The Reality Conditions
The Immirzi parameter arises in the process of expressing a Lorentz connection with noncompact group SO(3,1) in terms of a complex connection with values in a compact group of rotations, either SO(3) or its double cover SU(2). Although named after Giorgio Immirzi, the possibility of including this parameter was first pointed out by Fernando Barbero. The significance of this parameter remained obscure until the spectrum of the area operator in LQG was calculated. It turns out that the area spectrum is proportional to the Immirzi parameter.
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