GRAVITONS FROM LOOPS - NONPERTURBATIVE LOOP-SPACE QUANTUM-GRAVITY CONTAINS THE GRAVITON-PHYSICS APPROXIMATION

We investigate the physical interpretation of the loop states of non-p erturbative quantum general relativity in the regime of graviton physi cs, namely the regime of first order excitations around the Poincare-i nvariant vacuum. We construct the general form of the loop state funct ionals invariant under the linearized constraints. We present explicit ly the loop state functionals that represent the Poincare-invariant va cuum and the graviton states. We find that physical information emerge s entirely from intersections of loops. We obtain these results by uti lizing the recently introduced 'map M', which relates the loop-space s tates of non-perturbative quantum general relativity to the state spac e of the linearized theory. The general picture of the linearization o f the loop-space quantum general relativity is discussed.