Search results for "quantum gravity"
showing 10 items of 126 documents
Quantum gravitational decoherence from fluctuating minimal length and deformation parameter at the Planck scale
2020
Schemes of gravitationally induced decoherence are being actively investigated as possible mechanisms for the quantum-to-classical transition. Here, we introduce a decoherence process due to quantum gravity effects. We assume a foamy quantum spacetime with a fluctuating minimal length coinciding on average with the Planck scale. Considering deformed canonical commutation relations with a fluctuating deformation parameter, we derive a Lindblad master equation that yields localization in energy space and decoherence times consistent with the currently available observational evidence. Compared to other schemes of gravitational decoherence, we find that the decoherence rate predicted by our mo…
Fractal Spacetime Structure in Asymptotically Safe Gravity
2005
Four-dimensional Quantum Einstein Gravity (QEG) is likely to be an asymptotically safe theory which is applicable at arbitrarily small distance scales. On sub-Planckian distances it predicts that spacetime is a fractal with an effective dimensionality of 2. The original argument leading to this result was based upon the anomalous dimension of Newton's constant. In the present paper we demonstrate that also the spectral dimension equals 2 microscopically, while it is equal to 4 on macroscopic scales. This result is an exact consequence of asymptotic safety and does not rely on any truncation. Contact is made with recent Monte Carlo simulations.
Super-entropic black hole with Immirzi hair
2020
In the context of $f(R)$ generalizations to the Holst action, endowed with a dynamical Immirzi field, we derive an analytic solution describing asymptotically anti--de Sitter black holes with hyperbolic horizon. These exhibit a scalar hair of the second kind, which ultimately depends on the Immirzi field radial behavior. In particular, we show how the Immirzi field modifies the usual entropy law associated to the black hole. We also verify that the Immirzi field boils down to a constant value in the asymptotic region, thus restoring the standard loop quantum gravity picture. We finally prove the violation of the reverse isoperimetric inequality, resulting in the superentropic nature of the …
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…
Investigating the Ultraviolet Properties of Gravity with a Wilsonian Renormalization Group Equation
2008
We review and extend in several directions recent results on the asymptotic safety approach to quantum gravity. The central issue in this approach is the search of a Fixed Point having suitable properties, and the tool that is used is a type of Wilsonian renormalization group equation. We begin by discussing various cutoff schemes, i.e. ways of implementing the Wilsonian cutoff procedure. We compare the beta functions of the gravitational couplings obtained with different schemes, studying first the contribution of matter fields and then the so-called Einstein-Hilbert truncation, where only the cosmological constant and Newton's constant are retained. In this context we make connection with…
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.
The Quantum Scalar Field in Spherically Symmetric Loop Quantum Gravity
2013
We consider the quantization of a spherically symmetric gravitational system coupled to a massless scalar field within the loop quantum gravity framework. Our results rely on the uniform discretizations method developed during the last years. We minimize the associated discrete “master constraint” using a trial state whose gravitational part is peaked around the classical Schwarzschild solution.
CPT Violating Decoherence and LSND: a possible window to Planck scale Physics
2004
Decoherence has the potential to explain all existing neutrino data including LSND results, without enlarging the neutrino sector. This particular form of CPT violation can preserve the equality of masses and mixing angles between particle and antiparticle sectors, and still provide seizable differences in the oscillation patterns. A simplified minimal model of decoherence is sufficient to explain the existing neutrino data quite neatly, while making dramatic predictions for the upcoming experiments. Some comments on the order of the decoherence parameters in connection with theoretically expected values from some models of quantum-gravity are given. In particular, the quantum gravity decoh…
Matter, quantum gravity, and adiabatic phase
1990
Based on the observation that particle masses are much smaller than the Planck mass, a framework for the matter-gravity system in which matter follows gravitation adiabatically is examined in a path-integral approach. It is found that the equations that the resulting gravitational wave function satisfies involve, in addition to the expectation value of the matter stress tensor, an adiabatically induced gauge field which can lead to interesting topological structures in superspace. Such a non-trivial geometric contribution modifies the semiclassical quantization condition and can change the conserved quantities associated with the symmetries of the system. © 1990 The American Physical Societ…
A class of nonlocal truncations in quantum Einstein gravity and its renormalization group behavior
2002
Motivated by the conjecture that the cosmological constant problem could be solved by strong quantum effects in the infrared we use the exact flow equation of Quantum Einstein Gravity to determine the renormalization group behavior of a class of nonlocal effective actions. They consist of the Einstein-Hilbert term and a general nonlinear function F(k, V) of the Euclidean space-time volume V. A partial differential equation governing its dependence on the scale k is derived and its fixed point is analyzed. For the more restrictive truncation of theory space where F(k, V) is of the form V+V ln V, V+V^2, and V+\sqrt{V}, respectively, the renormalization group equations for the running coupling…