Search results for "Asymptotic"
showing 10 items of 230 documents
Bimetric Renormalization Group Flows in Quantum Einstein Gravity
2011
The formulation of an exact functional renormalization group equation for Quantum Einstein Gravity necessitates that the underlying effective average action depends on two metrics, a dynamical metric giving the vacuum expectation value of the quantum field, and a background metric supplying the coarse graining scale. The central requirement of "background independence" is met by leaving the background metric completely arbitrary. This bimetric structure entails that the effective average action may contain three classes of interactions: those built from the dynamical metric only, terms which are purely background, and those involving a mixture of both metrics. This work initiates the first …
A new functional flow equation for Einstein-Cartan quantum gravity
2015
We construct a special-purpose functional flow equation which facilitates non-perturbative renormalization group (RG) studies on theory spaces involving a large number of independent field components that are prohibitively complicated using standard methods. Its main motivation are quantum gravity theories in which the gravitational degrees of freedom are carried by a complex system of tensor fields, a prime example being Einstein-Cartan theory, possibly coupled to matter. We describe a sequence of approximation steps leading from the functional RG equation of the Effective Average Action to the new flow equation which, as a consequence, is no longer fully exact on the untruncated theory sp…
The unitary conformal field theory behind 2D Asymptotic Safety
2015
Being interested in the compatibility of Asymptotic Safety with Hilbert space positivity (unitarity), we consider a local truncation of the functional RG flow which describes quantum gravity in $d>2$ dimensions and construct its limit of exactly two dimensions. We find that in this limit the flow displays a nontrivial fixed point whose effective average action is a non-local functional of the metric. Its pure gravity sector is shown to correspond to a unitary conformal field theory with positive central charge $c=25$. Representing the fixed point CFT by a Liouville theory in the conformal gauge, we investigate its general properties and their implications for the Asymptotic Safety progra…
Finite Entanglement Entropy in Asymptotically Safe Quantum Gravity
2018
Entanglement entropies calculated in the framework of quantum field theory on classical, flat or curved, spacetimes are known to show an intriguing area law in four dimensions, but they are also notorious for their quadratic ultraviolet divergences. In this paper we demonstrate that the analogous entanglement entropies when computed within the Asymptotic Safety approach to background independent quantum gravity are perfectly free from such divergences. We argue that the divergences are an artifact due to the over-idealization of a rigid, classical spacetime geometry which is insensitive to the quantum dynamics.
Bare Action and Regularized Functional Integral of Asymptotically Safe Quantum Gravity
2009
Investigations of Quantum Einstein Gravity (QEG) based upon the effective average action employ a flow equation which does not contain any ultraviolet (UV) regulator. Its renormalization group trajectories emanating from a non-Gaussian fixed point define asymptotically safe quantum field theories. A priori these theories are, somewhat unusually, given in terms of their effective rather than bare action. In this paper we construct a functional integral representation of these theories. We fix a regularized measure and show that every trajectory of effective average actions, depending on an IR cutoff only, induces an associated trajectory of bare actions which depend on a UV cutoff. Together …
Field Parametrization Dependence in Asymptotically Safe Quantum Gravity
2015
Motivated by conformal field theory studies we investigate Quantum Einstein Gravity with a new field parametrization where the dynamical metric is basically given by the exponential of a matrix-valued fluctuating field, $g_{\mu\nu}=\bar{g}_{\mu\rho}(e^h)^\rho_{\nu}$. In this way, we aim to reproduce the critical value of the central charge when considering $2+\epsilon$ dimensional spacetimes. With regard to the Asymptotic Safety program, we take special care of possible fixed points and new structures of the corresponding RG flow in $d=4$ for both single- and bi-metric truncations. Finally, we discuss the issue of restoring background independence in the bi-metric setting.
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…