  This is an introduction to the by now fifteen years old research field of
canonical quantum general relativity, sometimes called "loop quantum gravity".
The term "modern" in the title refers to the fact that the quantum theory is
based on formulating classical general relativity as a theory of connections
rather than metrics as compared to in original version due to Arnowitt, Deser
and Misner. Canonical quantum general relativity is an attempt to define a
mathematically rigorous, non-perturbative, background independent theory of
Lorentzian quantum gravity in four spacetime dimensions in the continuum. The
approach is minimal in that one simply analyzes the logical consequences of
combining the principles of general relativity with the principles of quantum
mechanics. The requirement to preserve background independence has lead to new,
fascinating mathematical structures which one does not see in perturbative
approaches, e.g. a fundamental discreteness of spacetime seems to be a
prediction of the theory providing a first substantial evidence for a theory in
which the gravitational field acts as a natural UV cut-off. An effort has been
made to provide a self-contained exposition of a restricted amount of material
at the appropriate level of rigour which at the same time is accessible to
graduate students with only basic knowledge of general relativity and quantum
field theory on Minkowski space.
