Towards the graviton from spinfoams: The complete perturbative expansion of the 3d toy model Original Research Article

We consider an exact expression for the 6j-symbol for the isosceles tetrahedron, involving image group integrals, and use it to write the two-point function of 3d gravity on a single tetrahedron as a group integral. The perturbative expansion of this expression can then be performed with respect to the geometry of the boundary using a simple saddle-point analysis. We derive the complete expansion in inverse powers of the length scale and evaluate explicitly the quantum corrections up to second order. Finally, we use the same method to provide the complete expansion of the isosceles 6j-symbol with the explicit phases at all orders and the next-to-leading correction to the Ponzano–Regge asymptotics.