connection is needed since it will drop after the h.c part is considered. In the limit $`ϵ0`$, $`\chi _ϵ(x,x_n)/ϵ^3\delta (x,x_n)`$ and $`\chi _ϵ(x,x_n)\delta _{y,x_n}`$, so that after $`x`$ integration and sum over $`x_n`$ the result is Eq.(6) where $`f_i^a`$ has to be properly identified.

To proceed with the quantization one keeps fermionic momenta to the right and replaces $`\widehat{\overline{\theta }}^A`$ by $`\mathrm{}\frac{}{\theta _A}`$ in (7). By further multiplying and dividing by $`\delta ^3`$ the factor $`\delta ^3\sqrt{q(x)}`$ in the denominator is changed to $`V(x,\delta )`$. This can be absorbed into the Poisson brackets already appearing in (6). When Poisson brackets are replaced by commutators times $`1/i\mathrm{}`$ one obtains an operator whose action on a cylindrical function $`f_\gamma `$ associated to a graph $`\gamma `$ and containing fermionic insertions $`\theta _A`$ at the vertices $`vV(\gamma )`$ gives

$`\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{spin}1/2}^{(1)}[N]f_\gamma `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}}{2\mathrm{}_P^4}}{\displaystyle \underset{vV(\gamma )}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{x}{}}N(x)ϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{abc}\delta ^3`$ (12)
$`\times [A_a^i(x),\sqrt{\widehat{V}(x,\delta )}][A_b^j(x),\sqrt{\widehat{V}(x,\delta )}]`$
$`\times [(\tau _k𝒟_c\theta )_A(v){\displaystyle \frac{}{\theta _A(v)}}\delta _{x,v}+h.c.]f_\gamma .`$
To complete the regularization an adapted triangulation to $`\gamma `$ of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is introduced. Using $`h_s(0,\delta )\theta (s(\delta )\theta (s(0))=\delta \dot{s}^a(0)(𝒟_a)\theta (s(0))`$ and replacing the connection operators by holonomy operators allows one to absorb the $`\delta ^3`$ factor. Also one replaces $`\widehat{V}(v,\delta )\widehat{V}_v`$. Because of the presence of $`\delta _{x,v}`$, $`_x`$ becomes concentrated in the vertices $`_{v(\mathrm{\Delta })=v}`$. Hence we obtain

$`\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{spin}1/2}^{(1)}[N]`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_P}{2\mathrm{}_P^3}}{\displaystyle \underset{vV(\gamma )}{}}N_v{\displaystyle \underset{v(\mathrm{\Delta })=v}{}}ϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}`$ (13)
$`\times \mathrm{tr}\left(\tau _ih_{s_I(\mathrm{\Delta })}[h_{s_I(\mathrm{\Delta })}^1,\sqrt{\widehat{V}_v)}]\right)\mathrm{tr}\left(\tau _jh_{s_J(\mathrm{\Delta })}[h_{s_J(\mathrm{\Delta })}^1,\sqrt{\widehat{V}_v)}]\right)`$
$`\times [[(\tau _kh_{s_K(\delta )}\theta )(s_K(\mathrm{\Delta })(\delta ))\theta (v)]_A{\displaystyle \frac{}{\theta _A(v)}}+h.c.]`$
which is the operator we shall use below.

At this stage we introduce the notation

$$\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}=\mathrm{tr}\left(\tau _ih_{s_I(\mathrm{\Delta })}[h_{s_I(\mathrm{\Delta })}^1,\sqrt{V_v}]\right).$$
(14)
## 4 General structure of the calculation

The effective Dirac Hamiltonian $`\mathrm{H}^F`$ is obtained by considering the expectation value of the fermionic sector of the quantum Hamiltonian, with respect to $`|W,\xi `$. Inside this expectation value, operators are expanded around all relevant vertices of the triangulation in powers of the segments $`s_L^a(\mathrm{\Delta })`$, having lengths of the order $`\mathrm{}_P`$. In this way, a systematic approximation is given involving the scales $`\mathrm{}_P<<<\lambda _D`$. Here $`\lambda _D`$ is De Broglie wavelength of the neutrino. Corrections arise at this level. Let us start by taking the would be semiclassical state (WBSC) expectation value of Thiemann’s regularized Hamiltonian

$`\mathrm{H}^F=W,\xi |\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{spin}1/2}^{(1)}[N]|W,\xi =+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}}{4\mathrm{}_P^4}}{\displaystyle \underset{vV(\gamma )}{}}N(v){\displaystyle \frac{8}{E(v)}}ϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}\times `$
$`\times \{W,\xi |\left[{\displaystyle \frac{}{\theta (v)}}\tau _kh_{s_K(\mathrm{\Delta })}\widehat{\theta }(v+s_K(\mathrm{\Delta }))\right]\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi `$
$`W,\xi |\left[{\displaystyle \frac{}{\theta (v)}}\tau _k\widehat{\theta }(v)\right]\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi c.c.\}`$ (15)
where $`\frac{}{\theta (v)}`$ is the fermionic momentum operator .

Our strategy to use the proposed regularization as a computational tool will be to expand the expression (15) around each vertex of the triangulation in powers of the vectors $`s_I(\mathrm{\Delta })`$. To proceed with the approximation we think of space as made up of boxes of volume $`^3`$, whose center is denoted by $`\stackrel{}{x}`$. Each box contains a large number of vertices of the graph associated to the WBSC, but is considered infinitesimal in the scale where the space can be regarded as continuous, so that we take $`^3d^3x`$.

Next we discuss how to estimate the average contribution in each box. To begin with we consider that the volume of the box is

$$d^3\stackrel{}{x}\underset{v\mathrm{Box}(\stackrel{}{x})}{}\mathrm{}_P^3\left(\frac{8}{E(v)}\right)$$
(16)
and define the average $`<T(\stackrel{}{x})>`$ of the quantity $`T(v)`$ defined in each of the vertices contained in the box, as

$$d^3\stackrel{}{x}<T(\stackrel{}{x})>=\underset{v\mathrm{Box}(\stackrel{}{x})}{}\mathrm{}_P^3\left(\frac{8}{E(v)}\right)T(v)$$
(17)
The WBSC expectation value of the Hamiltonian (15) is of the type

$`{\displaystyle \underset{vV(\gamma )}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{8}{E(v)}}W,\xi |\widehat{F}(v)\widehat{G}(v)|W,\xi `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{Box}(\stackrel{}{x})}{}}F(\stackrel{}{x}){\displaystyle \underset{v\mathrm{Box}(\stackrel{}{x})}{}}\mathrm{}_P^3{\displaystyle \frac{8}{E(v)}}W,\xi |{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}_P^3}}\widehat{G}(v)|W,\xi `$ (18)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Sigma }}F(\stackrel{}{x})<{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}_P^3}}G(\stackrel{}{x})>d^3x`$
Here, $`\widehat{F}(v)`$ is a fermionic operator which produces the slowly varying function $`F(\stackrel{}{x})`$ within the box; i.e. $`<<\lambda _D`$. Furthermore, $`<\frac{1}{\mathrm{}_P^3}G(\stackrel{}{x})>`$ is the box average of the rapidly varying WBSC expectation values of the gravitational operator $`\frac{1}{\mathrm{}_P^3}\widehat{G}(v)`$ within the box, whose tensorial and Lie-algebra structure is determined by the tensors characterizing the continuum spacetime we are dealing with, i.e. $`\stackrel{0}{e}{}_{}{}^{ia},\tau ^k,_b,ϵ^{cde},ϵ^{klm}`$, where $`q^{ab}=\stackrel{0}{e}{}_{}{}^{ia}\stackrel{0}{e}{}_{i}{}^{}^b`$ is the corresponding classical 3-metric. The order of magnitude of these box averaged quantities is estimated according to some prescriptions to be specified in the sequel. The method does not provide exact numerical coefficients which can only be obtained from a detailed knowledge of the semiclassical state.

Since we assume the fermionic fields to be slowly-varying functions inside each box, we demand the following behavior of the fermionic operators inside the WBSC

$$W,\xi |\mathrm{}.\widehat{\theta }_B(v)\mathrm{}..\frac{}{\theta ^A(v)}\mathrm{}..|W,\xi =\mathrm{\Theta }(\mathrm{}.\xi _B(v)\mathrm{}.\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}\pi _A(v)\mathrm{}\mathrm{}),$$
(19)
where the normalization constant $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ is to be determined in such a way that the zeroth order approximation reproduces the corresponding classical kinetic energy term in the Hamiltonian. In this way we have

$`\mathrm{H}^F=W,\xi |\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{spin}1/2}^{(1)}[N]|W,\xi =+{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^4}}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{Box}(\stackrel{}{x})}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{v\mathrm{Box}(\stackrel{}{x})}{}}N(v){\displaystyle \frac{8}{E(v)}}ϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}\times `$
$`\times \{W,\xi |\left[{\displaystyle \frac{}{\theta (v)}}\tau _kh_{s_K(\mathrm{\Delta })}\theta (v+s_K(\mathrm{\Delta }))\right]\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi `$
$`W,\xi |\left[{\displaystyle \frac{}{\theta (v)}}\tau _k\theta (v)\right]\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi c.c.\}`$ (20)
In the above equation we have written only the fermions in its classical version and we have kept them inside the WBSC expectation value just in order to be able to write the above expression in a more compact way. The holonomy $`h_{s_K(\mathrm{\Delta })}`$ still contains the gravitational connection. In order to have a convenient bookkeeping of the terms involved, we write Eq.(20) as

$`\mathrm{H}^F`$ $`=`$ $`+{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^4}}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{Box}(\stackrel{}{x})}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{v\mathrm{Box}(\stackrel{}{x})}{}}N(v){\displaystyle \frac{8}{E(v)}}ϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}\times `$ (21)
$`\times \{W,\xi |\left[{\displaystyle \frac{}{\theta (v)}}\tau _k(\left(s_K^a\widehat{}_a(v)\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(s_K^a\widehat{}_a(v)\right)\left(s_K^b\widehat{}_b(v)\right)+\mathrm{}.)\theta (v)\right]`$
$`\times \widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi c.c.\}`$
where the derivative $`\widehat{}_a`$ includes the covariant derivative $`\underset{a}{\overset{0}{}}(\stackrel{}{x})`$, which is compatible with the classical metric that we are considering and a piece $`\widehat{A}_a^i(v)`$ producing the quantum corrections associated with the beginning of the continuum at the scale $``$ . Upon taking WBSC expectation value we can make the following substitution

$`\widehat{}_a(v)\theta (v)`$ $``$ $`(\underset{a}{\overset{0}{}}(\stackrel{}{x})+\widehat{A}_a^i(v)\tau _i)\xi (\stackrel{}{x})`$ (22)
From now on we restrict to a continuum flat metric, in such a way that

$$\underset{a}{\overset{0}{}}(\stackrel{}{x})=_a.$$
(23)
The partial derivative does not change inside each box, which is consistent with the idea that each box is supposed to represent a point of the continuum. In this way

$`\mathrm{H}^F`$ $`=`$ $`+{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^4}}{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{Box}(\stackrel{}{x})}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{v\mathrm{Box}(\stackrel{}{x})}{}}N(v){\displaystyle \frac{8}{E(v)}}ϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}\times `$ (24)
$`\times \{W,\xi |\left[{\displaystyle \frac{}{\theta (v)}}\tau _k(s_K^a\widehat{}_a(v)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}s_K^as_K^b\widehat{}_a(v)\widehat{}_b(v)+\mathrm{}.)\theta (v)\right]`$
$`\times \widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi c.c.\}`$
Our problem now is to parameterize and to estimate the general spinor

$`Y_{(n)}^k(v)`$ $`=`$ $`ϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |s_K^{a_1}s_K^{a_2}\mathrm{}.s_K^{a_n}\widehat{}_{a_1}(v)\widehat{}_{a_2}(v)\mathrm{}\widehat{}_{a_n}(v)\theta (v)`$ (25)
$`\times \widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi `$
in a given box. Here $`n`$ denotes the number of covariant derivatives in the expression. Using the above we can write

$$\mathrm{H}^F=+\frac{i\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^4}\underset{n=1,2,\mathrm{}}{}\underset{\mathrm{Box}(\stackrel{}{x})}{}\underset{v\mathrm{Box}(\stackrel{}{x})}{}\left(N(v)\frac{8}{E(v)}\right)\pi (v)\tau _kY_{(n)}^k(v)c.c.$$
(26)
Before calculating the corresponding box averaged contributions let us obtain the expressions for some of the first quantities $`Y_{(n)}^k(v)`$. A direct calculation shows

$$Y_{(1)}^k(v)=s_K^a(v)\left(X^{kK}(v)_a\xi (\stackrel{}{x})+X_a^{mkK}(v)\tau _m\right)\xi (\stackrel{}{x}),$$
(27)
$`Y_{(2)}^k(v)`$ $`=`$ $`s_K^a(v)s_K^b(v)X^{kK}(v)_a_b\xi (\stackrel{}{x})+`$ (28)
$`+s_K^a(v)s_K^b(v)X_a^{mkK}(v)\tau _m2_b\xi (\stackrel{}{x})`$
$`+s_K^a(v)s_K^b(v)X_{ab}^{mnkK}(v)\tau _m\tau _n\xi (\stackrel{}{x}),`$
$`Y_{(3)}^k(v)`$ $`=`$ $`s_K^as_K^bs_K^c\left(X^{kK}(v)_a_b_c+3X_a^{mkK}(v)\tau _m_b_c+\right)\xi (\stackrel{}{x})`$
$`+s_K^as_K^bs_K^c\left(3X_{ab}^{mnkK}(v)\tau _m\tau _n_c+X_{abc}^{mnpkK}(v)\tau _m\tau _n\tau _p\right)\xi (\stackrel{}{x}),`$
where we have explicitly enforced the symmetry implied by the factors$`s_K^as_K^bs_K^c\mathrm{}.`$ in Eq.(25). The gravitational quantities, which are rapidly varying inside the box are

$`X^{kK}(v)`$ $`=`$ $`ϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi `$
$`X_a^{mkK}(v)`$ $`=`$ $`ϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |\widehat{A}_a^m(v)\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi `$
$`X_{ab}^{mnkK}(v)`$ $`=`$ $`ϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |\widehat{A}_a^m(v)\widehat{A}_b^n(v)\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi `$
$`X_{abc}^{mnpkK}(v)`$ $`=`$ $`ϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |\widehat{A}_a^m(v)\widehat{A}_b^m(v)\widehat{A}_c^p(v)\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi `$
Next we write the corresponding general expressions

$`Y_{(n)}^k(v)`$ $`=`$ $`\left(s_K^{a_1}s_K^{a_2}\mathrm{}s_K^{a_l}\right)\left(s_K^{a_{l+1}}s_K^{a_{l+2}}\mathrm{}s_K^{a_n}\right){\displaystyle \underset{l=n,n1,\mathrm{}.1,0}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{}{}}_l^n\right)X_{a_{l+1}a_{l+2}\mathrm{}.a_n}^{m_{l+1}m_{l+2}..m_nkK}(v)`$ (29)
$`\times \tau _{m_{l+1}}\tau _{m_{l+2}}\mathrm{}\tau _{m_n}_{a_1}_{a_1}\mathrm{}._{a_l}\xi (\stackrel{}{x})`$
with

$`X_{a_{l+1}a_{l+2}\mathrm{}.a_n}^{m_{l+1}m_{l+2}..m_nkK}(v)`$ $`=`$ $`ϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |\widehat{A}_{a_{l+1}}^{m_{l+1}}(v)\widehat{A}_{a_{l+2}}^{m_{l+2}}(v)\mathrm{}\widehat{A}_{a_n}^{m_n}(v)\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi .`$
In the above expressions the partition $`(1,2,\mathrm{}l)`$ and $`(l+1,`$ $`l+2,\mathrm{}.n)`$ is made in such a way that the indices of the first set count the number of partial derivatives acting upon the fermion. The indices of the second set count the number of $`\tau `$-matrices involved which is equal to the number of additional connections, i.e. besides those contained in the combination $`\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)`$, appearing in Eq.(4).

The box-averaged expression for the Hamiltonian reduces then to

$$\mathrm{H}^F=\frac{i\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^7}\underset{n=1,2,\mathrm{}}{}d^3\stackrel{}{x}\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _k<Y_{(n)}^k(\stackrel{}{x})>c.c.$$
(31)
In more detail this is

$`\mathrm{H}^F`$ $`=`$ $`+{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^7}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=1,2,\mathrm{}}{}}{\displaystyle }d^3\stackrel{}{x}\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _k\times `$ (32)
$`<`$ $`\left(s_K^{a_1}s_K^{a_2}\mathrm{}s_K^{a_l}\right)\left(s_K^{a_{l+1}}s_K^{a_{l+2}}\mathrm{}s_K^{a_n}\right){\displaystyle \underset{l=n,n1,\mathrm{}.1,0}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{}{}}_l^n\right)X_{a_{l+1}a_{l+2}\mathrm{}.a_n}^{m_{l+1}m_{l+2}..m_nkK}(v)>`$
$`\tau _{m_{l+1}}\tau _{m_{l+2}}\mathrm{}\tau _{m_n}_{a_1}_{a_1}\mathrm{}._{a_l}\xi (\stackrel{}{x}).`$
Here it is convenient to define the auxiliary quantities

$`T^{a_1a_2\mathrm{}.a_lm_{l+1}m_{l+2}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}.m_nk}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^7}}<\left(s_K^{a_1}s_K^{a_2}\mathrm{}s_K^{a_l}\right)\left(s_K^{a_{l+1}}s_K^{a_{l+2}}\mathrm{}s_K^{a_n}\right)X_{a_{l+1}a_{l+2}\mathrm{}.a_n}^{m_{l+1}m_{l+2}..m_nkK}(v)>`$
in such a way that

$`\mathrm{H}^F`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n=1,2,\mathrm{}}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{l=n,n1,\mathrm{}.1,0}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{}{}}_l^n\right){\displaystyle d^3\stackrel{}{x}i\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _kT^{a_1a_2\mathrm{}.a_lm_{l+1}m_{l+2}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}.m_n}\tau _{m_{l+1}}\tau _{m_{l+2}}\mathrm{}\tau _{m_n}}`$
$`\times _{a_1}_{a_1}\mathrm{}._{a_l}\xi (\stackrel{}{x})`$
$$\mathrm{H}^F=:\underset{n=1,2,\mathrm{}}{}\underset{l=n,n1,\mathrm{}.1,0}{}\mathrm{H}_{nl}^F$$
(35)
The box-averages $`<F(v)>`$ are subsequently estimated using the corresponding dimensions in terms of the available tensors in flat space

$$\stackrel{0}{e}{}_{}{}^{ia}=\delta ^{ia},\tau ^k,_b,ϵ^{cde},ϵ^{klm},q^{ab}=\delta ^{ab},\delta ^{ij},\delta _b^a$$
(36)
in a manner described in the next section. In this way we are demanding covariance under rotations at the scale $``$. As the final input in our prescription we impose that when averaging inside each box, the order of magnitude of the corresponding expectation values of the gravitational operators are estimated according to

$$W,\xi |\mathrm{},A_{ia},\mathrm{},\sqrt{V_v},\mathrm{}|W,\xi \mathrm{}\frac{1}{}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\underset{ia}{\overset{0}{e}},\mathrm{},\mathrm{}_P^{3/2}\mathrm{}.,$$
(37)
respectively.

In previous work  we have set $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}=0`$ on the basis that the coarse graining approximation does not allow for the continuum connection to be probed below $`\frac{1}{}`$. On the other hand, by adopting say kinematical coherent states for representing semiclassical states, one would set $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}=1`$ for two reasons: first, in the limit $`\mathrm{}0(\mathrm{}_P0)`$ (37) yields just zero, in agreement with a flat connection, and, second, such an scaling would saturate the Heisenberg uncertainty relation. Nonetheless, physical semiclassical states may lead to a leading order contribution with $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}0,1`$, thus we leave it open here. Now we have all the ingredients to perform the expansion in powers of $`s`$.

Let us consider now the contribution arising from the gravitational operators contained in $`\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)`$ of Eq.(4). We choose the parameterization

$$\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)=s_I{}_{}{}^{a}w_{ia}^{}+s_I{}_{}{}^{a}s_{I}^{}{}_{}{}^{b}w_{iab}^{}+\mathrm{}$$
(38)
leading to

$$\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)=s_I{}_{}{}^{a}s_{J}^{}{}_{}{}^{b}w_{ia}^{}w_{jb}+s_I{}_{}{}^{a}s_{J}^{}{}_{}{}^{b}s_{J}^{}{}_{}{}^{c}w_{ia}^{}w_{jbc}+s_I{}_{}{}^{a}s_{I}^{}{}_{}{}^{b}s_{J}^{}{}_{}{}^{c}w_{iab}^{}w_{jc}+O(s^4),$$
(39)
where $`w_{ia}`$ and $`w_{iab}`$, which are independent of $`s`$, need to be calculated explicitly. The product of $`\widehat{w}`$ starts quadratically in $`s`$.

To this end we will need the $`\tau `$-algebra, recalling that $`\tau _k=\frac{i}{2}\sigma _k`$, with $`\sigma _k`$ being the standard Pauli matrices. We have

$`\tau _i\tau _j`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\delta _{ij}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}ϵ_{ijk}\tau _k,`$
$`\tau _i\tau _j\tau _k`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}ϵ_{ijk}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\delta _{ij}\tau _k+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\delta _{ik}\tau _j{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\delta _{jk}\tau _i,`$
$`ϵ^{cab}\tau _a\tau _b`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}ϵ^{cab}ϵ_{abm}\tau _m=\tau _c`$
$`\tau _k\tau _a\tau _k`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\tau _a`$ (40)
From the definition (14) we obtain

$$\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}=Tr\left(\tau _i(\sqrt{V}h_{s_I}\sqrt{V}h_{s_I}^1)\right)$$
(41)
Up to second order in $`s`$, we have

$`\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}`$ $`=`$ $`Tr\left(\tau _i([A_I,\sqrt{V}]+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}[A_I,[A_I,\sqrt{V}]]+\mathrm{})\right),A_I=s_I{}_{}{}^{a}A_{ia}^{}\tau ^i`$ (42)
$`=`$ $`s_I{}_{}{}^{a}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}[A_{ia},\sqrt{V}]+s_I{}_{}{}^{a}s_{I}^{}{}_{}{}^{b}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}ϵ_{ikl}[A_{ka},[A_{lb},\sqrt{V}]]+\mathrm{},`$
which finally allows to identify

$`w_{ia}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}[A_{ia},\sqrt{V}],w_{iab}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}ϵ_{ikl}[A_{ka},[A_{lb},\sqrt{V}]].`$ (43)
The scaling properties under the semiclassical expectation value of the above gravitational operators is

$$W\xi |\mathrm{}w_{ia_1\mathrm{}a_n}\mathrm{}|W\xi \frac{\mathrm{}_P^{3/2}}{^n}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{n\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}.$$
(44)
## 5 The calculation

The detailed calculation of the correction terms is performed according to the following prescription: first we set $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}=0`$, then we consider an expansion to order $`\mathrm{}_P^2`$ and finally we reintroduce the non-zero value for $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$ in the corresponding terms.

Let us recall the general expressions from last section

$`\mathrm{H}_{nl}^F`$ $`=`$ $`i({}_{l}{}^{n}){\displaystyle }d^3\stackrel{}{x}\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _kT^{a_1a_2\mathrm{}.a_lm_{l+1}m_{l+2}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}.m_nk}`$ (45)
$`\times \tau _{m_{l+1}}\tau _{m_{l+2}}\mathrm{}\tau _{m_n}_{a_1}_{a_1}\mathrm{}._{a_l}\xi (\stackrel{}{x})`$
$`T^{a_1a_2\mathrm{}.a_lm_{l+1}m_{l+2}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}.m_nk}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^7}}<\left(s_K^{a_1}s_K^{a_2}\mathrm{}s_K^{a_l}\right)\left(s_K^{a_{l+1}}s_K^{a_{l+2}}\mathrm{}s_K^{a_n}\right)`$ (46)
$`\times X_{a_{l+1}a_{l+2}\mathrm{}.a_n}^{m_{l+1}m_{l+2}..m_nkK}(v)>`$
$`X_{a_{l+1}a_{l+2}\mathrm{}.a_n}^{m_{l+1}m_{l+2}..m_nkK}(v)`$ $`=`$ $`ϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |\widehat{A}_{a_{l+1}}^{m_{l+1}}(v)\widehat{A}_{a_{l+2}}^{m_{l+2}}(v)\mathrm{}`$ (47)
$`\times \widehat{A}_{a_n}^{m_n}(v)\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi `$
The partition is made of the number $`n`$such that we have $`l`$derivatives and $`(nl)`$ $`\tau `$-matrices, all arising from the presence of $`n`$ covariant derivatives in Eq.(24). We recall that

$`\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)`$ $`=`$ $`\left(s_I{}_{}{}^{a}s_{J}^{}{}_{}{}^{b}w_{ia}^{}w_{jb}\right)+\left(s_I{}_{}{}^{a}s_{J}^{}{}_{}{}^{b}s_{J}^{}{}_{}{}^{c}w_{ia}^{}w_{jbc}+s_I{}_{}{}^{a}s_{I}^{}{}_{}{}^{b}s_{J}^{}{}_{}{}^{c}w_{iab}^{}w_{jc}\right)`$ (48)
$`+O(s^4),`$
$`=`$ $`\left(\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\right)_2+\left(\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\right)_3+`$
$`\mathrm{}+\left(\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\right)_N+\mathrm{},`$
where $`N`$ counts the powers of $`s`$ in the term $`\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)`$. Under the semiclassical state we can estimate the contribution of each term in Eq.(48) as

$$W,\xi |\mathrm{}..\left(\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\right)_N\mathrm{}.|W,\xi =\mathrm{}_P^3\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{N(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})},$$
(49)
where we have used Eqs.(37) and (44).

### 5.1  The case $`n=1`$

Here we have two possibilities which we consider separately: $`(n=1,`$ $`l=1)`$ and $`(n=1,`$ $`l=0).`$

#### 5.1.1 Case $`n=1,`$ $`l=1`$

$$\mathrm{H}_{11}^F=id^3\stackrel{}{x}\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _kT_{11}^{ak}_a\xi (\stackrel{}{x})$$
(50)
$$T_{11}^{ak}=\frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^7}<s_K^aX^{kK}(v)>$$
(51)
$$X^{kK}(v)=ϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi $$
(52)
We present this first calculation in some detail since it sets the stage for all the remaining estimates

$`T_{11}^{ak}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^7}}<s_K^aϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi >`$
$`=`$ $`\delta ^{ak}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^7}}\mathrm{}_P{\displaystyle \underset{N=2,3,}{}}\vartheta _{11N}\mathrm{}_P^3\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{N(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})}`$
$`=`$ $`\delta ^{ak}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^3}}(\vartheta _{112}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})}+\vartheta _{113}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{3(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})}+\mathrm{}.)`$
$`T_{11}^{ak}`$ $`=`$ $`\delta ^{ak}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^3}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})}(\vartheta _{112}+\vartheta _{113}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})}\mathrm{}.)`$ (53)
The notation is $`\vartheta _{nlN}`$ and these numbers are assumed to be of order one. Choosing $`\vartheta _{112}=1`$ we are left with

$`T_{11}^{ak}`$ $`=`$ $`\delta ^{ak}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^3}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})}_{11}`$ (54)
where

$$_{11}=(1+\vartheta _{113}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})}\mathrm{}.).$$
(55)
Our convention in the sequel is to write $`_{nl}`$ so that its first term is $`\vartheta _{nl2}`$, which is a pure number not depending either on $`\mathrm{}_P`$ or on $``$. In this way

$`\mathrm{H}_{11}^F`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^3}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})}_{11}{\displaystyle d^3\stackrel{}{x}i\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _a_a\xi (\stackrel{}{x})}`$ (56)
In order to recover the standard kinetic term we have to choose

$$\mathrm{\Theta }=4\mathrm{}_P^3\left(\frac{}{\mathrm{}_P}\right)^{2(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})},$$
(57)
which reduces to our choice in Ref. , for $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}=0`$. We obtain

$$\mathrm{H}_{11}^F=_{11}d^3\stackrel{}{x}N(\stackrel{}{x})i\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _a_a\xi (\stackrel{}{x})$$
(58)
as the final result for the kinetic term piece of the Hamiltonian

#### 5.1.2  Case $`n=1,l=0`$

The basic quantities are

$$\mathrm{H}_{10}^F=id^3\stackrel{}{x}\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _k\tau _mT_{10}^{mk}\xi (\stackrel{}{x})$$
(59)
$$T_{10}^{mk}=\frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^7}<s_K^aϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |\widehat{A}_a^m(v)\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi >$$
(60)
Under the scaling properties we obtain

$$T_{10}^{mk}=\delta ^{mk}\frac{1}{}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_{10}$$
(61)
with

$$_{10}=\left(\vartheta _{102}+\vartheta _{103}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})}+\mathrm{}\right)$$
(62)
$`\mathrm{H}_{10}^F`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}_{10}{\displaystyle d^3\stackrel{}{x}i\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\xi (\stackrel{}{x})\frac{1}{}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}`$ (63)
### 5.2 The case $`n=2`$

Here we have three possibilities: $`(n=2,l=0),(n=2,l=1)`$and $`(n=2,l=2)`$

#### 5.2.1 Case$`(n=2,l=2)`$

$$\mathrm{H}_{22}^F=id^3\stackrel{}{x}\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _kT_{22}^{abk}_a_b\xi (\stackrel{}{x})$$
(64)
$$T_{22}^{abk}=\frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^7}<s_K^as_K^bϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi >$$
(65)
From the above equation we see that $`T_{22}^{abk}`$ must be symmetric in the indices $`a,b.`$ Nevertheless, the only three index tensor at our disposal in flat space is $`ϵ^{abk}`$ so we must conclude that this contribution is zero, that is to say$`\mathrm{H}_{22}^F=0.`$

#### 5.2.2 Case$`(n=2,l=1)`$

$$\mathrm{H}_{21}^F=2id^3\stackrel{}{x}\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _k\tau _mT_{21}^{amk}_a\xi (\stackrel{}{x})$$
(66)
$$T_{21}^{amk}=\frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^7}<s_K^as_K^bϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |\widehat{A}_b^m(v)\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi >.$$
(67)
Here we have no symmetry requirement, so the antisymmetric tensor is allowed and we have

$`T_{21}^{amk}`$ $`=`$ $`ϵ^{amk}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}_{21},_{21}=\left(\vartheta _{212}+\vartheta _{213}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}+\mathrm{}\right)`$ (68)
The final contribution is

$`\mathrm{H}_{21}^F`$ $`=`$ $`2_{21}{\displaystyle d^3\stackrel{}{x}i\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _a_a\xi (\stackrel{}{x})\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}}`$ (69)
This is a correction of order $`\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}`$ to the standard kinetic term.

#### 5.2.3 Case $`n=2,`$ $`l=0`$

$$\mathrm{H}_{20}^F=id^3\stackrel{}{x}\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _kT_{20}^{nmk}\tau _n\tau _m\xi (\stackrel{}{x})$$
(70)
$$T_{20}^{nmk}=\frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^7}<s_K^as_K^bϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |\widehat{A}_a^n(v)\widehat{A}_b^m(v)\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi (v)>$$
(71)
Here we do have symmetry requirements. Since the operators $`\widehat{A}_a^n(v)`$and$`\widehat{A}_b^m(v)`$ commute, the above tensor must be symmetrical in the indices $`n,m.`$ Again, in flat space the only three index tensor at our disposal is the $`ϵ^{nmk},`$ which leads to $`\mathrm{H}_{20}^F=0.`$

### 5.3 The case $`n=3`$

Here we have four possibilities: $`(n=3,l=0),(n=3,l=1),(n=3,l=2)`$ and $`(n=3,l=3).`$

#### 5.3.1 Case$`(n=3,l=3)`$

$$\mathrm{H}_{33}^F=id^3\stackrel{}{x}\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _kT_{33}^{abck}_a_b_c\xi (\stackrel{}{x})$$
(72)
$$T_{33}^{abck}=\frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^7}<s_K^as_K^bs_K^cϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi >$$
(73)
Here we have to impose the symmetry in the indices $`a,b,c`$. In flat space the required tensor is

$$t_{33}^{abck}=\frac{1}{3}\left(\delta ^{ab}\delta ^{ck}+\delta ^{bc}\delta ^{ak}+\delta ^{ca}\delta ^{bk}\right)$$
(74)
which turns out to be symmetric in all four indices Then

$`T_{33}^{abck}`$ $`=`$ $`t_{33}^{abck}\mathrm{}_P^2_{33},_{33}=\left(\vartheta _{332}+\vartheta _{333}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}+\mathrm{}\right)`$ (75)
Combining the above results we obtain

$`\mathrm{H}_{33}^F`$ $`=`$ $`_{33}{\displaystyle d^3\stackrel{}{x}i\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _a_a^2\xi (\stackrel{}{x})\mathrm{}_P^2},`$ (76)
the leading term of which is independent of the scale $``$.

#### 5.3.2 Case $`n=3,l=2`$

$$\mathrm{H}_{32}^F=3d^3\stackrel{}{x}i\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _kT_{32}^{abmk}\tau _m_a_b\xi (\stackrel{}{x})$$
(77)
$$T_{32}^{abmk}=\frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^7}<s_K^as_K^bs_K^cϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |\widehat{A}_c^m(v)\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi >$$
(78)
The above tensor must be symmetrical in the indices $`a,b`$ only. In flat space we can construct

$$t_{32}^{abmk}=\alpha _{32}\delta ^{ab}\delta ^{mk}+\beta _{32}\left(\delta ^{am}\delta ^{bk}+\delta ^{bm}\delta ^{ak}\right)$$
(79)
Then we have

$$T_{32}^{abmk}=t_{32}^{abmk}\mathrm{}_P^2\frac{1}{}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^\mathrm{{\rm Y}}_{32},_{32}=(\vartheta _{322}+\vartheta _{323}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})}+\mathrm{}.)$$
(80)
which leads to

$$\mathrm{H}_{32}^F=3\left(\frac{3}{4}\alpha _{32}+\frac{1}{2}\beta _{32}\right)_{32}d^3\stackrel{}{x}i\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\mathrm{}_P^2^2\xi (\stackrel{}{x})\frac{1}{}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^\mathrm{{\rm Y}}$$
(81)
#### 5.3.3 Case $`n=3,l=1`$

$$\mathrm{H}_{31}^F=3d^3\stackrel{}{x}i\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _kT_{31}^{amnk}\tau _m\tau _n_a\xi (\stackrel{}{x})$$
(82)
$$T_{31}^{amnk}=\frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^7}<s_K^as_K^bs_K^cϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |\widehat{A}_b^m(v)\widehat{A}_c^n(v)\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi >$$
(83)
The above tensor must be symmetrical in $`m,n`$. We have

$$t_{31}^{amnk}=\alpha _{31}\delta ^{mn}\delta ^{ak}+\beta _{31}\left(\delta ^{ma}\delta ^{nk}+\delta ^{na}\delta ^{mk}\right)$$
(84)
Then

$$T_{31}^{amnk}=t_{31}^{amnk}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{2\left(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\right)}_{31},_{31}=(\vartheta _{312}+\vartheta _{313}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})}+\mathrm{}.)$$
(85)
which produces

$$\mathrm{H}_{31}^F=\frac{1}{4}_{31}\left(9\alpha _{31}+6\beta _{31}\right)d^3\stackrel{}{x}i\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau _a_a\xi (\stackrel{}{x})\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{2\left(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\right)}$$
(86)
#### 5.3.4 Case $`n=3,l=0`$

$$\mathrm{H}_{30}^F=d^3\stackrel{}{x}i\pi (\stackrel{}{x})T_{30}^{mnpk}\tau _k\tau _m\tau _n\tau _p\xi (\stackrel{}{x})$$
(87)
$$T_{30}^{mnpk}=\frac{\mathrm{\Theta }}{4\mathrm{}_P^7}<s_K^as_K^bs_K^cϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}W,\xi |\widehat{A}_a^m(v)\widehat{A}_b^n(v)\widehat{A}_c^p(v)\widehat{w}_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)\widehat{w}_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}(v)|W,\xi >$$
(88)
The above tensor is symmetrical with respect to the indices $`m,n,p`$. This means that we need

$$t_{30}^{mnpk}=\frac{1}{3}\left(\delta ^{mn}\delta ^{pk}+\delta ^{np}\delta ^{mk}+\delta ^{pm}\delta ^{nk}\right)$$
(89)
so that

$$T_{30}^{mnpk}=t_{30}^{mnpk}\frac{\mathrm{}_P^2}{^3}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{3\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}_{30},_{30}=(\vartheta _{302}+\vartheta _{303}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})}+\mathrm{}..),$$
(90)
which produces

$$\mathrm{H}_{30}^F=\frac{15}{48}_{30}d^3\stackrel{}{x}i\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\xi (\stackrel{}{x})\frac{\mathrm{}_P^2}{^3}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{3\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}$$
(91)
### 5.4 The full contribution $`\mathrm{H}^F`$

It is given by

$$\mathrm{H}^F=\underset{n,l}{}\mathrm{H}_{nl}^F,$$
(92)
where the different pieces were calculated in the previous subsection. Next we make a clear separation among terms containing either $`\mathrm{}_P`$ or $``$ and those purely numerical factors not including these quantities, through the following series of redefinitions. First we change $`_{nl}`$ into $`𝒢_{nl}`$, where

$$𝒢_{nl}=(\varkappa _{nl2}+\varkappa _{nl3}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})}+\mathrm{}..),$$
(93)
by absorbing all numerical factors in the latter coefficients, in such a way that the Hamiltonian is written as

$`\mathrm{H}^F`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle }d^3\stackrel{}{x}N(\stackrel{}{x})i\pi (\stackrel{}{x})(𝒢_{11}+𝒢_{21}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}+𝒢_{31}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2\left(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\right)}+𝒢_{33}\mathrm{}_P^2^2+..)`$
$`\times \tau _a_a\xi (\stackrel{}{x})`$
$`+{\displaystyle }d^3\stackrel{}{x}{\displaystyle \frac{i}{4}}\pi (\stackrel{}{x}){\displaystyle \frac{1}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(𝒢_{10}+𝒢_{30}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})}+𝒢_{32}\mathrm{}_P^2^2+..)\xi (\stackrel{}{x})`$
In particular we have $`𝒢_{11}_{11}`$ and what we have done amounts effectively to a numerical redefinition of each $`\vartheta _{nlN}`$ into $`\varkappa _{nlN}`$. Finally we factor out the contributions arising from different powers of $`\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)`$ and $`\mathrm{}_P`$. To the order considered we have

$`𝒢_{11}+𝒢_{21}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}+𝒢_{31}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2\left(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\right)}+\mathrm{}`$ $`=`$ $`1+\kappa _1\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}+\kappa _2\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2\left(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\right)}+\mathrm{}`$
$`𝒢_{33}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _3}{2}}`$ (94)
where $`\kappa _P`$ are numbers not containing either $`\mathrm{}_P`$ or $``$. The factor one in the RHS of the first equation arises from the condition that in the limit $`\mathrm{}_P0`$ we recover the standard fermionic Hamiltonian. Analogously we redefine

$`𝒢_{10}+𝒢_{30}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}})}`$ $`=`$ $`\kappa _4+\kappa _5\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}+\kappa _6\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2\left(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\right)}+\mathrm{}\mathrm{}.`$
$`𝒢_{32}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _7}{2}}`$ (95)
where the remaining $`\kappa `$’s fulfill the same condition as the previous ones. The above leads to

$`\mathrm{H}^F={\displaystyle d^3\stackrel{}{x}N(\stackrel{}{x})i\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\left(1+\kappa _1\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}+\kappa _2\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{2\left(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\right)}+\frac{\kappa _3}{2}\mathrm{}_P^2^2+\mathrm{}\right)\tau _a_a\xi (\stackrel{}{x})}`$
$`+{\displaystyle }d^3\stackrel{}{x}{\displaystyle \frac{i}{4}}\pi (\stackrel{}{x}){\displaystyle \frac{1}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(\kappa _4+\kappa _5\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}+\kappa _6\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2\left(1+\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\right)}+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _7}{2}}\mathrm{}_P^2^2+..)\xi (\stackrel{}{x})`$
which is our final expression for this piece of the effective Hamiltonian.

### 5.5 The mass term

Since the spinors $`\xi ,\pi `$ are half-densities regularization of the mass term requires a treatment along the lines of  that effectively dedensitize them. For our purposes, however, it is enough to determine the leading contribution and this can be done consistently with our strategy above. Namely, using the triangulation again,

$`H_m`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m}{2\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle d^3xN\xi ^T(i\sigma ^2)\xi }+c.c.`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{\Delta }}{}}N(v(\mathrm{\Delta })){\displaystyle \frac{8}{3!E(v)}}ϵ^{IJK}ϵ^{abc}s_I^a(\mathrm{\Delta })s_J^b(\mathrm{\Delta })s_K^c(\mathrm{\Delta })\xi ^T(s(\mathrm{\Delta }))(i\sigma ^2)h_{s(\mathrm{\Delta })}\xi (v(\mathrm{\Delta }))+c.c.`$
and in the quantum theory, by adapting the triangulation to the flat WBSC state with fermions, we get

$`\mathrm{H}_m=W,\xi |\widehat{H}_m|W,\xi `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{\Delta }}{}}N(v(\mathrm{\Delta })){\displaystyle \frac{8}{3!E(v)}}ϵ^{IJK}ϵ^{abc}s_I^a(\mathrm{\Delta })s_J^b(\mathrm{\Delta })s_K^c(\mathrm{\Delta })`$
$`\times W,\xi |\theta ^T(s(\mathrm{\Delta }))(i\sigma ^2)h_{s(\mathrm{\Delta })}\theta (v(\mathrm{\Delta }))|W,\xi +c.c.`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{vV(\gamma )}{}}N(v(\mathrm{\Delta })){\displaystyle \frac{8}{3!E(v)}}ϵ^{IJK}ϵ^{abc}s_I^a(\mathrm{\Delta })s_J^b(\mathrm{\Delta })s_K^c(\mathrm{\Delta })`$
$`\times ({\displaystyle \frac{}{}}W,\xi |\theta ^T(v)(i\sigma ^2)\theta (v)|W,\xi `$
$`+W,\xi |s^a_a\theta ^T(v)(i\sigma ^2)\theta (v)|W,\xi `$
$`+W,\xi |\theta ^T(v)(i\sigma ^2)s^aA_a(v)\theta (v)|W,\xi `$
$`+W,\xi |s^a_a\theta ^T(v)(i\sigma ^2)s^aA_a(v)\theta (v)|W,\xi +\mathrm{}{\displaystyle \frac{}{}})+c.c.`$
Hence, to leading order, the modifications coming from Planck scale to standard flat space mass term for fermions are just

$`\mathrm{H}_m`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m}{2\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle }d^3x(\xi ^T(i\sigma ^2)\xi +\kappa _9\mathrm{}_P\xi ^T(i\sigma ^2)\tau ^a_a\xi `$ (99)
$`+\kappa _8\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}\xi ^T(i\sigma ^2)\xi +\kappa _{11}\mathrm{}_P\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}\xi ^T(i\sigma ^2)\tau ^a_a\xi +c.c.),`$
where we have set $`N=1`$.

### 5.6 The extra contributions

Here we study the second term of Eq. (3)

$$H_{\mathrm{spin}\frac{1}{2}}^{(2)}:=_\mathrm{\Sigma }d^3x\frac{E_i^a}{2\sqrt{q}}[𝒟_a\left(\pi ^T\tau _i\xi \right)+c.c.]$$
(100)
Repeating the procedure applied to $`H_{\mathrm{spin}\frac{1}{2}}^{(1)}`$ step by step with the pertinent modification in the fermionic term leads to

$`\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{spin}1/2}^{(2)}[N]`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_P}{2\mathrm{}_P^3}}{\displaystyle \underset{vV(\gamma )}{}}N_v{\displaystyle \underset{v(\mathrm{\Delta })=v}{}}ϵ^{ijk}ϵ^{IJK}`$ (101)
$`\times \mathrm{tr}\left(\tau _ih_{s_I(\mathrm{\Delta })}[h_{s_I(\mathrm{\Delta })}^1,\sqrt{\widehat{V}_v)}]\right)\mathrm{tr}\left(\tau _jh_{s_J(\mathrm{\Delta })}[h_{s_J(\mathrm{\Delta })}^1,\sqrt{\widehat{V}_v)}]\right)`$
$`\times [\left[(h_{s_K(\mathrm{\Delta })}^1\tau _kh_{s_K(\mathrm{\Delta })}\theta )(s_K(\mathrm{\Delta })(\delta ))\right]_A{\displaystyle \frac{}{\theta _A(s_K(\mathrm{\Delta })(\delta ))}}`$
$`\left[\tau _k\theta (v)\right]_A{\displaystyle \frac{}{\theta _A(v)}}+h.c.].`$
The corresponding expectation value behaves as

$$\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{spin}\frac{1}{2}}^{(2)}=_\mathrm{\Sigma }d^3x[Z_1_aB^a+Z_2_a_bB^{ab}+\mathrm{}]$$
(102)
where the $`Z_i`$’s represent the estimate of the non fermionic factors in (101) and the $`B`$’s represent the fermionic bilinears. Clearly every $`B`$ term, being a boundary term, will not affect the effective dynamics of the spin-$`\frac{1}{2}`$ particle.

We proceed to describe the third term in Eq. (3)

$$H_{\mathrm{spin}\frac{1}{2}}^{(3)}:=_\mathrm{\Sigma }d^3x\frac{E_i^a}{2\sqrt{q}}\frac{1}{2}[iK_a^i\pi ^T\xi +c.c.].$$
(103)
To regularize it we can treat the $`\frac{E_i^a}{2\sqrt{q}}`$ factor similarly as with $`H_{\mathrm{spin}\frac{1}{2}}^{(1)}`$ term. As for the $`K_a^i`$ factor we recall

$`K_a^j`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\kappa }}\{A_a^j,\{V,H_E\}\}`$ (104)
$`H^E`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Sigma }}d^3xϵ^{abc}\mathrm{tr}\left(F_{ab}\{A_c,V\}\right).`$ (105)
Upon regularization of the quantum $`H^E`$ one gets

$`H^E`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{\Delta }}{}}H_\mathrm{\Delta }^E,`$ (106)
$`H_\mathrm{\Delta }^E`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2N_v}{3i\kappa \mathrm{}_P^2}}ϵ^{ijk}\mathrm{tr}\left(h_{\alpha _{ij(\mathrm{\Delta })}}h_{s_k(\mathrm{\Delta })}[h_{s_k(\mathrm{\Delta })}^1,V_v]\right).`$ (107)
Following the standard procedure to incorporate holonomies and fermions one arrives at the quantum version of (103) as

$`\{{\displaystyle \underset{vV(\gamma )}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}}{\mathrm{}_P^{10}}}{\displaystyle \underset{v(\mathrm{\Delta })=v}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{v(\mathrm{\Delta }^{})=v}{}}ϵ^{IJK}ϵ^{LMN}ϵ_{ijk}w_{iI\mathrm{\Delta }}w_{jJ\mathrm{\Delta }}`$
$`\times tr\left(\tau _kh_{s_K}[h_{s_K}^1,[V_v,\mathrm{tr}\left(h_{\alpha _{LM(\mathrm{\Delta }^{})}}h_{s_N(\mathrm{\Delta }^{})}[h_{s_N(\mathrm{\Delta }^{})}^1,V_v]\right)]]\right)`$
$`\times \xi _A(v(\mathrm{\Delta })){\displaystyle \frac{}{\xi _A(v(\mathrm{\Delta }))}}+h.c.\}f_\gamma `$ (108)
where the prefactor $`\frac{\mathrm{}}{\mathrm{}_P^{10}}`$ was obtained from $`\left(\frac{1}{\kappa ^2}\right)(\mathrm{})\left(\frac{1}{\mathrm{}^2}\right)\left(\frac{1}{\kappa ^2\mathrm{}^2\mathrm{}_P^2}\right)`$ with the $`\kappa `$ factors coming from the different Poisson brackets identities, the $`\mathrm{}`$ factors from the quantization procedure and the $`\mathrm{}_P^2`$ factor arises similarly as in previous steps. We want to estimate the leading order contribution of (103) to the effective dynamics of the spin-$`\frac{1}{2}`$ particle. For simplicity in the discussion we set $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}=0`$, but an extension can be given for $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}>0`$. The leading order is estimated by noticing that under $`<\mathrm{}>`$ the contribution of an holonomy $`h`$ is 1 if it is not an entry of a commutator, otherwise it scales like $`\mathrm{}_P/`$. Such a leading order contribution behaves then like $`\frac{\mathrm{}}{\mathrm{}_P^{10}}\left(\mathrm{}_P^{3/2}\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^2\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^2\mathrm{}_P^6=\frac{\mathrm{}}{\mathrm{}_P}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^4=m_P\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^4`$, which is highly suppressed given the quartic order and $`\mathrm{}_P<<`$.

## 6 Effective dynamics for spin-$`\frac{1}{2}`$ particles

The total effective Hamiltonian $`\mathrm{H}_T`$ for our spin-$`\frac{1}{2}`$ particle is then

$`\mathrm{H}_T=\mathrm{H}^F+\mathrm{H}_m`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle }d^3x[i\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\tau ^d_d\widehat{A}\xi (\stackrel{}{x})+c.c.`$ (109)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{4\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{}}\pi (\stackrel{}{x})\widehat{C}\xi (\stackrel{}{x})`$
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m}{2\mathrm{}}}\xi ^T(\stackrel{}{x})(i\sigma ^2)\left(\alpha +2\mathrm{}\beta \tau ^a_a\right)\xi (\stackrel{}{x})`$
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m}{2\mathrm{}}}\pi ^T(\stackrel{}{x})(\alpha +2\mathrm{}\beta \tau ^a_a)(i\sigma ^2)\pi (\stackrel{}{x})],`$
where

$`\widehat{A}=\left(1+\kappa _1\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}+\kappa _2\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+2}+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _3}{2}}\mathrm{}_P^2^2\right),`$
$`\widehat{C}=\mathrm{}\left(\kappa _4\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+\kappa _5\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}+\kappa _6\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{3\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+2}+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _7}{2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\mathrm{}_P^2^2\right),`$
$`\alpha =\left(1+\kappa _8\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}\right),\beta ={\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _9}{2\mathrm{}}}\mathrm{}_P+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _{11}}{2\mathrm{}}}\mathrm{}_P\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1},`$ (110)
It can be seen that the terms proportional to $`\kappa _4,\kappa _5`$ and $`\kappa _6`$ correspond to a renormalization of the fermion mass. They will not be considered in the sequel, although they would give rise to standard neutrino oscillations even if the neutrino bare mass is zero.

The wave equation becomes

$`\left[i\mathrm{}{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}i\mathrm{}\widehat{A}\stackrel{}{\sigma }+{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{C}}{2}}\right]\xi (t,\stackrel{}{x})+m\left(\alpha \beta i\mathrm{}\stackrel{}{\sigma }\right)\chi (t,\stackrel{}{x})=0,`$ (111)
$`\left[i\mathrm{}{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}+i\mathrm{}\widehat{A}\stackrel{}{\sigma }{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{C}}{2}}\right]\chi (t,\stackrel{}{x})+m\left(\alpha \beta i\mathrm{}\stackrel{}{\sigma }\right)\xi (t,\stackrel{}{x})=0,`$ (112)
with $`\chi (t,\stackrel{}{x})=i\sigma _2\xi ^{}(t,\stackrel{}{x})`$. Following the standard steps one can verify the consistency of the above equations.

Eliminating $`\chi `$ from (111) we obtain

$$\chi =\frac{1}{m}\frac{1}{\alpha \beta i\mathrm{}\stackrel{}{\sigma }}\left[i\mathrm{}\frac{}{t}i\mathrm{}\widehat{A}\stackrel{}{\sigma }+\frac{\widehat{C}}{2}\right]\xi $$
(113)
Substituting in (112) we obtain the second order equation

$$\left(\left[i\mathrm{}\frac{}{t}+i\mathrm{}\widehat{A}\stackrel{}{\sigma }\frac{\widehat{C}}{2}\right]\left[i\mathrm{}\frac{}{t}i\mathrm{}\widehat{A}\stackrel{}{\sigma }+\frac{\widehat{C}}{2}\right]m^2\left(\alpha \beta i\mathrm{}\stackrel{}{\sigma }\right)^2\right)\xi (t,\stackrel{}{x})=0.$$
(114)
The above equation has positive and negative energy solutions

$$W(\stackrel{}{p},h)e^{\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}Et+\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{x}},W(\stackrel{}{p},h)e^{\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}Et\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{x}},$$
(115)
where it is convenient to take the spinorial part $`W(\stackrel{}{p},h)`$ as helicity $`(\stackrel{}{\sigma }\widehat{p})`$ eigenstates, with $`h=\pm 1`$, so that

$$W(\stackrel{}{p},1)=\left(\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{cos}(\frac{\theta }{2})\\ e^{i\varphi }\mathrm{sin}(\frac{\theta }{2})\end{array}\right),W(\stackrel{}{p},1)=\left(\begin{array}{c}e^{i\varphi }\mathrm{sin}(\frac{\theta }{2})\\ \mathrm{cos}(\frac{\theta }{2})\end{array}\right).$$
(116)
The dispersion relation has the following form

$$E_\pm =\sqrt{(A^2+m^2\beta ^2)|\stackrel{}{p}|{}_{}{}^{2}+m^2\alpha ^2+\left(\frac{C}{2}\right)^2\pm B|\stackrel{}{p}|},$$
(117)
with

$`A=\left(1+\kappa _1\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}+\kappa _2\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+2}{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _3}{2}}\mathrm{}_P^2p^2\right),B=A\left({\displaystyle \frac{C}{}}+2\alpha \beta m^2\right),`$
$`C={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}\kappa _7}{2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\mathrm{}_P^2p^2,`$
$`\alpha =\left(1+\kappa _8\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}\right),\beta ={\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _9}{2\mathrm{}}}\mathrm{}_P+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _{11}}{2\mathrm{}}}\mathrm{}_P\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1},`$ (118)
The $`\pm `$ in Eq. (117) refers to the dispersion relation of the helicities $`\pm `$ respectively. Let us emphasize that the solution $`\xi (t,\stackrel{}{x})`$ to either Eq.(111) or Eq.(112) is given by an appropriate linear combination of plane waves and helicity eigenstates. This is not unexpected since we are dealing with massive neutrinos.

In the sequel we write down the dispersion relation in terms of an expansion up to second order in $`\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$. The coefficient of each power is subsequently expanded in powers of $`m`$ in the combinations either $`\left(\frac{m}{p}\right)`$ or $`(m\mathrm{}_P)`$. In this way we obtain

$`E_\pm (p,)`$ $`=`$ $`\left[p+{\displaystyle \frac{m^2}{2p}}\pm \mathrm{}_P\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m^2\kappa _9\right)+\mathrm{}_P^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\kappa _3p^3+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\left(2\kappa _3+\kappa _9^2\right)m^2p\right)\right]`$ (119)
$`+\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}\left[\left(\kappa _1p{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Theta }_{11}m^2}{4p}}\right)\pm \mathrm{}_P\left(\kappa _7{\displaystyle \frac{p^2}{4}}+\mathrm{\Theta }_{12}{\displaystyle \frac{m^2}{16}}\right)\right]`$
$`+\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+2}\left(\kappa _2p{\displaystyle \frac{m^2}{64p}}\mathrm{\Theta }_{22}\right)`$
where the previous coefficients denoted by $`\kappa `$ appear in the following combinations

$$\mathrm{\Theta }_{11}=\left(2\kappa _14\kappa _8\right),\mathrm{\Theta }_{12}=\left(8\kappa _{11}+2\kappa _7+8\kappa _8\kappa _9\right),$$
(120)
$`\mathrm{\Theta }_{22}`$ $`=`$ $`32\kappa _1^2+32\kappa _2+64\kappa _1\kappa _8`$ (121)
The velocity is defined as

$$v_\pm (p,)=\frac{E_\pm (p,)}{p}.$$
(122)
and is

$`v_\pm (p,)`$ $`=`$ $`\left[\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{m^2}{2p^2}}\right)+\mathrm{}_P^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}\kappa _3p^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\left(2\kappa _3+\kappa _9^2\right)m^2\right)\right]`$ (123)
$`+\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}\left[\left(\kappa _1+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Theta }_{11}m^2}{4p^2}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _7}{2}}(\mathrm{}_Pp)\right]`$
$`+\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+2}\left(\kappa _2+{\displaystyle \frac{m^2}{64p^2}}\mathrm{\Theta }_{22}\right),`$
within the same approximation.

We will be mainly interested in the case of ultrarelativistic cosmological neutrinos, which mass we take to be $`m=10^9`$GeV, in the range of momenta $`10^5p10^{10}`$ GeV, where

$$p>>m,(p\mathrm{}_P)>>(m\mathrm{}_P)\frac{m}{p},(p\mathrm{}_P)^2>>(m\mathrm{}_P)^2.$$
(124)
Such regime allows us to introduce some simplifications in the coefficients of $`\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$. The results are

$`\mathrm{}_PE_\pm (p,)`$ $`=`$ $`\left(p\mathrm{}_P\right)+\left(\mathrm{}_Pm\right){\displaystyle \frac{m}{2p}}\pm \left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\mathrm{}_Pm\right)^2\kappa _9\right){\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\kappa _3\left(\mathrm{}_Pp\right)^3`$ (125)
$`+\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}\left[\kappa _1\left(p\mathrm{}_P\right)\kappa _7{\displaystyle \frac{\left(\mathrm{}_Pp\right)^2}{4}}\right]+\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+2}\kappa _2(p\mathrm{}_P),`$
together with

$`v_\pm (p,)`$ $`=`$ $`1{\displaystyle \frac{m^2}{2p^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}\kappa _3\left(\mathrm{}_Pp\right)^2+\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}\left[\kappa _1{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _7}{2}}\left(\mathrm{}_Pp\right)\right]+\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}}\right)^{2\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+2}\kappa _2.`$ (126)
## 7 Parameter estimates

### 7.1 The scale $``$

In order to estimate some numerical values for the modifications to the velocity of propagation we must further fix the value of the scale $``$. Two distinguished cases arise

#### 7.1.1 The mobile scale $`=\lambda =\frac{1}{p}`$

Recall that $``$ is a macroscopically length scale, being defined by the given geometry which indicates where the non perturbative states of the spin-network can be approximated by the classical flat metric. The neutrino is characterized by energies which probe to distances of order $`\lambda `$. To be described by a classical continuous flat geometry equation, as the found Dirac equation, it is necessary that one follows in the correct range with respect to $``$, i.e. $`<\lambda `$. We take the marginal choice of the equality in order to be able to make some further estimates. Previous expressions reduce to

$`\mathrm{}_PE_\pm (p,)|_{=\frac{1}{p}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(p\mathrm{}_P\right)+\left(\mathrm{}_Pm\right){\displaystyle \frac{m}{2p}}\pm {\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\mathrm{}_Pm\right)^2\kappa _9{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\kappa _3\left(\mathrm{}_Pp\right)^3`$
$`+`$ $`\left(p\mathrm{}_P\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}\left[\kappa _1\left(p\mathrm{}_P\right)\kappa _7{\displaystyle \frac{\left(\mathrm{}_Pp\right)^2}{4}}\right]+\left(p\mathrm{}_P\right)^{2\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+2}\kappa _2\left(p\mathrm{}_P\right)`$
and

$`v_\pm (p,)|_{=\frac{1}{p}}=1{\displaystyle \frac{m^2}{2p^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}\kappa _3\left(\mathrm{}_Pp\right)^2+\left(\mathrm{}_Pp\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}\left[\kappa _1{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _7}{2}}\left(\mathrm{}_Pp\right)\right]+\left(\mathrm{}_Pp\right)^{2\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+2}\kappa _2`$ (128)
In the case $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}=0`$ we recover the expressions (9) and (10) of Ref..

#### 7.1.2 A universal scale for $``$

Recently, in  a universal value for $``$ was considered in the context of the GZK anomaly. The study of the different reactions involved produces a preferred bound on $`:\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4.6}\times 10^8GeV^18.3\times 10^9GeV^1`$. Actually, in this case the general expressions (125) and (126) are valid.

### 7.2 The exponent $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$

In this section we follow the conclusion derived fom the Super-Kamiokande atmospheric neutrino experiment that neutrino oscillations are well described by the mass differences contribution to the energy ($`n=0.9\pm 0.4`$ at 90% CL, in the standard notation  )  .That is to say, any additional contribution to the oscillation length must be highly suppressed. This condition will set a lower bound to $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$ which we will use in further estimates.

The oscillation length $`L=\frac{2\pi }{|\mathrm{\Delta }E|}`$ is

$$\frac{1}{L}=\frac{1}{L_m}+\frac{1}{L_{QG}},L=L_m\frac{1}{1+\frac{L_m}{L_{QG}}},L_m=\frac{4\pi E}{(\mathrm{\Delta }m)^2},$$
(129)
where we have used $`pE`$, $`\mathrm{}_P=1/M_P`$ and $`L_{QG}`$ is calculated according to each specific additional term in $`|\mathrm{\Delta }E|`$. Since the dominant contribution to the oscillation arises form the mass term, i.e. $`LL_m`$ we must have the condition

$$L_{QG}>L_mX,$$
(130)
where $`X`$ is the distance travelled by the neutrinos in each experiment. Let us observe that the energy range for current neutrino observatories lies between $`10^2`$ GeV and $`10^{+2}`$ GeV, which amply fulfills the condition $`(p)1`$. In particular we will consider the case of the SNO experiment characterized by the following parameters

$$E=10^2GeV,X=10^8km=10^{27}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}/GeV$$
(131)
The estimates proceed by considering first the separate contribution of each arbitrary parameter $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa `$ and subsequently the case where we have more than one non-zero contribution to the oscillation.

#### 7.2.1 The case $`=\lambda =\frac{1}{p}`$

(i) $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _30,\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _1=\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _7=0`$

The quantum gravity contribution to the oscillation length is

$`L_{QG}={\displaystyle \frac{4\pi }{\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _3}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{M}{E}}\right)^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{E}},`$ (132)
from where we get that

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _3<6.28\times 10^{17},$$

which is a very weak bound on the variable. The reason for this is that this term corresponds to a second order correction in $`l_P`$.

(ii) $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _10,\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _3=\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _7=0`$.

Here we have

$$L_{QG}=\frac{2\pi }{\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _1}\left(\frac{M}{E}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}\frac{1}{E},$$
(133)
Using $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _11`$, we obtain

$$\mathrm{{\rm Y}}>0.152.$$
(134)
(iii) $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _70,\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _1=\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _3=0`$.

Here we have

$$L_{QG}=\frac{8\pi }{\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _7}\left(\frac{M}{E}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+2}\frac{1}{E}.$$
(135)
Using $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _71`$, we obtain

$$\mathrm{{\rm Y}}>0.87.$$
(136)
(iv) When two of the $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _i`$ do not simultaneously vanish, we get the following situations:

(iv-1) $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _10`$

In this case the term proportional to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _7`$ is suppressed with respect to the one proportional to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _1`$. The comparison among the terms proportional to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _3`$ leads to the threshold $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}=1`$. When $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}>1`$ the term proportional to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _3`$ dominates, while the term proportional to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _1`$ dominates in the other situation.

(iv-2) $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _1=0`$

In this case the competition is among the terms proportional to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _7`$. The threshold here is $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}=0`$, so that we consider only the case $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}>0`$, where the term proportional to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _3`$ dominates.

#### 7.2.2 A universal scale for $``$

In this estimate we will assume that $`=10^8Gev^1`$ .

(i) $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _30,\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _1=\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _7=0`$

Since this contribution does not depend upon $``$, we obtain the same result as the corresponding case in the mobile scale.

(ii) $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _10,\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _3=\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _7=0`$.

Here we have

$$L_{QG}=\frac{2\pi }{\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _1}\left(\frac{}{\mathrm{}_P}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}\frac{1}{E}.$$
(137)
Using $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _11`$, we obtain

$$\mathrm{{\rm Y}}>1.2.$$
(138)
(iii) $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _70,\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _1=\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _3=0`$.

Here we have

$$L_{QG}=\frac{8\pi }{\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _7}\left(\frac{}{\mathrm{}_P}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}\frac{M_P}{E}\frac{1}{E}.$$
(139)
Assuming $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _71`$, we get a bound on $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$:

$$\mathrm{{\rm Y}}>0.764,$$
(140)
which is also a weak bound on the variable.

(iv) When two of the $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _i`$ do not simultaneously vanish, we get the following situations:

(iv-1) $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _10`$, which leads to the threshold $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}>\frac{17}{11}`$. When $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}>17/11`$ the term $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _3`$ dominates and we are back to the case (i). On the other hand, when $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}<\frac{17}{11}`$ we obtain the interval $`\frac{17}{11}>\mathrm{{\rm Y}}>1.2`$. It should be stressed that the latter bound on $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$ is also compatible with the bound on the maximum speed of Ref. , which in our case reads

$$\mathrm{\Delta }v_{QG}=\left|v_\pm (p,)\left(1\frac{m^2}{2p^2}\right)\right|=|\kappa _1|\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}+1}<10^{22}.$$
(141)
(iv-2) $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _1=0`$

The threshold here is $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}=3/11`$. When $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}>3/11`$ the term proportional to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _3`$ dominates over the one proportional to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\kappa _7`$

So, the present data on neutrino oscillations do not proscribe the theory considered in this work with a universal scale $`10^8GeV^1`$

## 8 Summary and Discussion

In this work we have derived an effective Hamiltonian exhibiting Planck scale corrections with respect to standard propagation for the theory describing spin 1/2 fermions, using an heuristical approach based upon Thiemann’s regularization within the framework of loop quantum gravity. Corrections arise as a consequence of the discrete nature of space which are manifest at Planck scale. The effective spin 1/2 particle Hamiltonian given in Eqs.(109,6) was obtained by taking the expectation value of the regularized version of the quantum operator corresponding to Eq.(2) with respect to a would be semiclassical state $`|W,\xi `$ describing a large scale flat metric together with a slowly varying classical spinor field. Only the basic properties of such state were used: (i) peakedness both in a flat space metric together with a flat connection for large distances $`d>>>>\mathrm{}_P`$, where $``$ can be thought of as the scale that settles the transition between a discrete and a continuous description of space, (ii) well defined expectation values, (iii) existence of a coarse-grained expansion involving ratios of the relevant scales of the problem: the Planck length $`\mathrm{}_P`$, the characteristic length $``$ of the state and the de Broglie wavelength $`\lambda `$ of the spin 1/2 particle and (iv) invariance under rotations at scales larger than $``$, which amounts to express the box-averaged values introduced after Eq.(18) only in terms of flat space tensors.

The effective theory violates Lorentz invariance and, in analogy with the photon case , we assume that the effective Hamiltonian so found corresponds to that in the particular frame of reference where the cosmic radiation background looks isotropic.

Some improvements with respect to our original presentation  are the following: (i) in section 5.6 we have elucidated the contribution of the derivative term and the extrinsic curvature dependent term in Eq.(3) by showing that they are highly suppressed in powers of $`\mathrm{}_P`$. (ii) we have extended the corrections to the scaling of the connection by including the new parameter $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$, already considered in our discussion of photons , in the form

$$W,\xi |A_{ia}|W,\xi =0+\frac{1}{}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{}\right)^\mathrm{{\rm Y}},$$
(142)
where $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}>0`$ can be any real number.

In Section 8 we have estimated some bounds for $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$, based on the observation that atmospheric neutrino oscillations at average energies of the order $`10^210^2`$ GeV are dominated by the corresponding mass differences via the oscillation length $`L_m`$ in Eq. (129). This means that additional contributions to the oscillation length, in particular the quantum gravity correction $`L_{QG}`$, should satisfy $`L_{QG}>L_m`$, which is used to set a lower bound upon $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}.`$ Within the proposed two different ways of estimating the scale $``$ of the process we obtain: (i) $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}>0.15`$ when $``$ is considered as a mobile scale and it is estimated by $`1/E`$ and (ii) $`1.2<\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$ when the scale $``$ takes the universal value $`=10^8\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}/GeV`$, according to Ref. . In the above estimates we have satisfied the condition $`(p)1`$.

Let us observe that according to Eq.(LABEL:ENDR) the mass-difference contribution to the neutrino oscillation process will be highly suppressed at high energies while other mechanisms, like those arising in the quantum gravity framework, could be the dominant ones . It is an experimental issue to settle this question. Since the bound upon $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$ strongly depends on the dominant mechanism there is the possibility that the exponent $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$ be energy-dependent. This situation is not considered in the present approach. Nevertheless, in order to make some numerical estimates related to cosmological neutrinos we will make the extrapolation of our bounds in $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$, which have been obtained in the range of a few GeV, to energies of the order of $`10^5`$ GeV , corresponding to typical neutrinos arising from Gamma Ray Bursts. Let us consider specifically ultrarelativistic neutrinos of mass $`m=10^9`$ GeV, energy $`pE=10^5`$ GeV, traveling a cosmological distance $`L=10^{10}l.y.=0.5\times 10^{42}`$ 1/GeV, where $`p1`$. Next we give an estimate of two types of delay times (for a more realistic calculation including the effect of the expanding universe see Refs., , ):

(i) $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_\nu \frac{L}{c^2}\left(vv_0\right)`$ , which measures the time delay of the arrival of the neutrino coming from a distance $`L`$, flying with velocity $`v=\frac{E}{p}`$, with respect to the time of flight corresponding to a particle of mass $`m`$ with velocity $`v_0=\frac{p}{\sqrt{p^2+m^2}}1`$.

(ii) $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_\pm \frac{L}{c^2}\left(v_{}v_+\right)`$, which is a measure of the birrefringence effects and it is defined by the difference in the arrival time of two neutrinos with opposite polarizations

In the range $`0.6<\mathrm{{\rm Y}}<2.0`$ and within the two scenarios presented here for dealing with the scale $``$, we obtain the estimates

$`10^{10}\mathrm{s}`$ $`<`$ $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_\nu <\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^4s,`$ (144)
$`\mathrm{\Delta }t_\pm <\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^{17}\mathrm{s}.`$
To conclude we point out that an effective dynamics and dispersion relations for gravity plus matter were thoroughly studied recently by Thiemann and Sahlmann , where the semiclassical states were taken as coherent states. They included photons and scalar particles and their results for the dispersion relations essentially agree with what we obtain here for fermions, even the possibility of having non integral powers in $`\mathrm{}_P`$ for the correcting terms, which is encoded in our parameter $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$. Besides they provide a detailed classification of the quantum geometry aspects required in defining the semiclassical regime yielding the effective dynamics. Yet another avenue to tackle the problem of defining semiclassical states in quantum geometry is currently under investigation that establishes a relation between Fock space and the kinematical Hilbert space for diffeomorphism covariant theories of connections such as quantum geometry/loop quantum gravity  (see also ). It will be interesting to compare all of the above proposed semiclassical states in the context of the quantum gravity phenomenology.

Acknowledgments. The authors would like to thank A. Ashtekar, M. Bojowald, R. Gambini and T. Thiemann for suggestions on this work. Partial support is acknowledged from: the bilateral program CONICyT-CONACyT, DGAPA IN11700 and CONACYT 32431-E. LFU acknowledges the hospitality of CERN together with support from the program CERN-CONACyT (México). We also acknowledge the project Fondecyt 7010967. The work of JA is partially supported by Fondecyt 1010967. He acknowledges the hospitality of LPTENS (Paris) and CERN; and financial support from an Ecos(France)-Conicyt(Chile) project. HAMT thanks for the warm hospitality and stimulating environment experienced at the Center for Gravitational Physics and Geometry-PSU. He also acknowledges partial support from NSF Grants PHY00-90091 and INT97-22514, Eberly Research Funds at Penn State, CONACyT 55751 and México-USA Foundation for Science.