scholarly journals SHAPE DYNAMICS AND EFFECTIVE FIELD THEORY

2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (13) ◽  
pp. 1330017 ◽  
Author(s):  
TIM A. KOSLOWSKI

Shape dynamics is a gauge theory based on spatial diffeomorphism- and Weyl-invariance which is locally indistinguishable from classical general relativity. If taken seriously, it suggests that the space–time geometry picture that underlies general relativity can be replaced by a picture based on spatial conformal geometry. This classically well-understood trading of gauge symmetries opens new conceptual avenues in many approaches to quantum gravity. This paper focusses on the general implications for quantum gravity and effective field theory and considers the application of the shape dynamics picture in the exact renormalization group approaches to gravity, loop- and polymer-quantization approaches to gravity and low energy effective field theories. Also, the interpretation of known results is discussed through the shape dynamics picture, particularly holographic renormalization and the problem of time in canonical quantum gravity.

Universe ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 171
Author(s):  
Folkert Kuipers ◽  
Xavier Calmet

In this paper, we discuss singularity theorems in quantum gravity using effective field theory methods. To second order in curvature, the effective field theory contains two new degrees of freedom which have important implications for the derivation of these theorems: a massive spin-2 field and a massive spin-0 field. Using an explicit mapping of this theory from the Jordan frame to the Einstein frame, we show that the massive spin-2 field violates the null energy condition, while the massive spin-0 field satisfies the null energy condition, but may violate the strong energy condition. Due to this violation, classical singularity theorems are no longer applicable, indicating that singularities can be avoided, if the leading quantum corrections are taken into account.


2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (06) ◽  
pp. 1630007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Weinberg

I reminisce about the early development of effective field theories of the strong interactions, comment briefly on some other applications of effective field theories, and then take up the idea that the Standard Model and General Relativity are the leading terms in an effective field theory. Finally, I cite recent calculations that suggest that the effective field theory of gravitation and matter is asymptotically safe.


Author(s):  
Nicolás Valdés-Meller

We argue that quantum gravity is nonlocal, first by recalling well-known arguments that support this idea and then by focusing on a point not usually emphasized: that making a conventional effective field theory (EFT) for quantum gravity is particularly difficult, and perhaps impossible in principle. This inability to realize an EFT comes down to the fact that gravity itself sets length scales for a problem: when integrating out degrees of freedom above some cutoff, the effective metric one uses will be different, which will itself re-define the cutoff. We also point out that even if the previous problem is fixed, naïvely applying EFT in gravity can lead to problems — we give a particular example in the case of black holes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 102 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah Sennett ◽  
Richard Brito ◽  
Alessandra Buonanno ◽  
Victor Gorbenko ◽  
Leonardo Senatore

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (12) ◽  
pp. 1544019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Barceló ◽  
Raúl Carballo-Rubio ◽  
Luis J. Garay

The cosmological constant problem can be understood as the failure of the decoupling principle behind effective field theory, so that some quantities in the low-energy theory are extremely sensitive to the high-energy properties. While this reflects the genuine character of the cosmological constant, finding an adequate effective field theory framework which avoids this naturalness problem may represent a step forward to understand nature. Following this intuition, we consider a minimal modification of the structure of general relativity which as an effective theory permits to work consistently at low energies, i.e. below the quantum gravity scale. This effective description preserves the classical phenomenology of general relativity and the particle spectrum of the standard model, at the price of changing our conceptual and mathematical picture of spacetime.


2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 1442012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Khoury ◽  
Godfrey E. J. Miller ◽  
Andrew J. Tolley

Traditional derivations of general relativity (GR) from the graviton degrees of freedom assume spacetime Lorentz covariance as an axiom. In this paper, we survey recent evidence that GR is the unique spatially-covariant effective field theory of the transverse, traceless graviton degrees of freedom. The Lorentz covariance of GR, having not been assumed in our analysis, is thus plausibly interpreted as an accidental or emergent symmetry of the gravitational sector. From this point of view, Lorentz covariance is a necessary feature of low-energy graviton dynamics, not a property of spacetime. This result has revolutionary implications for fundamental physics.


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