Search results for "hep-th"
showing 10 items of 757 documents
Scattering amplitudes in affine gravity
2020
Affine gravity is a connection-based formulation of gravity that does not involve a metric. After a review of basic properties of affine gravity, we compute the tree-level scattering amplitude of scalar particles interacting gravitationally via the connection in a curved spacetime. We find that, while classically equivalent to general relativity, affine gravity differs from metric quantum gravity.
Running gravitational couplings, decoupling, and curved spacetime renormalization
2020
We propose to slightly generalize the DeWitt-Schwinger adiabatic renormalization subtractions in curved space to include an arbitrary renormalization mass scale $\mu$. The new predicted running for the gravitational couplings are fully consistent with decoupling of heavy massive fields. This is a somewhat improvement with respect to the more standard treatment of minimal (DeWitt-Schwinger) subtractions via dimensional regularization. We also show how the vacuum metamorphosis model emerges from the running couplings.
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…
The quantum, the geon, and the crystal
2015
Effective geometries arising from a hypothetical discrete structure of space-time can play an important role in the understanding of the gravitational physics beyond General Relativity. To discuss this question, we make use of lessons from crystalline systems within solid state physics, where the presence of defects in the discrete microstructure of the crystal determine the kind of effective geometry needed to properly describe the system in the macroscopic continuum limit. In this work we study metric-affine theories with non-metricity and torsion, which are the gravitational analog of crystalline structures with point defects and dislocations. We consider a crystal-motivated gravitationa…
Enumerating higher-dimensional operators with on-shell amplitudes
2020
We establish a simple formula for the minimal dimension of operators leading to any helicity amplitude. It eases the systematic enumeration of independent operators from the construction of massless non-factorizable on-shell amplitudes. Little-group constraints can then be solved algorithmically for each helicity configuration to extract a complete set of spinor structures with lowest dimension. Occasionally, further reduction using momentum conservation, on-shell conditions and Schouten identities is required. A systematic procedure to account for the latter is presented. Dressing spinor structures with dot products of momenta finally yields the independent Lorentz structures for each heli…
First-order flows and stabilisation equations for non-BPS extremal black holes
2011
28 páginas.-- This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License.
Locality, QED and classical electrodynamics
1998
We report on some conceptual changes in our present understanding of Quantum Field Theory and muse about possible consequences for the understanding of $v>c$ signals.
Unitarity of Minkowski nonlocal theories made explicit
2021
In this work we explicitly show that the perturbative unitarity of analytic infinite derivative (AID) scalar field theories can be achieved using a modified prescription for computing scattering amplitudes. The crux of the new prescription is the analytic continuation of a result obtained in the Euclidean signature to the Minkowski external momenta. We intensively elaborate an example of a non-local $\phi^4$ model for various infinite derivative operators. General UV properties of amplitudes in non-local theories are discussed.
Gauge invariance and unstable particles.
1995
A gauge-independent approach to resonant transition amplitudes with nonconserved external currents is presented, which is implemented by the pinch technique. The analytic expressions derived with this method are $U(1)_{em}$ invariant, independent of the choice of the gauge-fixing parameter, and satisfy a number of required theoretical properties, including unitarity. Although special attention is paid to resonant scatterings involving the $\gamma WW$ and $ZWW$ vertices in the minimal Standard Model, our approach can be extended to the top quark or other unstable particles appearing in renormalizable models of new physics.