Fixed Points of Quantum Gravity and the Renormalisation Group
Daniel F. Litim
备注：
18 pages, 4 figures. Plenary talk. To appear in the proceedings of "From Quantum to Emergent Gravity: Theory and Phenomenology", June 11-15 2007, Trieste, Italy
We review the asymptotic safety scenario for quantum gravity and the role and implications of an underlying ultraviolet fixed point. We discuss renormalisation group techniques employed in the fixed point search, analyse the main picture at the example of the Einstein-Hilbert theory, and provide an overview of the key results in four and higher dimensions. We also compare findings with recent lattice simulations and evaluate phenomenological implications for collider experiments.
We present the complete set of universal one-loop beta functions of cubic gravity in six dimensions. The system admits over 8000 distinct fixed points, of which more than 200 are real. Some of them might be relevant for the quantisation of gravity in the physical case of four dimensions.
I discuss the renormalisation group approach to gravity, its link to Steven Weinberg's asymptotic safety scenario, and give an overview of results with applications to particle physics and cosmology.
We derive new functional renormalisation group flows for quantum gravity, in any dimension. The key new achievement is that the equations apply for any theory of gravity whose underlying Lagrangian $\sim f(R_{μνρσ})$ is a function of the Riemann tensor and the inverse metric. The results centrally exploit the benefits of maximally symmetric spaces for the evaluation of operator traces. The framework is highly versatile and offers a wide range of new applications to study quantum gravitational effects in extensions of Einstein gravity, many of which have hitherto been out of reach. The phase di…
The scaling behaviour of euclidean quantum gravity at an asymptotically safe critical point is studied by means of the exact renormalisation group. Gauge independence is ensured via a specific parameterisation of metric fluctuations introduced in a recent paper. Within a non-perturbative approximation the beta function for Newton's constant takes a simple form to all orders in $\hbar$. A UV fixed point is found to exist for $d\leq 7$ spacetime dimensions at which the critical scaling can be assessed. The critical exponent for the Newton's constant $ν$ is found to be regulator independent close…
The canonical approach to quantum gravity has been put on a firm mathematical foundation in the recent decades. Even the quantum dynamics can be rigorously defined, however, due to the tremendously non-polynomial character of the gravitational interaction, the corresponding Wheeler-DeWitt operator valued distribution suffers from quantisation ambiguities that need to be fixed. In a very recent series of works we have employed methods from constructive quantum field theory in order to address those ambiguities. Constructive QFT trades quantum fields for random variables and measures thereby phr…
From the Wilsonian point of view, renormalisable theories are understood as submanifolds in theory space emanating from a particular fixed point under renormalisation group evolution. We show how this picture precisely applies to their gravity duals. We investigate the Hamilton-Jacobi equation satisfied by the Wilson action and find the corresponding fixed points and their eigendeformations, which have a diagonal evolution close to the fixed points. The relevant eigendeformations are used to construct renormalised theories. We explore the relation of this formalism with holographic renormalisa…
We calculate one-loop scattering amplitudes for gravitons and two-forms in dimensions greater than four. The string based Kawai-Lewellen-Tye relationships allow gravitons and two-forms to be treated in a unified manner. We use the results to determine the ultra-violet infinities present in these amplitudes and show how these determine the renormalised one-loop action in six and eight dimensions.
We explore the cosmological dynamics of an effective f(R) model constructed from a renormalisation group (RG) improvement of the Einstein--Hilbert action, using the non-perturbative beta functions of the exact renormalisation group equation. The resulting f(R) model has some remarkable properties. It naturally exhibits an unstable de Sitter era in the ultraviolet (UV), dynamically connected to a stable de Sitter era in the IR, via a period of radiation and matter domination, thereby describing a non-singular universe. We find that the UV de Sitter point is one of an infinite set, which make th…
We use the Wilsonian functional Renormalisation Group (RG) to study quantum corrections for the Higgs inflationary action including the effect of gravitons, and analyse the leading-order quantum gravitational corrections to the Higgs' quartic coupling, as well as its non-minimal coupling to gravity and Newton's constant, at the inflationary regime and beyond. We explain how within this framework the effect of Higgs and graviton loops can be sufficiently suppressed during inflation, and we also place a bound on the corresponding value of the infrared RG cut-off scale during inflation. Finally, …
We study quantum gravity in more than four dimensions with renormalisation group methods. We find a non-trivial ultraviolet fixed point in the Einstein-Hilbert action. The fixed point connects with the perturbative infrared domain through finite renormalisation group trajectories. We show that our results for fixed points and related scaling exponents are stable. If this picture persists at higher order, quantum gravity in the metric field is asymptotically safe. We discuss signatures of the gravitational fixed point in models with low-scale gravity and compact extra dimensions.
We study quantum corrections to Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmology with a scalar field under the assumption that the dynamics are subject to renormalisation group improvement. We use the Bianchi identity to relate the renormalisation group scale to the scale factor and obtain the improved cosmological evolution equations. We study the solutions of these equations in the renormalisation group fixed point regime, obtaining the time-dependence of the scalar field strength and the Hubble parameter in specific models with monomial and trinomial quartic scalar field potentials. We find that power-…
Universidad Adolfo Ibañez（阿道夫·伊巴涅斯大学）；Universidad Andres Bello（安德烈斯·贝略大学）；Université de Mons – UMONS（蒙斯大学）；Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso（瓦尔帕莱索天主教 Pontificia 大学）；CNRS, Institut Polytechnique de Paris（法国国家科学研究中心，巴黎理工学院）
We introduce an approach to compute the renormalisation group flow of relational observables in quantum gravity which evolve from their microscopic expressions towards the full quantum expectation value. This is achieved by using the composite operator formalism of the functional renormalisation group. These methods can be applied to a large class of relational observables within a derivative expansion for different physical coordinate systems. As a first application we consider four scalar fields coupled to gravity to represent the physical coordinate frame from which relational observables c…
Hamiltonian Renormalisation, as defined within this series of works, was derived from covariant Wilson renormalisation via Osterwalder-Schrader reconstruction. As such it directly applies to QFT with a true (physical) Hamiltonian bounded from below. The validity of the scheme was positively tested for free QFT in any dimension with or without Abelian gauge symmetries of Yang-Mills type. The aim of this Hamiltonian renormalisation scheme is to remove quantisation ambiguities of Hamiltonians in interacting QFT that remain even after UV and IR regulators are removed as it happens in highly non-li…
Nonrelativistic two-body scattering by a short-ranged potential is studied using the renormalisation group. Two fixed points are identified: a trivial one and one describing systems with a bound state at zero energy. The eigenvalues of the linearised renormalisation group are used to assign a systematic power-counting to terms in the potential near each of these fixed points. The expansion around the nontrivial fixed point is shown to be equivalent to the effective-range expansion.
We apply renormalisation-group methods to two-body scattering by a combination of known long-range and unknown short-range potentials. We impose a cut-off in the basis of distorted waves of the long-range potential and identify possible fixed points of the short-range potential as this cut-off is lowered to zero. The expansions around these fixed points define the power countings for the corresponding effective field theories. Expansions around nontrivial fixed points are shown to correspond to distorted-wave versions of the effective-range expansion. These methods are applied to scattering in…
We study the three dimensional Navier-Stokes equation with a random Gaussian force acting on large wavelengths. Our work has been inspired by Polyakov's analysis of steady states of two dimensional turbulence. We investigate the time evolution of the probability law of the velocity potential. Assuming that this probability law is initially defined by a statistical field theory in the basin of attraction of a renormalisation fixed point, we show that its time evolution is obtained by averaging over small scale features of the velocity potential. The probability law of the velocity potential con…
In this thesis we investigate two different sets of physics questions, aiming at a better understanding of the low-energy behaviour of Yang-Mills theories, and the properties connected to confinement, in a first part. In a second part, we consider asymptotically safe quantum gravity, which is a proposal for a UV completion of gravity, based on the existence of an interacting UV fixed point in the Renormalisation Group flow. Both theories are characterised by non-perturbative behaviour, the first in the IR, the second in the UV, thus we apply a functional Renormalisation Group equation which is…
We study quantum modifications to cosmology in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe with and without scalar fields by taking the renormalisation group running of gravitational and matter couplings into account. We exploit the Bianchi identity to relate the renormalisation group scale with scale factor and derive the improved cosmological evolution equations. We find two types of cosmological fixed points where the renormalisation group scale either freezes in, or continues to evolve with scale factor. We discuss the implications of each of these, and classify the different cosmological fixed …
We investigate the ultraviolet behaviour of quantum gravity within a functional renormalisation group approach. The present setup includes the full ghost and graviton propagators and, for the first time, the dynamical graviton three-point function. The latter gives access to the coupling of dynamical gravitons and makes the system minimally self-consistent. The resulting phase diagram confirms the asymptotic safety scenario in quantum gravity with a non-trivial UV fixed point. A well-defined Wilsonian block spinning requires locality of the flow in momentum space. This property is discussed in…
A metric is introduced on the space of parameters (couplings) describing the large N limit of the O(N) model in Euclidean space. The geometry associated with this metric is analysed in the particular case of the infinite volume limit in 3 dimensions and it is shown that the Ricci curvature diverges at the ultra-violet (Gaussian) fixed point but is finite and tends to constant negative curvature at the infra-red (Wilson-Fisher) fixed point. The renormalisation group flow is examined in terms of geodesics of the metric. The critical line of cross-over from the Wilson-Fisher fixed point to the Ga…
In this paper we review the definition and properties of redundant operators in the exact renormalisation group. We explain why it is important to require them to be eigenoperators and why generically they appear only as a consequence of symmetries of the particular choice of renormalisation group equations. This clarifies when Newton's constant and or the cosmological constant can be considered inessential. We then apply these ideas to the Local Potential Approximation and approximations of a similar spirit such as the f(R) approximation in the asymptotic safety programme in quantum gravity. …
We study two dimensional freely decaying magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. We investigate the time evolution of the probability law of the gauge field and the stream function. Assuming that this probability law is initially defined by a statistical field theory in the basin of attraction of a renormalisation group fixed point, we show that its time evolution is generated by renormalisation transformations. In the long time regime, the probability law is described by non-unitary conformal field theories. In that case, we prove that the kinetic and magnetic energy spectra are proportional. We then…
Non commutative quantum field theory is a possible candidate for the quantization of gravity. In our thesis we study in detail the $ϕ4$ model on the Moyal plane with an harmonic potential. Introduced by Grosse and Wulkenhaar, this model exhibits the Langmann-Szabo duality not only for the vertex but also for the propagator. We have obtained several results concerning this model. We have proved the renormalisability of this theory at all orders in the position space. We have introduced the parametric and Complete Mellin representation for the model. Furthermore we have proved that the coupling …
We present an analytic computation of an explicit renormalisation group flow for cosmological states in loop quantum gravity. A key ingredient in our analysis are Perelomov coherent states for the Lie group SU(1,1) whose representation spaces are embedded into the standard loop quantum cosmology (LQC) Hilbert space. The SU(1,1) group structure enters our analysis by considering a classical set of phase space functions that generates the Lie algebra su(1,1). We implement this Poisson algebra as operators on the LQC Hilbert space in a non-anomalous way. This task requires a rather involved order…
Euclidean quantum gravity is studied with renormalisation group methods. Analytical results for a non-trivial ultraviolet fixed point are found for arbitrary dimensions and gauge fixing parameter in the Einstein-Hilbert truncation. Implications for quantum gravity in four dimensions are discussed.
We investigate the asymptotic safety conjecture for quantum gravity including curvature invariants beyond Ricci scalars. Our strategy is put to work for families of gravitational actions which depend on functions of the Ricci scalar, the Ricci tensor, and products thereof. Combining functional renormalisation with high order polynomial approximations and full numerical integration we derive the renormalisation group flow for all couplings and analyse their fixed points, scaling exponents, and the fixed point effective action as a function of the background Ricci curvature. The theory is charac…
A geometric formulation of Wilson's exact renormalisation group is presented based on a gauge invariant ultraviolet regularisation scheme without the introduction of a background field. This allows for a manifestly background independent approach to quantum gravity and gauge theories in the continuum. The regularisation is a geometric variant of Slavnov's scheme consisting of a modified action, which suppresses high momentum modes, supplemented by Pauli-Villars determinants in the path integral measure. An exact renormalisation group flow equation for the Wilsonian effective action is derived …
We study a proper-time renormalisation group, which is based on an operator cut-off regularisation of the one-loop effective action. The predictive power of this approach is constrained because the flow is not an exact one. We compare it to the Exact Renormalisation Group, which is based on a momentum regulator in the Wilsonian sense. In contrast to the former, the latter provides an exact flow. To leading order in a derivative expansion, an explicit map from the exact to the proper-time renormalisation group is established. The opposite map does not exist in general. We discuss various implic…
This is the third paper in a series of four in which a renormalisation flow is introduced which acts directly on the Osterwalder-Schrader data (OS data) without recourse to a path integral. Here the OS data consist of a Hilbert space, a cyclic vacuum vector therein and a Hamiltonian annihilating the vacuum which can be obtained from an OS measure, that is a measure respecting (a subset of) the OS axioms. In the previous paper we successfully tested our proposal for the two-dimensional massive Klein-Gordon model, that is, we could confirm that our framework finds the correct fixed point startin…
The Polchinski version of the exact renormalisation group equations is applied to multicritical fixed points, which are present for dimensions between two and four, for scalar theories using both the local potential approximation and its extension, the derivative expansion. The results are compared with the epsilon expansion by showing that the non linear differential equations may be linearised at each multicritical point and the epsilon expansion treated as a perturbative expansion. The results for critical exponents are compared with corresponding epsilon expansion results from standard per…
We examine the precise connection between the exact renormalisation group with local couplings and the renormalisation of correlation functions of composite operators in scale-invariant theories. A geometric description of theory space allows us to select convenient non-linear parametrisations that serve different purposes. First, we identify normal parameters in which the renormalisation group flows take their simplest form; normal correlators are defined by functional differentiation with respect to these parameters. The renormalised correlation functions are given by the continuum limit of …
We consider the asymptotic-safety scenario for quantum gravity which constructs a non-perturbatively renormalisable quantum gravity theory with the help of the functional renormalisation group. We verify the existence of a non-Gaussian fixed point and include a running curvature-ghost coupling as a first step towards the flow of the ghost sector of the theory. We find that the scalar curvature-ghost coupling is asymptotically free and RG relevant in the ultraviolet. Most importantly, the property of asymptotic safety discovered so far within the Einstein-Hilbert truncation and beyond remains s…
We study a model of Tensorial Group Field Theory (TGFT) on $\mathbb{R}^3$ from the point of view of the Functional Renormalisation Group. This is the first attempt to apply a renormalisation procedure to a TGFT model defined over a non-compact group manifold. IR divergences (with respect to the metric on $\mathbb{R}$) coming from the non-compactness of the group are regularised via compactification, and a thermodynamic limit is then taken. We identify then IR and UV fixed points of the RG flow and find strong hints of a phase transition of the TGFT system from a symmetric to a broken or conden…
The Weyl anomaly in the Holographic Renormalisation Group as implemented using Hamilton-Jacobi language is studied in detail. We investigate the breakdown of the descent equations in order to isolate the Weyl anomaly of the dual field theory close to the (UV) fixed point. We use the freedom of adding finite terms to the renormalised effective action in order to bring the anomalies in the expected form. We comment on different ways of describing the bare and renormalised schemes, and on possible interpretations of the descent equations as describing the renormalisation group flow non-perturbati…
Within the exact renormalisation group, the scaling solutions for O(N) symmetric scalar field theories are studied to leading order in the derivative expansion. The Gaussian fixed point is examined for d>2 dimensions and arbitrary infrared regularisation. The Wilson-Fisher fixed point in d=3 is studied using an optimised flow. We compute critical exponents and subleading corrections-to-scaling to high accuracy from the eigenvalues of the stability matrix at criticality for all N. We establish that the optimisation is responsible for the rapid convergence of the flow and polynomial truncations …
We employ non-perturbative renormalisation group methods to compute the full momentum dependence of propagators in quantum gravity in general dimensions. We disentangle all different graviton and Faddeev-Popov ghost modes and find qualitative differences in the momentum dependence of their propagators. This allows us to reconstruct the form factors quadratic in curvature from first principles, which enter physical observables like scattering cross sections. The results are qualitatively stable under variations of the gauge fixing choice.
In this work we study a significantly enlarged truncation of conformally reduced quantum gravity in the context of Asymptotic Safety, including all operators that can be resolved in such a truncation including up to the sixth order in derivatives. A fixed point analysis suggests that there is no asymptotically safe fixed point in this system once one goes beyond an Einstein-Hilbert approximation. We will put these findings into context and discuss some lessons that can be learned from these results for general non-perturbative renormalisation group flows.
We evaluate the phase diagram of quantum gravity within a fully diffeomorphism-invariant renormalisation group approach. The construction is based on the geometrical or Vilkovisky-DeWitt effective action. We also resolve the difference between the fluctuation metric and the background metric. This allows for fully background-independent flows in gravity. The results provide further evidence for the ultraviolet fixed point scenario in quantum gravity with quantitative changes for the fixed point physics. We also find a stable infrared fixed point related to classical Einstein gravity. Implicati…
In this paper we will discuss the derivation of the so-called vanishing beta function curves which can be used to explore the fixed point structure of the theory under consideration. This can be applied to the O($N$) symmetric theories, essentially, for arbitrary dimensions ($D$) and field component ($N$). We will show the restoration of the Mermin-Wagner theorem for theories defined in $D\leq2$ and the presence of the Wilson-Fisher fixed point in $2<D<4$. Triviality is found in $D>4$. Interestingly, one needs to make an excursion to the complex plane to see the triviality of the four-dimensio…
We study exact renormalisation group equations for the 3d Ising universality class. At the Wilson-Fisher fixed point, symmetric and antisymmetric correction-to-scaling exponents are computed with high accuracy for an optimised cutoff to leading order in the derivative expansion. Further results are derived for other cutoffs including smooth, sharp and background field cutoffs. An estimate for higher order corrections is given as well. We establish that the leading antisymmetric corrections to scaling are strongly subleading compared to the leading symmetric ones.
We discuss the errors introduced by level truncation in the study of boundary renormalisation group flows by the Truncated Conformal Space Approach. We show that the TCSA results can have the qualitative form of a sequence of RG flows between different conformal boundary conditions. In the case of a perturbation by the field phi(13), we propose a renormalisation group equation for the coupling constant which predicts a fixed point at a finite value of the TCSA coupling constant and we compare the predictions with data obtained using TBA equations.
We make some remarks on the group of symmetries in gravity; we believe that K-theory and noncommutative geometry inescepably have to play an important role. Furthermore we make some comments and questions on the recent work of Connes and Kreimer on renormalisation, the Riemann-Hilbert correspondence and their relevance to quantum gravity.
We present the first direct and non-perturbative computation of the graviton spectral function in quantum gravity. This is achieved with the help of a novel Lorentzian renormalisation group approach, combined with a spectral representation of correlation functions. We find a positive graviton spectral function, showing a massless one-graviton peak and a multi-graviton continuum with an asymptotically safe scaling for large spectral values. We also study the impact of a cosmological constant. Further steps to investigate scattering processes and unitarity in asymptotically safe quantum gravity …
Rank-d Tensorial Group Field Theories are quantum field theories defined on a group manifold $G^{\times d}$, which represent a non-local generalization of standard QFT, and a candidate formalism for quantum gravity, since, when endowed with appropriate data, they can be interpreted as defining a field theoretic description of the fundamental building blocks of quantum spacetime. Their renormalisation analysis is crucial both for establishing their consistency as quantum field theories, and for studying the emergence of continuum spacetime and geometry from them. In this paper, we study the ren…
Irreversibility of RG flows in two dimensions is shown using conserved vector currents. Out of a conserved vector current, a quantity decreasing along the RG flow is built up such that it is stationary at fixed points where it coincides with the constant coefficient of the two current correlation function. For Wess-Zumino-Novikov-Witten models this constant coefficient is the level of their associated affine Lie algebra. Extensions to higher dimensions using the spectral decomposition of the two current correlation function are studied.
We consider the renormalisation properties of non-Hermitian Yukawa theories involving a pseudoscalar (axion) field at or near $4$ dimensions. The non-Hermiticity is \cPT-symmetric where $\mathcal P$ is a linear idempotent operator (such as parity) and $\mathcal T$ is an anti-linear idempotent operator (such as time-reversal). The coupling constants of the Yukawa and quartic scalar coupling terms reflect this non-Hermiticity. The path integral representing the field theory is used to discuss the Feynman rules associated with the field theory. The fixed point structure associated with the renorm…
