Renormalizability, fundamentality and a final theory: The role of UV-completion in the search for quantum gravity

Karen Crowther; Niels Linnemann

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arXiv · 1705.06777

Renormalizability, fundamentality and a final theory: The role of UV-completion in the search for quantum gravity

Karen Crowther·Niels Linnemann

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Abstract

Principles are central to physical reasoning, particularly in the search for a theory of quantum gravity (QG), where novel empirical data is lacking. One principle widely adopted in the search for QG is UV completion: the idea that a theory should (formally) hold up to all possible high energies. We argue---\textit{contra} standard scientific practice---that UV-completion is poorly-motivated as a guiding principle in theory-construction, and cannot be used as a criterion of theory-justification in the search for QG. For this, we explore the reasons for expecting, or desiring, a UV-complete theory, as well as analyse how UV completion is used, and how it should be used, in various specific approaches to QG.

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Karen Crowther, Niels Linnemann. 2017-07-20. Renormalizability, fundamentality and a final theory: The role of UV-completion in the search for quantum gravity. https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.06777

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