Conformal algebra on R x S^3 derived from quantized gravitational fields is examined. The model we study is a renormalizable quantum theory of gravity in four dimensions described by a combined system of the Weyl action for the traceless tensor mode and the induced Wess-Zumino action managing non-perturbative dynamics of the conformal factor in the metric field. It is shown that the residual diffeomorphism invariance in the radiation^+ gauge is equal to the conformal symmetry, and the conformal transformation preserving the gauge-fixing condition that forms a closed algebra quantum mechanically is given by a combination of naive conformal transformation and a certain field-dependent gauge transformation. The unitarity issue of gravity is discussed in the context of conformal field theory. We construct physical states by solving the conformal invariance condition and calculate their scaling dimensions. It is shown that the conformal symmetry mixes the positive-metric and the negative-metric modes and thus the negative-metric mode does not appear independently as a gauge invariant state at all.
Deriving a complete set of eigendistributions for a gravitational wave equation describing the quantized interaction of gravity with a Yang-Mills field in case the Cauchy hypersurface is non-compact
I show, on the most elementary grounds, its classical ultraviolet catastrophe, that even source-free General Relativity must be quantized, despite some eminent opinions to the contrary, an original result involving some rather tricky subtleties.
We prove that semiclassical gravity in conformally static, globally hyperbolic spacetimes with a massless, conformally coupled Klein-Gordon field is well posed, when viewed as a coupled theory for the dynamical conformal factor of the metric and the Klein-Gordon theory. Namely, it admits unique and stable solutions whenever constrained fourth-order initial data for the conformal factor and suitably defined Hadamard initial data for the Klein-Gordon state are provided on a spacelike Cauchy surface. As no spacetime symmetries are imposed on the conformal factor, the present result implies that, …
A method for consistent quantization of conformal gravity treating conformal symmetry in a very controllable way is presented. First, we discuss local conformal symmetry in the framework of gravitational interactions, where we view it as an example of a general gauge theory. We also present some early attempts at quantization of conformal gravity and use the generalized framework of covariant quantization due to Faddeev and Popov. Some salient issues such as the need for conformal gauge-fixing, an issue with conformal third ghosts, and discontinuities in conformal gravity are studied as well. …
We first quantize the action proposed by Casalbuoni and Gomis in [Phys. Rev. D \textbf{90}, 026001 (2014)], an action that describes two massless relativistic scalar particles interacting via a conformally invariant potential. The spectrum is a continuum of massive states that may be interpreted as unparticles. We then obtain in a similar way the mass operator for a deformed action in which two terms are introduced that break the conformal symmetry: a mass term and an extra position-dependent coupling constant. A simple Ansatz for the latter leads to a mass operator with linear confinement in …
We extend Maldacena's argument, namely, obtaining Einstein gravity from Conformal Gravity, to six dimensional manifolds. The proof relies on a particular combination of conformal (and topological) invariants, which makes manifest the fact that 6D Conformal Gravity admits an Einstein sector. Then, by taking generalized Neumann boundary conditions, the Conformal Gravity action reduces to the renormalized Einstein-AdS action. These restrictions are implied by the vanishing of the traceless Ricci tensor, which is the defining property of any Einstein spacetime. The equivalence between Conformal an…
We consider holography of two pp-wave metrics in conformal gravity, their one point functions, and asymptotic symmetries. One of the metrics is a generalization of the standard pp-waves in Einstein gravity to conformal gravity. The holography of this metric shows that within conformal gravity one can have realised solution which has non-vanishing partially massless response (PMR) tensor even for vanishing subleading term in the Fefferman-Graham expansion (i.e. Neumann boundary conditions), and vice-versa.
We provide a new derivation of the Hawking mass and Willmore energy functionals for asymptotically AdS spacetimes, by embedding Einstein-AdS gravity in Conformal Gravity. By construction, the evaluation of the four-dimensional Conformal Gravity action in a manifold with a conical defect produces a codimension-2 conformal invariant functional $L_Σ$. The energy functionals are then particular cases of $L_Σ$ for Einstein-AdS and pure AdS ambient spaces, respectively. The bulk action is finite for AdS asymptotics and both Hawking mass and Willmore energy are finite as well. The result suggests a g…
A geometric formalism is developed which allows to describe the non-linear regime of higher-spin gravity emerging on a cosmological quantum space-time in the IKKT matrix model. The vacuum solutions are Ricci-flat up to an effective vacuum energy-momentum tensor quadratic in the torsion, which arises from a Weitzenböck-type higher spin connection. Torsion is expected to be significant only at cosmic scales and around very massive objects, and could behave like dark matter. A non-linear equation for the torsion tensor is found, which encodes the Yang-Mills equations of the matrix model. The metr…
We study the gravity action built from two gauge fields corresponding to the generators of the conformal group. Starting with the action from which one can obtain Einstein gravity and conformal gravity upon imposing suitable constraints, we keep two independent gauge fields and integrate out the field corresponding to the generator of Lorentz transformations. We identify the two gauge fields with two vierbeins and perturb them around an Anti--de Sitter space. This gives the linearized equations that differ from both, Einstein gravity and conformal gravity linearized equations. We also study th…
In recent years, the import of quantum information techniques in quantum gravity opened new perspectives in the study of the microscopic structure of spacetime. We contribute to such a program by establishing a precise correspondence between the quantum information formalism of tensor networks (TN), in the case of projected entangled-pair states (PEPS) generalised to a second-quantized framework, and group field theory (GFT) states, and by showing how, in this quantum gravity approach, discrete spatial manifolds arise as entanglement patterns among quanta of space, having a dual representation…
