  Linearly polarized cylindrical waves in four-dimensional vacuum gravity are
mathematically equivalent to rotationally symmetric gravity coupled to a
Maxwell (or Klein-Gordon) field in three dimensions. The quantization of this
latter system was performed by Ashtekar and Pierri in a recent work. Employing
that quantization, we obtain here a complete quantum theory which describes the
four-dimensional geometry of the Einstein-Rosen waves. In particular, we
construct regularized operators to represent the metric. It is shown that the
results achieved by Ashtekar about the existence of important quantum gravity
effects in the Einstein-Maxwell system at large distances from the symmetry
axis continue to be valid from a four-dimensional point of view. The only
significant difference is that, in order to admit an approximate classical
description in the asymptotic region, states that are coherent in the Maxwell
field need not contain a large number of photons anymore. We also analyze the
metric fluctuations on the symmetry axis and argue that they are generally
relevant for all of the coherent states.
