We review the recently discovered duality between color and kinematics in gauge theories. This duality leads to a remarkably simple double-copy relation between diagrammatic numerators of gravity scattering amplitudes and gauge-theory ones. We summarize nontrivial evidence that the duality and double-copy property holds to all loop orders. We also comment on other developments, including a proof that the gauge-theory duality leads to the gravity double-copy property, and the identification of gauge-theory Lagrangians whose double copies yield gravity Lagrangians.
The success of the spinor helicity technique for tree processes is reviewed. To apply it to multiloop diagrams one is naturally led to the Schwinger proper-time representation, whose properties are discussed. This representation also serves as a useful link between field theories and string theories.
Most calculations of quantum corrections in supersymmetric theories are made with the dimensional reduction, which is a modification of the dimensional regularization. However, it is well known that the dimensional reduction is not self-consistent. A consistent regularization, which does not break the supersymmetry, is the higher covariant derivative regularization. However, the integrals obtained with this regularization can not be usually calculated analytically. We discuss application of this regularization to the calculations in supersymmetric theories. In particular, it is demonstrated th…
We establish a systematic way to calculate multiloop amplitudes of infrared safe massless models with Implicit Regularization (IR), with a direct cancelation of the fictitious mass introduced by the procedure. The ultraviolet content of such amplitudes have a simple structure and its separation permits the identification of all the potential symmetry violating terms, the surface terms. Moreover, we develop a technique for the calculation of an important kind of finite multiloop integral which seems particularly convenient to use Feynman parametrization. Finally, we discuss the Implicit Regular…
We review some recent additions to the tool-chest of techniques for finding compact integrand representations of multiloop gauge-theory amplitudes - including non-planar contributions - applicable for N=4 super-Yang-Mills in four and higher dimensions, as well as for theories with less supersymmetry. We discuss a general organization of amplitudes in terms of purely cubic graphs, review the method of maximal cuts, as well as some special D-dimensional recursive cuts, and conclude by describing the efficient organization of amplitudes resulting from the conjectured duality between color and kin…
We use the duality between color and kinematics to simplify the construction of the complete four-loop four-point amplitude of N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory, including the nonplanar contributions. The duality completely determines the amplitude's integrand in terms of just two planar graphs. The existence of a manifestly dual gauge-theory amplitude trivializes the construction of the corresponding N=8 supergravity integrand, whose graph numerators are double copies (squares) of the N=4 super-Yang-Mills numerators. The success of this procedure provides further nontrivial evidence that the dualit…
The duality between color and kinematics enables the construction of multiloop gravity integrands directly from corresponding gauge-theory integrands. This has led to new nontrivial insights into the structure of gravity theories, including the discovery of enhanced ultraviolet cancellations. To continue to gain deeper understandings and probe these new properties, it is crucial to further improve techniques for constructing multiloop gravity integrands. In this paper, we show by example how one can alleviate difficulties encountered at the multiloop level by relaxing the color-kinematics dual…
The spectrum of anomalous dimensions of gauge-invariant operators in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory is believed to be described by a long-range integrable spin chain model. We focus in this study on its $sl(2)$ subsector spanned by the twist-two single-trace Wilson operators, which are shared by all gauge theories, supersymmetric or not. We develop a formalism for the solution of the perturbative multiloop Baxter equation encoding their anomalous dimensions, using Wilson polynomials as basis functions and Mellin transform technique. These considerations yield compact results which …
We propose a new set of Master Integrals which can be used as a basis for certain multiloop calculations in massless gauge field theories. In these theories we consider three-point Feynman diagrams with arbitrary number of loops. The corresponding multiloop integrals may be decomposed in terms of this set of the Master Integrals. We construct a new reduction procedure which we apply to perform this decomposition.
The multiloop amplitudes for open bosonic string in presence of a constant B-field are derived from first principles. The basic ingredients of the construction are the commutation relations for the string modes and the Reggeon vertex describing the interaction among three generic string states. The modifications due to the presence of the B-field affect non--trivially only the zero modes. This makes it possible to write in a simple and elegant way the general expression for multiloop string amplitudes in presence of a constant B-field. The field theory limit of these string amplitudes is also …
We analyze the structure of multiloop supergraphs contributing to the effective Lagrangians in 4d supersymmetric gauge theories and in the models obtained from them by dimensional reduction. When d=4, this gives the renormalization of the effective charge. For d < 4, the low-energy effective Lagrangian describes the metric on the moduli space of classical vacua. These two problems turn out to be closely related. In particular, we establish the relationship between the 4d nonrenormalization theorems (in minimal and extended supersymmetric theories) and their low--dimensional counterparts.
Recent work on the loop representation of quantum gravity has revealed previously unsuspected connections between knot theory and quantum gravity, or more generally, 3-dimensional topology and 4-dimensional generally covariant physics. We review how some of these relationships arise from a `ladder of field theories' including quantum gravity and BF theory in 4 dimensions, Chern-Simons theory in 3 dimensions, and the G/G gauged WZW model in 2 dimensions. We also describe the relation between link (or multiloop) invariants and generalized measures on the space of connections. In addition, we pos…
The perturbative approach to quantum field theories has made it possible to obtain incredibly accurate theoretical predictions in high-energy physics. Although various techniques have been developed to boost the efficiency of these calculations, some ingredients remain specially challenging. This is the case of multiloop scattering amplitudes that constitute a hard bottleneck to solve. In this paper, we delve into the application of a disruptive technique based on the loop-tree duality theorem, which is aimed at an efficient computation of such objects by opening the loops to nondisjoint trees…
In this lecture we summarize recent calculations pointing to the possible ultraviolet finiteness of N = 8 supergravity in four dimensions. We outline the modern unitarity method, which enables multiloop calculations in this theory and allows us to exploit a remarkable relation between tree-level gravity and gauge-theory amplitudes. We also describe a link between observed cancellations at loop level and improved behavior of tree-level amplitudes under large complex deformations of momenta.
We discuss string theory relations between gravity and gauge theory tree amplitudes. Together with $D$-dimensional unitarity, these relations can be used to perturbatively quantize gravity theories, i.e. they contain the necessary information for calculating complete gravity $S$-matrices to any loop orders. This leads to a practical method for computing non-trivial gravity $S$-matrix elements by relating them to much simpler gauge theory ones. We also describe arguments that N=8 D=4 supergravity is less divergent in the ultraviolet than previously thought.
In a previous paper we observed that (classical) tree-level gauge theory amplitudes can be rearranged to display a duality between color and kinematics. Once this is imposed, gravity amplitudes are obtained using two copies of gauge-theory diagram numerators. Here we conjecture that this duality persists to all quantum loop orders and can thus be used to obtain multiloop gravity amplitudes easily from gauge-theory ones. As a nontrivial test, we show that the three-loop four-point amplitude of N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory can be arranged into a form satisfying the duality, and by taking double…
Causality constrains the gravitational interactions of massive higher spin particles in both AdS and flat spacetime. We explore the extent to which these constraints apply to composite particles, explaining why they do not rule out macroscopic objects or hydrogen atoms. However, we find that they do apply to glueballs and mesons in confining large $N$ gauge theories. Assuming such theories contain massive bound states of general spin, we find parametric bounds in $(3+1)$ spacetime dimensions of the form $N\lesssim \frac{M_{Pl}}{Λ_{\text{QCD}}}$ relating $N$, the QCD scale, and the Planck scale…
We verify a method which allows to obtain the $β$-function of supersymmetric theories regularized by higher covariant derivatives by calculating only specially modified vacuum supergraphs. With the help of this method for a general renormalizable ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetric gauge theory a part of the three-loop $β$-function depending on the Yukawa couplings is constructed in the general $ξ$-gauge. The result is written in the form of an integral of double total derivatives with respect to the loop momenta. It is demonstrated that all gauge dependent terms cancel each other in agreement with th…
We discuss locally Weyl (scale) covariant generalisations of gravitational theories using Riemann-Cartan-Weyl space-times in arbitrary dimensions. We demonstrate the procedure of Weyl gauging on two examples in particular: General relativity, and topologically massive gravity in three dimensions.
We present a particularly nice D-dimensional graph-based representation of the full color-dressed five-point tree-level gluon amplitude. It possesses the following virtues: 1) it satisfies the color-kinematic correspondence, and thus trivially generates the associated five-point graviton amplitude, 2) all external state information is encoded in color-ordered partial amplitudes, and 3) one function determines the kinematic contribution of all graphs in the Yang-Mills amplitude, so the associated gravity amplitude is manifestly permutation symmetric. The third virtue, while shared among all kno…
Theories of gravitation without Lorentz invariance are candidates of low-energy descriptions of quantum gravity. In this review we will describe the phenomenological consequences of the candidates associated to the existence of a preferred time direction
We discuss the renormalization properties of noncommutative supersymmetric theories. We also discuss how the gauge field plays a role similar to gravity in noncommutative theories.
We start by briefly reviewing the description of gravity theories as gauge theories in four dimensions. More specifically we recall the procedure leading to the results of General Relativity and Weyl Gravity in a gauge-theoretic manner. Then, after a brief reminder of the formulation of gauge theories on noncommutative spaces, we review our recent work, where gravity is constructed as a gauge theory on the fuzzy $dS_4$.
We present locally scale (Weyl) covariant generalisation of Minimal Massive Gravity theory using the language of exterior differential forms on Riemann-Cartan-Weyl space-times. The theory is expressed by a locally scale invariant action and locally scale covariant field equations are found by a first order variational formalism.
Generalised Proca theories of gravity represent an interesting class of vector-tensor theories where only three propagating degrees of freedom are present. In this work, we propose a new teleparallel gravity analog to Proca theories where the generalised Proca framework is extended due to the lower order nature of torsion based gravity. We develop a new action contribution and explore the example of the Friedmann equations in this regime. We find that teleparallel Proca theories offer the possibility of a much larger class of models in which do have an impact on background cosmology.
We show that field equations of some typical modified gravity theories can be recast as thermodynamic first law on dynamical holographic screens. The thermodynamic second law are also presented.
This article reviews scalar-tensor theories characterized by a Lagrangian that, despite the presence of second order derivatives, contain a single scalar degree of freedom. These theories, known as Degenerate Higher-Order Scalar-Tensor (DHOST) theories, include Horndeski and Beyond Horndeski theories. They propagate a single scalar mode as a consequence of the degeneracy of their Lagrangian and, therefore, are not plagued by an Ostrodradsky instability. They have been fully classified up to cubic order in second-order derivatives. The study of their phenomenological consequences restricts the …
We review, in the light of recent developments, the existing relations between gravity and topological BF theories at the classical level. We include the Plebanski action in both self-dual and non-chiral formulations, their generalizations, and the MacDowell-Mansouri action.
We consider theories that modify gravity at cosmological distances, and show that any such theory must exhibit a strong coupling phenomenon, or else it is either inconsistent or is already ruled out by the solar system observations. We show that all the ghost-free theories that modify dynamics of spin-2 graviton on asymptotically flat backgrounds, automatically have this property. Due to the strong coupling effect, modification of the gravitational force is source-dependent, and for lighter sources sets in at shorter distances. This universal feature makes modified gravity theories predictive …
We present a canonical formulation of gravity theories whose Lagrangian is an arbitrary function of the Riemann tensor. Our approach allows a unified treatment of various subcases and an easy identification of the degrees of freedom of the theory.
Modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) can be obtained by modifying the entropic formulation of gravity, this is achieved by considering the quantum statistical nature of the degrees of freedom on the holographic screen. Through this frame work, we find some constraints on a cosmological extension for MOND, with no additional auxiliary fields. The connections between MOND to conformal gravity and Rindler force gravity are examined. These two alternative gravity theories are subsequently considered as possible cosmological extensions of MOND.
We review the current status of the Lorentz covariance in teleparallel and modified teleparallel theories of gravity, and discuss the controversial features of the different approaches. We also revisit the issue of the remnant Lorentz gauge symmetries in $f(T)$ gravity.
In this work, a correspondence between black hole solutions of conformal and massive theories of gravity is found. It is seen that this correspondence imposes some constraints on parameters of these theories. What is more, a relation between the mass of black holes and the parameters of massive gravity is found. Indeed, the acceptable ranges of massive gravity parameters ($c_{1}$\ and $c_{2}$) are found. It is shown that by considering the positive mass of black holes, some ranges of $c_{1}$\ and $c_{2}$ are acceptable.
We discuss BF theories defined on manifolds with spatial boundaries. Variational arguments show that one needs to augment the usual action with a boundary term for specific types of boundary conditions. We also show how to use this procedure to find the boundary actions for theories of gravity with first order formulations. Possible connection with the membrane approach is also discussed.
Various massive gravity theories in three dimensions are conjecturally dual to logarithmic conformal field theories (LCFTs). We summarise the status of these conjectures. LCFTs are characterised by the values of the central charges and the so-called "new anomalies". We employ a short-cut to calculate these new anomalies in generalised massive gravity and in the recently proposed higher-derivative gravity theories with holographic c-theorem. Both cases permit LCFTs exhibiting intriguing features, like rank three Jordan cells or non-zero central charges. Finally, as an example we discuss in some…
We show that the space of solutions of a wide family of Ricci-based metric-affine theories of gravity can be put into correspondence with the space of solutions of general relativity (GR). This allows us to use well-established methods and results from GR to explore new gravitational physics beyond it.
The basics of teleparallel gravity and its extensions are reviewed with particular emphasis on the problem of Lorentz-breaking choice of connection in pure-tetrad versions of the theories. Various possible ways to covariantise such models are discussed. A by-product is a new form of $f(T)$ field equations.
The scalar-tensor theories of gravity in spacetime dimensions $D+1>2$ are studied. By doing Hamiltonian analysis, we obtain the geometrical dynamics of the theories from their Lagrangian. The Hamiltonian formalism indicates that the theories are naturally divided into two sectors by the coupling parameter $ω$. The Hamiltonian structure in both sectors are similar to the corresponding structure of 4-dimensional cases. It turns out that there is a symplectic reduction from the canonical structure of $so(D+1)$ Yang-Mills theories coupled to the scalar field to the canonical structure of the geome…
In the first order formalism of gravitational theories, the spacetime connection is considered as an independent variable to vary together with the metric. However, the metric still generates its Levi-Civita connection that turns out to determine the geodesics of matter. Recently, "hybrid" gravity theories have been introduced by constructing actions involving both the independent Palatini connection and the metric Levi-Civita connection. In this study a method is developed to analyse the field content of such theories, in particular to determine whether the propagating degrees of freedom are …
Gravitational effective field theories with nondynamical backgrounds explicitly break diffeomorphism and local Lorentz invariance. At the same time, to maintain observer independence the action describing these theories is required to be mathematically invariant under general coordinate transformations and changes of local Lorentz bases. These opposing effects of having broken spacetime symmetries but invariance under mathematical observer transformations can result in theoretical inconsistency unless certain conditions hold. The consistency constraints that must hold originate from Noether id…
The Bañados-Teitelboim-Zanelli (BTZ) black hole metric solves the three-dimensional Einstein's theory with a negative cosmological constant as well as all the generic higher derivative gravity theories based on the metric; as such it is a universal solution. Here, we find, in all generic higher derivative gravity theories, new universal non-Einsteinian solutions obtained as Kerr-Schild type deformations of the BTZ black hole. Among these, the deformed non-extremal BTZ black hole loses its event horizon while the deformed extremal one remains intact as a black hole in any generic gravity theory…
The requirement of the existence of a holographic c-function for higher derivative theories is a very restrictive one and hence most theories do not possess this property. Here, we show that, when some of the parameters are fixed, the $D\geq3$ Born-Infeld gravity theories admit a holographic c-function. We work out the details of the $D=3$ theory with no free parameters, which is a non-minimal Born-Infeld type extension of new massive gravity. Moreover, we show that these theories generate an infinite number of higher derivative models admitting a c-function in a suitable expansion and therefo…
In the context of extended Teleparallel gravity theories with a 3+1 dimensions Gauss-Bonnet analog term, we address the possibility of these theories reproducing several well-known cosmological bouncing scenarios in a four-dimensional Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker geometry. We shall study which types of gravitational Lagrangians are capable of reconstructing bouncing solutions provided by analytical expressions for symmetric, oscillatory, superbounce, the matter bounce and singular bounce. Some of the Lagrangians discovered are both analytical at the origin having Minkowski and Schwarzsc…
In this contribution, classes of shear-free cosmological dust models with irrotational fluid flows will be investigated in the context of scalar-tensor theories of gravity. In particular, the integrability conditions describing a consistent evolution of the linearised field equations of quasi-Newtonian universes are presented. We also derive the covariant density and velocity propagation equations of such models and analyse the corresponding solutions to these perturbation equations.
We find the three-loop contribution to the $β$-function of ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetric gauge theories regularized by higher covariant derivatives produced by the supergraphs containing loops of the Faddeev--Popov ghosts. This is done using a recently proposed algorithm, which essentially simplifies such multiloop calculations. The result is presented in the form of an integral of double total derivatives in the momentum space. The considered contribution to the $β$-function is compared with the two-loop anomalous dimension of the Faddeev--Popov ghosts. This allows verifying the validity of the…
Some conceptual issues concerning $f(T)$ theories --a family of modified gravity theories based on absolute parallelism-- are analyzed. Due to the lack of local Lorentz invariance, the autoparallel frames satisfying the field equations are evasive to an \emph{a priori} physical understanding. We exemplify this point by working out the vierbein (tetrad) fields for closed and open Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies.
We consider the possibility of discriminating different theories of gravity using a recently proposed gravitational wave detector of spherical shape. We argue that the spin content of different theories can be extracted relating the measurements of the excited spheroidal vibrational eigenmodes to the Newman-Penrose parameters. The sphere toroidal modes cannot be excited by any metric GW and can be thus used as a veto.
We comment on some implications of theories with large compactification radii and TeV-scale quantum gravity. These include the behavior of high-energy gravitational scattering cross sections and consequences for ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and neutrino scattering, the question of how to generate naturally light neutrino masses, the issue of quark-lepton unification, the equivalence principle, and the cosmological constant.
A general form for the equation of motion for higher-curvature gravity is obtained. The interesting feature of the analysis is that it can handle Lagrangians which contain non-minimal kinetic scalar couplings. Certain subtle features, which are absent for the Einstein-Hilbert term, arise in higher-curvature gravity. These are identified and an algorithmic prescription is presented for the evaluation of the generalized equation of motion.
Infinite derivative theory of gravity is a modification to the general theory of relativity. Such modification maintains the massless graviton as the only true physical degree of freedom and avoids ghosts. Moreover, this class of modified gravity can address classical singularities. In this thesis some essential aspects of an infinite derivative theory of gravity are studied. Namely, we considered the Hamiltonian formalism, where the true physical degrees of freedom for infinite derivative scalar models and infinite derivative gravity are obtained. Furthermore, the Gibbons-Hawking-York boundar…
Phase transitions between two competing vacua of a given theory are quite common in physics. We discuss how to construct the space-time solutions that allow the description of phase transitions between different branches (or asymptotics) of a given higher curvature gravity theory at finite temperature.
Group Field Theories, a generalization of matrix models for 2d gravity, represent a 2nd quantization of both loop quantum gravity and simplicial quantum gravity. In this paper, we construct a new class of Group Field Theory models, for any choice of spacetime dimension and signature, whose Feynman amplitudes are given by path integrals for clearly identified discrete gravity actions, in 1st order variables. In the 3-dimensional case, the corresponding discrete action is that of 1st order Regge calculus for gravity (generalized to include higher order corrections), while in higher dimensions, t…
We derive multipolar equations of motion for gravitational theories with general nonminimal coupling in spacetimes admitting torsion. Our very general findings allow for the systematic testing of whole classes of theories by means of extended test bodies. One peculiar feature of certain subclasses of nonminimal theories turns out to be their sensitivity to post-Riemannian spacetime structures even in experiments without microstructured test matter.
We consider a recently proposed class of extended teleparallel theories of gravity, which entail a scalar field which is non-minimally coupled to the torsion of a flat, metric-compatible connection. This class of scalar-torsion theories of gravity is constructed in analogy to and as a direct extension of the well-studied class of scalar-curvature gravity theories, and has various common features, such as the conformal frame freedom. For this class we determine the parametrized post-Newtonian limit, both for a massive and a massless scalar field. In the massive case, we determine the effective …
We define and compute the energy of higher curvature gravity theories in arbitrary dimensions. Generically, these theories admit constant curvature vacua (even in the absence of an explicit cosmological constant), and asymptotically constant curvature solutions with non-trivial energy properties. For concreteness, we study quadratic curvature models in detail. Among them, the one whose action is the square of the traceless Ricci tensor always has zero energy, unlike conformal (Weyl) gravity. We also study the string-inspired Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet model and show that both its flat and Anti-de-S…
