Planar black holes in AdS have long-lived quasinormal modes which capture the physics of charge and momentum diffusion in the dual field theory. How should we characterize the effective dynamics of a probe system coupled to the conserved currents of the dual field theory? Specifically, how would such a probe record the long-lived memory of the black hole and its Hawking fluctuations? We address this question by exhibiting a universal gauge invariant framework which captures the physics of stochastic diffusion in holography: a designer scalar with a gravitational coupling governed by a single parameter, the Markovianity index. We argue that the physics of gauge and gravitational perturbations of a planar Schwarzschild-AdS black hole can be efficiently captured by such designer scalars. We demonstrate that this framework allows one to decouple, at the quadratic order, the long-lived quasinormal and Hawking modes from the short-lived ones. It furthermore provides a template for analyzing fluctuating open quantum field theories with memory. In particular, we use this set-up to analyze the diffusive Hawking photons and gravitons about a planar Schwarzschild-AdS black hole and derive the quadratic effective action that governs fluctuating hydrodynamics of the dual CFT. Along the way we also derive results relevant for probes of hyperscaling violating backgrounds at finite temperature.
Many approaches to quantum gravity have resorted to diffusion processes to characterize the spectral properties of the resulting quantum spacetimes. We critically discuss these quantum-improved diffusion equations and point out that a crucial property, namely positivity of their solutions, is not preserved automatically. We then construct a novel set of diffusion equations with positive semi-definite probability densities, applicable to Asymptotically Safe gravity, Horava-Lifshitz gravity and Loop Quantum Gravity. These recover all previous results on the spectral dimension and shed further li…
We show that the noncritical string field theory developed from two-dimensional quantum gravity in the framework of causal dynamical triangulations can be viewed as arising through a stochastic quantization. This requires that the proper time appearing in the string field theory be identified with the stochastic time of the stochastic formulation. The framework of stochastic quantization gives rise to a natural nonperturbative quantum Hamiltonian, which incorporates a sum over all spacetime topologies. We point out that the external character of stochastic time is a feature that pertains more …
We review some works of E M Lifshitz connected with gravity and cosmology and also some later works, connected with his ideas. The main topics of this review are the stochastic cosmology of an anisotropic universe and of an isotropic universe with the scalar field, the quasi-isotropic (gradient) expansion in cosmology and Horava-Lifshitz gravity and cosmology.
In the first part of this paper, we show that the semiclassical Einstein-Langevin equation, introduced in the framework of a stochastic generalization of semiclassical gravity to describe the back reaction of matter stress-energy fluctuations, can be formally derived from a functional method based on the influence functional of Feynman and Vernon. In the second part, we derive a number of results for background solutions of semiclassical gravity consisting of stationary and conformally stationary spacetimes and scalar fields in thermal equilibrium states. For these cases, fluctuation-dissipati…
Quantum gravity is treated as a stochastic quantization of the spacetime metric of general relativity. It is found that owing to the stochastic fluctuating behavior of the geometry, the singularity in gravitational collapse of a star has a zero probability density of occurring. Moreover, as a star collapses the probability density of a distant observer seeing an infinite red shift at the Schwarzschild radius of the star is zero. Therefore, there is a vanishing probability density of a black hole event horizon forming during gravitational collapse. A grey apparent event horizon forms during the…
We present a method to solve the nonlinear dynamical equations of motion in gravitational theories with fundamental nonlocalities of a certain type. For these specific form factors, which appear in some renormalizable theories, the number of field degrees of freedom and of initial conditions is finite.
The central object in the theory of semiclassical stochastic gravity is the noise kernel which is the symmetric two point correlation function of the stress-energy tensor. Using the corresponding Wightman functions in Minkowski, Einstein and open Einstein spaces, we construct the noise kernels of a conformally coupled scalar field in these spacetimes. From them we show that the noise kernels in conformally-flat spacetimes, including the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes, can be obtained in closed analytic forms by using a combination of conformal and coordindate transformations.
Based on the stochastic gravity, we study the loop corrections to the scalar and tensor perturbations during inflation. Since the loop corrections to scalar perturbations suffer infrared (IR) divergence, we consider the IR regularization to obtain the finite value. We find that the loop corrections to the scalar perturbations are amplified by the e-folding; in other words there appear the logarithmic correction, just as discussed by M.Sloth et al. On the other hand, we find that the tensor perturbations do not suffer from infrared divergence.
The stochastic quantization method is applied to the recent proposal by Hořava for gravity. We show that in contrast to General Relativity, the Hořava's action, satisfying the detailed balance condition, has a stable, non-perturbative quantum vacuum when the DeWitt parameter $λ$ is not greater than 1/3, providing a possible candidate for consistent quantum gravity.
We study primordial perturbations generated from quantum fluctuations of an inflaton based on the formalism of stochastic gravity. Integrating out the degree of freedom of the inflaton field, we analyze the time evolution of the correlation function of the curvature perturbation at tree level and compare it with the prediction made by the gauge-invariant linear perturbation theory. We find that our result coincides with that of the gauge-invariant perturbation theory if the e-folding from the horizon crossing time is smaller than some critical value ($\sim |$slow-roll parameter $|^{-1}$), whic…
Among all cosmological quantum-gravity or quantum-gravity-inspired scenarios, only very few predict a blue-tilted primordial tensor spectrum. We explore five of them and check whether they can generate a stochastic gravitational-wave background detectable by present and future interferometers: non-local quantum gravity, string-gas cosmology, new ekpyrotic scenario, Brandenberger-Ho non-commutative inflation and multi-fractional spacetimes. We show that non-local quantum gravity is unobservable, while all the other models can reach the strain sensitivity of DECIGO but not that of LIGO-Virgo-KAG…
We show that proper time, when defined in the quantum theory of 2d gravity, becomes identical to the stochastic time associated with the stochastic quantization of space. This observation was first made by Kawai and collaborators in the context of 2d Euclidean quantum gravity, but the relation is even simpler and more transparent in he context of 2d gravity formulated in the framework of CDT (causal dynamical triangulations).
We consider the stochastic quantization scheme for a non-perturbative stabilization of 2D quantum gravity and prove that it does not satisfy the KdV flow equations. It therefore differs from a recently suggested matrix model which allows real solutions to the KdV equations. The behaviour of the Fermi energy, the free energy and macroscopic loops in the stochastic quantization scheme are elucidated.
We develop an stochastic approach to study gravitational waves produced during the inflationary epoch under the presence of a decaying cosmological parameter, on a 5D geometrical background which is Riemann flat. We obtain that the squared tensor metric fluctuations depend strongly on the cosmological parameter $Λ(t)$ and we finally illustrate the formalism with an example of a decaying $Λ(t)$.
An important transport coefficient in the study of non-Abelian plasmas is the Chern-Simons diffusion rate, which parameterizes the rate of transition among the degenerate vacua of a gauge theory. We compute this quantity at strong coupling, via holography, using two theories of gravity with higher curvature corrections, namely Gauss-Bonnet gravity and quasi-topological gravity. We find that these corrections may either increase or decrease the result obtained from Einstein's gravity, depending on the value of the couplings. The Chern-Simons diffusion rate for Gauss-Bonnet gravity decreases as …
We study a stochastic formalism for a nonperturbative treatment of the inflaton field in the framework of a noncompact Kaluza-Klein (KK) theory during an inflationary (de Sitter) expansion, without the slow-roll approximation.
We present a stochastic framework for emergent quantum gravity coupled to matter. The Hamiltonian constraint in diffeomorphism-invariant theories demands the identification of a clock relative to which dynamics may be defined, and other degrees of freedom can play the role of rulers. However, a global system of clock and rulers is generally not available. We provide evidence that stochasticity associated with critical points of clock and ruler fields can be related to the emergence of both a probabilistic description consistent with ordinary quantum theory, and gravitation described by general…
We study the ensemble average of the thermal expectation value of an energy momentum tensor in the presence of a random external metric. In a holographic setup this quantity can be read off of the near boundary behavior of the metric in a stochastic theory of gravity. By numerically solving the associated Einstein equations and mapping the result to the dual boundary theory, we find that the non relativistic energy power spectrum exhibits a power law behavior as expected by the theory of Kolmogorov.
A magnetic field, coherent over the horizon size at the decoupling and strong enough to rotate the polarization plane of the CMBR, can be generated from the electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations amplified by the space-time evolution of the dilaton coupling. The possible relevance of this result for superstring inspired cosmological models is discussed. Particular attention will be paid to the connection between Faraday rotation signals and stochastic gravity-wave backgrounds.
We analyze seven different viable $f(R)$-gravities towards the Solar System tests and stochastic gravitational waves background. The aim is to achieve experimental bounds for the theory at local and cosmological scales in order to select models capable of addressing the accelerating cosmological expansion without cosmological constant but evading the weak field constraints. Beside large scale structure and galactic dynamics, these bounds can be considered complimentary in order to select self-consistent theories of gravity working at the infrared limit. It is demonstrated that seven viable $f(…
The Nelson stochastic mechanics of inhomogeneous quantum diffusion in flat spacetime with a tensor of diffusion can be described as a homogeneous one in a Riemannian manifold where this tensor of diffusion plays the role of a metric tensor. It is shown that the such diffusion accelerates both a sample particle and a local frame such that their mean accelerations do not depend on their masses. This fact, explaining the principle of equivalence, allows one to represent the curvature and gravitation as consequences of the quantum fluctuations. In this diffusional treatment of gravitation it can b…
I construct the ground state, up to first nonperturbative order, of the stochastic stabilization of the zero dimensional matrix model which defines 2D Quantum Gravity. It is given by the linear combination of a perturbative wave function and a nonperturbative one. The nonperturbative behaviour which arise from the stabilized model and from the string equation are similar. I show the modification of the loop equation by nonperturbative contribution.
A five-dimensional scenario with a non compact extra dimension of infinite extent is studied, in which a single three-brane is affected by small Gaussian fluctuations in the extra dimension. The average magnitude of the fluctuations is of order of the electro-weak length scale ($σ\sim m_{EW}^{-1}$). The model provides an stochastic approach to gravity that accounts for an alternative resolution of the mass hierarchy problem. The cosmological constant problem can be suitably treated as well. Surprisingly the Mach's principle finds a place in the model. It is argued that the Mach's principle, th…
We propose a nonlocal scalar-tensor model of gravity with pseudodifferential operators inspired by the effective action of p-adic string and string field theory on flat spacetime. An infinite number of derivatives act both on the metric and scalar field sector. The system is localized via the diffusion equation approach and its cosmology is studied. We find several exact dynamical solutions, also in the presence of a barotropic fluid, which are stationary in the diffusion flow. In particular, and contrary to standard general relativity, there exist solutions with exponential and power-law scal…
The stochastic variational method is applied to particle systems and continuum mediums. As the brief review of this method, we first discuss the application to particle Lagrangians and derive a diffusion-type equation and the Schrödinger equation with the minimum gauge coupling. We further extend the application of the stochastic variational method to Lagrangians of continuum mediums and show that the Navier-Stokes, Gross-Pitaevskii and generalized diffusion equations are derived. The correction term for the Navier-Stokes equation is also obtained in this method. We discuss the meaning of this…
Near the horizon of a black brane in Anti-de Sitter (AdS) space and near the AdS boundary, the long-wavelength fluctuations of the metric exhibit hydrodynamic behaviour. The gauge-gravity duality then relates the boundary hydrodynamics for generalized gravity to that of gauge theories with large finite values of 't Hooft coupling. We discuss, for this framework, the hydrodynamics of the shear mode in generalized theories of gravity in d+1 dimensions. It is shown that the shear diffusion coefficients of the near-horizon and boundary hydrodynamics are equal and can be expressed in a form that is…
We show that uncertainty relations, as well as minimum uncertainty coherent and squeezed states, are structural properties for diffusion processes. Through Nelson stochastic quantization we derive the stochastic image of the quantum mechanical coherent and squeezed states.
We embed Nelson's stochastic quantization in the Schwartz-Meyer second order geometry framework. The result is a non-perturbative theory of quantum mechanics on (pseudo)-Riemannian manifolds. Within this approach, we derive stochastic differential equations for massive spin-0 test particles charged under scalar potentials, vector potentials and gravity. Furthermore, we derive the associated Schrödinger equation. The resulting equations show that massive scalar particles must be conformally coupled to gravity in a theory of quantum gravity. We conclude with a discussion of some prospects of the…
We generalize the method of obtaining the fundamental linear partial differential equations such as the diffusion and Schrodinger equation, Dirac and telegrapher's equation from a simple stochastic consideration to arrive at certain nonlinear form of these equations. The group classification through one parameter group of transformation for two of these equations is also carried out.
