1+1 Sector of 3+1 Gravity
  The rank--1 sector of classical Ashtekar gravity is considered, motivated by the degeneracy of the metric along the Wilson lines in quantum loop states. It is found that the lines behave like 1+1 dimensional spacetimes with a pair of massless complex fields propagating along them. The inclusion of matter and extension to supergravity are also considered. 
Ted Jacobson