Probing quantum gravity through exactly soluble midi-superspaces .1.

It is well-known that the Einstein-Rosen solutions to the 3+1- dimensional vacuum Einstein's equations an in one to one correspondence with solutions of 2+1-dimensional general relativity coupled to axi-symmetric, zero rest mass scalar fields. We first re-examine the quantization of this midi-superspace paying special attention to the asymptotically flat boundary conditions and to certain functional analytic subtleties associated with regularization. We then use the resulting quantum theory to analyze several conceptual and technical issues of quantum gravity. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.