Much of the recent work in LQG has been done in the covariant formulation of the theory, called " spin foam theory." The present version of the covariant dynamics is due to the convergent work of different groups, but it is commonly named after a paper by Jonathan Engle, Roberto Pereira and Carlo Rovelli in 2007–08. Heuristically, it would be expected that evolution between spin network states might be described by discrete combinatorial operations on the spin networks, which would then trace a two-dimensional skeleton of spacetime. This approach is related to state-sum models of statistical mechanics and topological quantum field theory such as the Turaeev–Viro model of 3D quantum gravity, and also to the Regge calculus approach to calculate the Feynman path integral of general relativity by discretizing spacetime.