Quantization of the gravitational field

The scheme proposed in the preceding paper for the gauge-independent quantization of the electromagnetic field is here applied to the coordinate independent quantization of the gravitational field. Einstein's theory is first reformulated so as to avoid reference to a coordinate system. The quantization of the resulting theory is then carried through. No mention is made of unphysical variables such as the metric tensor except for the purpose of linking the present formalism with more conventional theories, the gravitational field is described by the Riemann tensor and its connection with space curvature is clear from the outset. First-order perturbation calculations are carried out and give results equivalent to those of "flat-space" theories.