We investigate the behavior of scalar quantum fields in cosmological backgrounds under modified dispersion relations, specifically focusing on how ultraviolet asymptotics influence field quantization. We establish the conditions for both the validity of the adiabatic approximation and the unitary equivalence between quantizations defined via different time variables. Our analysis reveals that while superluminal modified dispersion relations consistently yield unitarily equivalent quantizations, asymptotically subluminal behaviors can lead to inequivalent physical descriptions. By applying adiabatic regularization to the two-point correlation function, we demonstrate that the ultraviolet scaling of the frequency uniquely dictates the required subtraction order. These results are illustrated through applications to standard, superluminal Corley--Jacobson, and Unruh dispersion relations.
We generalize the perturbations theory of loop quantum cosmology to a hydrodynamical form and define an effective curvature perturbation on an uniform density hypersurfaces $ζ_e$. As in the classical cosmology, $ζ_e$ should be gauge-invariant and conservation on the large scales. The evolutions of both the adiabatic and the non-adiabatic perturbations for a multi-fluids model are investigated in the framework of the effective hydrodynamical theory of loop quantum cosmology with the inverse triad correction. We find that, different from the classical cosmology, the evolution of the large-scales…
We prove that adiabatic regularization and DeWitt-Schwinger point-splitting provide the same result for the renormalized expectation values of the stress-energy tensor for spin-$1/2$ fields. This generalizes the equivalence found for scalar fields, which is here recovered in a different way. We also argue that the coincidence limit of the DeWitt-Schwinger proper time expansion of the two-point function exactly agrees with the analogous expansion defined by the adiabatic regularization method at any order (for both scalar and spin-$1/2$ fields). We also illustrate the power of the adiabatic met…
Assuming an effective gravitational action with scale dependent coupling constants, a consistency condition for the local form of the cut-off scale is derived. The approach is applied to homogeneous cosmology and running couplings with an ultraviolet fixed point. Within the given approach this allows to derive bounds on the value of the fixed point.
We introduce an iterative method to univocally determine the adiabatic expansion of the modes of Dirac fields in spatially homogeneous external backgrounds. We overcome the ambiguities found in previous studies and use this new procedure to improve the adiabatic regularization/renormalization scheme. We provide details on the application of the method for Dirac fields living in a four-dimensional Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker spacetime with a Yukawa coupling to an external scalar field. We check the consistency of our proposal by working out the conformal anomaly. We also analyze a two-d…
According to the asymptotic-safety conjecture, the gravitational renormalization group flow features an ultraviolet-attractive fixed point that makes the theory renormalizable and ultraviolet complete. The existence of this fixed point entails an antiscreening of the gravitational interaction at short distances. In this paper we review the state-of-the-art of phenomenology of Asymptotically Safe Gravity, focusing on the implications of the gravitational antiscreening in cosmology.
A discussion of inhomogeneity is indispensable to understand quantum cosmology, even if one uses the dynamics of homogeneous geometries as a first approximation. While a full quantization of inhomogeneous gravity is not available, a broad framework of effective field theory provides important ingredients for quantum cosmology. Such a setting also allows one to take into account lessons from the Belinski-Khalatnikov-Lifshitz (BKL) scenario. Based on several new ingredients, this article presents conditions on various parameters and mathematical constructions that appear in minisuperspace models…
We generalize the adiabatic renormalization to theories with dispersion relations modified at energies higher than a new scale $M_C$. We obtain explicit expressions for the mean value of the stress tensor in the adiabatic vacuum, up to the second adiabatic order. We show that for any dispersion relation the divergences can be absorbed into the bare gravitational constants of the theory. We also point out that, depending on the renormalization prescription, the renormalized stress tensor may contain finite trans-Planckian corrections even in the limit $M_C\to\infty$.
An analysis of the decoherence of quantum fluctuations shows that production of classical adiabatic density perturbations may not take place in models of power-law inflation with power 1< p < 3. Some consequences for models of extended inflation are pointed out. In general, the condition for decoherence places new constraint on inflationary models, which does not depend on often complicated subsequent evolution.
We investigate a spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker cosmology in which a decaying vacuum term causes matter production at late times. Assuming a decay proportional to the Hubble rate, the ratio of the background energy densities of dark matter and dark energy changes with the cosmic scale factor as $a^{-3/2}$. The intrinsically non-adiabatic two-component perturbation dynamics of this model is reduced to a single second-order equation. Perturbations of the vacuum term are shown to be negligible on scales that are relevant for structure formation. On larger scales, dark-energy p…
Soliton solutions are recovered as scale-invariant asymptotic states of vacuum inhomogeneous cosmologies using renormalization group method. The stability analysis of these states is also given.
Vacuum and particles can be naturally defined in the adiabatic regime of an expanding universe. In general, however, there is no preferred choice of a vacuum state, unless the spacetime background possesses special symmetries. In the absence of symmetries the standard viewpoint is to construct distinguished adiabatic states permitting renormalizability of the stress-energy tensor. We study a special non-adiabatic vacuum for a massive scalar field in a radiation-dominated universe defined by imposing early-times conformal symmetry. We show that this state is consistent with renormalization, des…
We study the relation between the Fock representations for a Dirac field given by the adiabatic scheme and the unique family of vacua with a unitarily implementable quantum evolution that is employed in hybrid quantum cosmology. This is done in the context of a perturbed flat cosmology that, in addition, is minimally coupled to fermionic perturbations. In our description, we use a canonical formulation for the entire system, formed by the underlying cosmological spacetime and all its perturbations. After introducing an adiabatic scheme that was originally developed in the context of quantum fi…
In the context of higher-dimensional cosmologies with isotropic visible and internal space and multi-perfect fluid matter, we study the conditions under which adiabatic expansion of the visoble external space is possible, when a time-dependent internal space is present. The analysis is based on a reinterpretation of the four-dimensional stress-energy tensor in the presence of the extra dimensions. This modifies the usual adiabatic energy conservation laws for the visible Universe, leading to a new type of cosmological evolution which includes large-scale entropy production in four dimensions.
We study the anisotropic Bianchi type-I cosmological model at late times, taking into account quantum gravitational corrections in the formalism of the exact renormalization group flow of the effective average action for gravity. The cosmological evolution equations are derived by including the scale dependence of Newton's constant $G$ and cosmological constant $Λ$. We have considered the solutions of the flow equations for $G$ and $Λ$ at next to leading order in the infrared cutoff scale. Using these scale dependent $G$ and $Λ$ in Einstein equations for the Bianchi-I model, we obtain the scal…
We introduce a new approach to renormalize physical quantities in curved space-time by adiabatic subtraction. We use a comoving infrared cut-off in defining the adiabatic counterpart of the physical quantity under consideration, building on the fact that the adiabatic approximation is ill-defined in the infrared tail of the spectrum. We show how this infrared cut-off should be used to obtain a completely well-defined renormalization scheme and how it is fundamental to avoid unphysical divergences that can be generated by a pathological behavior of the adiabatic subtraction extended to the infr…
We express the in-in functional determinant giving the one-loop effective potential for a scalar field propagating in a cosmological spacetime in terms of the mode functions specifying the vacuum of the theory and then apply adiabatic regularization to make this bare potential finite. In this setup, the adiabatic regularization offers a particular renormalization prescription that isolates the effects of the cosmic expansion. We apply our findings to determine the radiative corrections to the classical inflaton potentials in scalar field inflationary models and also we derive an effective pote…
A critical examination is made of two simple implementations of the idea that cosmology can be viewed as a renormalization group flow. Both implementations are shown to fail when applied to a massless, minimally coupled scalar with a quartic self-interaction on a locally de Sitter background. Cosmological evolution in this model is not driven by any RG screening of couplings but rather by inflationary particle production gradually filling an initially empty universe with a sea of long wavelength scalars.
A modified gravitational theory is developed in which the gravitational coupling constants $G$ and $Q$ and the effective mass $m_ϕ$ of a repulsive vector field run with momentum scale $k$ or length scale $\ell =1/k$, according to a renormalization group flow. The theory can explain cosmological early universe data with a dark hidden photon and late time galaxy and cluster dynamics without dark matter. The theory agrees with solar system and binary pulsar observations.
We study small perturbations around the exactly marginal time-dependent string configuration of [1], and demonstrate the lack of the appropriate linearization. This implies that this configuration is an isolated fixed point of the $α^{'}$ flow in the pertinent space of theories.
The renormalization group method has been adapted to the analysis of the long-time behavior of non-linear partial differential equation and has demonstrated its power in the study of critical phenomena of gravitational collapse. In the present work we apply the renormalization group to the Einstein equation in cosmology and carry out detailed analysis of renormalization group flow in the vicinity of the scale invariant fixed point in the spherically symmetric and inhomogeneous dust filled universe model.
We discuss the impact of adiabatic renormalization on the power spectrum of scalar and tensor perturbations from inflation. We show that adiabatic regularization is ambiguous as it leads to very different results, for different adiabatic subtraction schemes, both in the range $v\equiv k/(aH) \gsim 0.1$ and in the infrared regime. All these schemes agree in the far ultraviolet, $v\gg 1$. Therefore, we argue that in the far infrared regime, $v\ll 1$, the adiabatic expansion is no longer valid, and the unrenormalized spectra are the physical, measurable quantities. These findings cast some doubt …
In this work we clarify aspects of renormalization on curved backgrounds focussing on the potential ramifications on the amplitude of inflationary perturbations. We provide an alternate view of the often used adiabatic prescription by deriving a correspondence between the adiabatic subtraction terms and traditional renormalization. Specifically, we show how adiabatic subtraction can be expressed as a set of counter terms that are introduced by redefining the bare parameters of the action. Our representation of adiabatic subtraction then allows us to easily find other renormalization prescripti…
We show that the field equations for cosmological perturbations in Newtonian gauge always have an adiabatic solution, for which a quantity ${\cal R}$ is non-zero and constant in all eras in the limit of large wavelength, so that it can be used to connect observed cosmological fluctuations in this mode with those at very early times. There is also a second adiabatic mode, for which ${\cal R}$ vanishes for large wavelength, and in general there may be non-adiabatic modes as well. These conclusions apply in all eras and whatever the constituents of the universe, under only a mild technical assump…
This PhD thesis presents a study of the effect and generation of non-adiabatic perturbations in Cosmology. We study adiabatic (curvature) and entropy (isocurvature) perturbations produced during a period of cosmological inflation that is driven by multiple scalar fields with an arbitrary interaction potential. A local rotation in field space is performed to separate out the adiabatic and entropy modes. The resulting field equations show explicitly how on large scales entropy perturbations can source adiabatic perturbations if the background solution follows a curved trajectory in field space, …
We analyze the semiclassical Einstein equations for quantum scalar fields satisfying modified dispersion relations. We first discuss in detail the renormalization procedure based on adiabatic subtraction and dimensional regularization. We show that, contrary to what expected from power counting arguments, in 3+1 dimensions the subtraction involves up to the fourth adiabatic order even for dispersion relations containing higher powers of the momentum. Then we analyze the dependence of the trace of the renormalized energy momentum tensor with the scale of new physics, and we recover the usual tr…
We extend the disformal transformation to models with two scalar fields and look at its singular limit. Solving the eigentensor equation for the Jacobian of the transformation of the metrics we find the two-field extension of the mimetic scenario in the singular conformal limit. At the background level the setup mimics the roles of dark matter cosmology. We decompose the perturbations into the adiabatic and entropy modes in which the adiabatic perturbation is tangential to the classical trajectory while the entropy mode is perpendicular to it. We show that the adiabatic mode is frozen while th…
We model the dark sector of the cosmic substratum by a viscous fluid with an equation of state $p=-ζΘ$, where $Θ$ is the fluid-expansion scalar and $ζ$ is the coefficient of bulk viscosity for which we assume a dependence $ζ\propto ρ^ν$ on the energy density $ρ$. The homogeneous and isotropic background dynamics coincides with that of a generalized Chaplygin gas with equation of state $p = - A/ρ^α$. The perturbation dynamics of the viscous model, however, is intrinsically non-adiabatic and qualitatively different from the Chaplygin-gas case. In particular, it avoids short-scale instabilities a…
We explore the adiabatic particle excitations of an interacting field in a cosmological background. By following the time-evolution of the quantum state corresponding to the particle excitation, we show how the basic properties characterizing the particle propagation can be recovered from the two-point propagators. As an application, we study the background-induced dissipative effects on the propagation of a two-level atom in an expanding universe.
We derive the renormalized nonequilibrium equations of motion for a scalar field and its quantum back reaction in a conformally flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe. We use a fully covariant formalism proposed by us recently for handling numerically and analytically nonequilibrium dynamics in one-loop approximation. The system is assumed to be in a conformal vacuum state initially. We use dimensional regularization; we find that the counter terms can be chosen independent of the initial conditions though the divergent leading order graphs do depend on them.
Homogeneous and isotropic cosmologies of the Planck era before the classical Einstein equations become valid are studied taking quantum gravitational effects into account. The cosmological evolution equations are renormalization group improved by including the scale dependence of Newton's constant and of the cosmological constant as it is given by the flow equation of the effective average action for gravity. It is argued that the Planck regime can be treated reliably in this framework because gravity is found to become asymptotically free at short distances. The epoch immediately after the in…
In this paper, we first introduce a multi-field setup of Cuscuton gravity in a curved field space manifold. Then, we show that this model allows for a regular bouncing cosmology and it does not lead to ghosts or other instabilities at the level of perturbations. More precisely, by decomposing the scalar fields perturbations into the tangential and normal components with respect to the background field space trajectory, the entropy mode perpendicular to the background trajectory is healthy which directly depends on the signature of the field-space metric, whereas the adiabatic perturbation tang…
The aim of this paper is to compute transitions amplitudes in quantum cosmology, and in particular pair creation amplitudes and radiative transitions. To this end, we apply a double adiabatic development to the solutions of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation restricted to mini-superspace wherein gravity is described by the scale factor $a$. The first development consists in working with instantaneous eigenstates, in $a$, of the matter Hamiltonian. The second development is applied to the gravitational part of the wave function and generalizes the usual WKB approximation. We then obtain an exact equat…
The two-dimensional renormalization group acting as the Ricci flow $Λ\frac{\partial}{\partialΛ} g_{μν} = R_{μν}$ produces a specific 1+3 dimensional space-time metric which describes an expanding universe that starts with a big bang $a \sim t^{\scriptscriptstyle 1/\sqrt3}$ then decelerates until $z=0.2$ then accelerates until ending at $t_{\max}=1.6\,t_{H}$ with a big blowup $a \sim (t_{\max}-t)^{\scriptscriptstyle -1/\sqrt3}$. The only free parameters are the overall time scale and the value of the present time $t_{0}$. These are fixed by the Hubble constant $H_{0}=t_{H}^{-1}$ and the present…
Cosmologies with a time dependent Newton constant and cosmological constant are investigated. The scale dependence of $G$ and $Λ$ is governed by a set of renormalization group equations which is coupled to Einstein's equation in a consistent way. The existence of an infrared attractive renormalization group fixed point is postulated, and the cosmological implications of this assumption are explored. It turns out that in the late Universe the vacuum energy density is automatically adjusted so as to equal precisely the matter energy density, and that the deceleration parameter approaches $q = -1…
We show that the correlation functions of any single-field cosmological model with constant growing-modes are constrained by an infinite number of novel consistency relations, which relate (N+1)-point correlation functions with a soft-momentum scalar or tensor mode to a symmetry transformation on N-point correlation functions of hard-momentum modes. We derive these consistency relations from Ward identities for an infinite tower of non-linearly realized global symmetries governing scalar and tensor perturbations. These symmetries can be labeled by an integer n. At each order n, the consistency…
While loop quantum cosmology (LQC) predicts a robust quantum bounce of the background evolution of a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) spacetime prior to the standard slow-roll inflation, whereby the big bang singularity is resolved, there are several different quantization procedures to cosmological perturbations, for instance, {\em the deformed algebra, dressed metric, and hybrid quantizations}. This paper devotes to study the quantum bounce effects of primordial perturbations in the hybrid approach. The main discrepancy of this approach is the effective positive mass at the quantum bounce fo…
We study the ``renormalization group action'' induced by cycles of cosmic expansion and contraction, within the context of a family of stochastic dynamical laws for causal sets derived earlier. We find a line of fixed points corresponding to the dynamics of transitive percolation, and we prove that there exist no other fixed points and no cycles of length two or more. We also identify an extensive ``basin of attraction'' of the fixed points but find that it does not exhaust the full parameter space. Nevertheless, we conjecture that every trajectory is drawn toward the fixed point set in a suit…
We present a simple method for deriving the renormalization counterterms from the components of the energy-momentum tensor in curved space-time. This method allows full control over the finite parts of the counterterms and provides explicit expressions for each term separately. As an example, the method is used for the self-interacting scalar field in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric in the adiabatic approximation, where we calculate the renormalized equation of motion for the field and the renormalized components of the energy-momentum tensor to fourth adiabatic order while including inter…
We consider quantum modifications to phantom cosmology in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime. The cosmological evolution equations improved by the renormalization group are obtained. For exponential potential, we find two types of cosmological fixed point; the renormalization group scale either freezes in, or continues to evolve with scale factor. We discuss the implications of each of these points, and investigate especially whether the big rip can be avoided. If the fixed point of renormalization group flow coincides with the cosmological fixed point, the universe will be dominated by da…
We study primordial cosmology with two scalar fields that participate in inflation at the same time, by coupling quantum gravity (i.e., the theory $R+R^{2}+C^{2}$ with the fakeon prescription/projection for $C^{2}$) to a scalar field with a quadratic potential. We show that there exists a perturbative regime that can be described by an asymptotically de Sitter, cosmic RG flow in two couplings. Since the two scalar degrees of freedom mix in nontrivial ways, the adiabatic and isocurvature perturbations are not RG invariant on superhorizon scales. It is possible to identify the correct perturbati…
In Weinberg's asymptotic safety approach, a finite dimensional critical surface for a UV stable fixed point generates a theory of quantum gravity with a finite number of physical parameters. We argue that, in an extension of Feynman's original formulation of the theory, we recover this fixed-point UV behavior from an exact re-arrangement of the respective perturbative series. Our results are consistent with the exact field space Wilsonian renormalization group results of Reuter {\it et al.} and with recent Hopf- algebraic Dyson-Schwinger renormalization theory results of Kreimer. We obtain the…
In this report we introduce the basic techniques (of the Closed Time Path - Coarse Grained Effective Action CTP-CGEA) and ideas (scaling, coarse-graining and backreaction) behind the treatment of quantum processes in dynamical background spacetimes and fields. We show how they are useful for the construction of renormalization group (RG) theories for studying these nonequilibrium processes and discuss the underlying issues. Examples are drawn from quantum field processes in an inflationary universe, semiclassical cosmology and stochastic gravity. In Part I we show how eternal inflation can be …
Finite expressions for the mean value of the stress tensor corresponding to a scalar field with a generalized dispersion relation in a Friedman--Robertson--Walker universe are obtained using adiabatic renormalization. Formally divergent integrals are evaluated by means of dimensional regularization. The renormalization procedure is shown to be equivalent to a redefinition of the cosmological constant and the Newton constant in the semiclassical Einstein equations.
Within the framework of adiabatic regularization, we present a simple formalism to calculate number density and renormalized energy-momentum density of spin 1/2 particles in spatially flat FLRW spacetimes using an appropriate WKB ansatz for the adiabatic expansion for the field modes. The conformal and axial anomalies thus found are in exact agreement with those obtained from other renormalization methods. This formalism can be considered as an appropriate extension of the techniques originally introduced for scalar fields, applicable to fermions in curved space.
We study inflation as a "cosmic" renormalization-group flow. The flow, which encodes the dependence on the background metric, is described by a running coupling $α$, which parametrizes the slow roll, a de Sitter free, analytic beta function and perturbation spectra that are RG invariant in the superhorizon limit. Using RG invariance as a guiding principle, we classify the main types of flows according to the properties of their spectra, without referring to their origins from specific actions or models. Novel features include spectra with essential singularities in $α$ and violations of the re…
Recent results of Hartle-Hawking wave functions on asymptotic dS boundaries show non-normalizability, while the bulk origin is not clear. This paper attempts to addresse this problem by studying (Kerr-)dS_3 cosmology in Einstein gravity deformed by a minimally coupled scalar field. Various saddle-point contributions exp[i(saddle-point action)] to the Hartle-Hawking wave functions are computed with mini-superspace formalism. The saddle-point actions are first obtained in the spacetime bulks by direct computation, then on the asymptotic dS boundary by holographic renormalization. It is found tha…
Asymptotic Safety, based on a non-Gaussian fixed point of the gravitational renormalization group flow, provides an elegant mechanism for completing the gravitational force at sub-Planckian scales. At high energies the fixed point controls the scaling of couplings such that unphysical divergences are absent while the emergence of classical low-energy physics is linked to a crossover between two renormalization group fixed points. These features make Asymptotic Safety an attractive framework for cosmological model building. The resulting scenarios may naturally give rise to a quantum gravity dr…
This article reviews some aspects of local covariance and of the ambiguities and anomalies involved in the definition of the stress energy tensor of quantum field theory in curved spacetime. Then, a summary is given of the approach proposed by Buchholz et al. to define local thermal equilibrium states in quantum field theory, i.e., non-equilibrium states to which, locally, one can assign thermal parameters, such as temperature or thermal stress-energy. The extension of that concept to curved spacetime is discussed and some related results are presented. Finally, the recent approach to cosmolog…
In Pre-Big-Bang and in Ekpyrotic Cosmology, perturbations on cosmological scales today are generated from quantum vacuum fluctuations during a phase when the Universe is contracting (viewed in the Einstein frame). The backgrounds studied to date do not yield a scale invariant spectrum of adiabatic fluctuations. Here, we present a new contracting background model (neither of Pre-Big-Bang nor of the Ekpyrotic form) involving a single scalar field coupled to gravity in which a scale-invariant spectrum of curvature fluctuations and gravitational waves results. The equation of state of this scalar …
