Search results for "Asymptotic Safety"
showing 7 items of 37 documents
Ultraviolet Fixed Point and Generalized Flow Equation of Quantum Gravity
2001
A new exact renormalization group equation for the effective average action of Euclidean quantum gravity is constructed. It is formulated in terms of the component fields appearing in the transverse-traceless decomposition of the metric. It facilitates both the construction of an appropriate infrared cutoff and the projection of the renormalization group flow onto a large class of truncated parameter spaces. The Einstein-Hilbert truncation is investigated in detail and the fixed point structure of the resulting flow is analyzed. Both a Gaussian and a non-Gaussian fixed point are found. If the non-Gaussian fixed point is present in the exact theory, quantum Einstein gravity is likely to be r…
En route to Background Independence: Broken split-symmetry, and how to restore it with bi-metric average actions
2014
The most momentous requirement a quantum theory of gravity must satisfy is Background Independence, necessitating in particular an ab initio derivation of the arena all non-gravitational physics takes place in, namely spacetime. Using the background field technique, this requirement translates into the condition of an unbroken split-symmetry connecting the (quantized) metric fluctuations to the (classical) background metric. If the regularization scheme used violates split-symmetry during the quantization process it is mandatory to restore it in the end at the level of observable physics. In this paper we present a detailed investigation of split-symmetry breaking and restoration within the…
Einstein-Cartan gravity, Asymptotic Safety, and the running Immirzi parameter
2013
In this paper we analyze the functional renormalization group flow of quantum gravity on the Einstein-Cartan theory space. The latter consists of all action functionals depending on the spin connection and the vielbein field (co-frame) which are invariant under both spacetime diffeomorphisms and local frame rotations. In the first part of the paper we develop a general methodology and corresponding calculational tools which can be used to analyze the flow equation for the pertinent effective average action for any truncation of this theory space. In the second part we apply it to a specific three-dimensional truncated theory space which is parametrized by Newton's constant, the cosmological…
RG flows of Quantum Einstein Gravity in the linear-geometric approximation
2014
We construct a novel Wetterich-type functional renormalization group equation for gravity which encodes the gravitational degrees of freedom in terms of gauge-invariant fluctuation fields. Applying a linear-geometric approximation the structure of the new flow equation is considerably simpler than the standard Quantum Einstein Gravity construction since only transverse-traceless and trace part of the metric fluctuations propagate in loops. The geometric flow reproduces the phase-diagram of the Einstein-Hilbert truncation including the non-Gaussian fixed point essential for Asymptotic Safety. Extending the analysis to the polynomial $f(R)$-approximation establishes that this fixed point come…
Asymptotic Safety in Quantum Einstein Gravity: Nonperturbative Renormalizability and Fractal Spacetime Structure
2007
The asymptotic safety scenario of Quantum Einstein Gravity, the quantum field theory of the spacetime metric, is reviewed and it is argued that the theory is likely to be nonperturbatively renormalizable. It is also shown that asymptotic safety implies that spacetime is a fractal in general, with a fractal dimension of 2 on sub-Planckian length scales.
Asymptotic Safety, Fractals, and Cosmology
2013
These lecture notes introduce the basic ideas of the asymptotic safety approach to quantum Einstein gravity (QEG). In particular they provide the background for recent work on the possibly multi-fractal structure of the QEG space-times. Implications of asymptotic safety for the cosmology of the early Universe are also discussed.
Focus on quantum Einstein gravity
2012
The gravitational asymptotic safety program summarizes the attempts to construct a consistent and predictive quantum theory of gravity within Wilson's generalized framework of renormalization. Its key ingredient is a non-Gaussian fixed point of the renormalization group flow which controls the behavior of the theory at trans-Planckian energies and renders gravity safe from unphysical divergences. Provided that the fixed point comes with a finite number of ultraviolet-attractive (relevant) directions, this construction gives rise to a consistent quantum field theory which is as predictive as an ordinary, perturbatively renormalizable one. This opens up the exciting possibility of establishin…