arXiv subjects

Andrei O. Barvinsky

Publications and source records attributed to Andrei O. Barvinsky.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Non-vacuum gravitational effective action

Curvature expansion for the heat kernel trace and the one-loop effective action is built for the wave operator of the theory in the quasi-thermal setup of a nonvacuum quantum state. This setup implies a non-static and non-stationary Euclidean gravitational background with periodic boundary conditions of the period $β=1/T$, where $T$ plays the role of effective global temperature to be locally rescaled by the metric gravitational potential. The results are obtained in the approximation quadratic in metric perturbations on top of flat Euclidean space and covariantized in terms of spacetime curvature. Covariantization includes a special vector field $ξ^μ(x)$ which generalizes the Killing vector of static geometries with time translation isometry to the case of a generic arbitrarily inhomogeneous metric subject to timelike periodicity condition. This vector field is obtained as a covariant metric functional to quadratic order in metric perturbations and gives rise to the local function $T/\sqrt{ξ^2(x)}$, $ξ^2(x)=g_{μν}(x)ξ^μ(x)ξ^ν(x)$, reducing to Tolman temperature $T/\sqrt{g_{00}(\boldsymbol{x})}$ on stationary manifolds with Killing symmetry. High ``temperature'' asymptotic behavior of the nonlocal form factors---operator coefficients of the curvature tensor structures in the heat kernel and effective action---are obtained and possible cosmological applications of these results are discussed.

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arXiv2025

Functorial properties of Schwinger-DeWitt expansion and Mellin-Barnes representation

We consider integral kernels for functions $f(\hat F)$ of a minimal second-order differential operator $\hat F(\nabla)$ on a curved spacetime. We show that they can be expanded in a functional series, analogous to the DeWitt expansion for the heat kernel, by integrating the latter term-by-term. This procedure leads to a separation of two types of data: all information about the bundle geometry and the operator $\hat F(\nabla)$ is still contained in the standard HaMiDeW coefficients $\hat a_k[F | x,x']$ (we call this property ``off-diagonal functoriality''), while information about the function $f$ is encoded in some new scalar functions $\mathbb{B}_α[f | σ]$ and $\mathbb{W}_α[f | σ, m^2]$, which we call basis and complete massive kernels, respectively. These objects are calculated for operator functions of the form $\exp(-τ\hat F^ν)/(\hat F^μ+ λ)$ as multiple Mellin--Barnes integrals. The article also discusses subtle issues such as the validity of the term-by-term integration, the regularization of IR divergent integrals, and the physical interpretation of the resulting expansions.

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arXiv2025

Schwinger--DeWitt expansion for the heat kernel of nonminimal operators in causal theories

We suggest a systematic calculational scheme for heat kernels of covariant nonminimal operators in causal theories whose characteristic surfaces are null with respect to a generic metric. The calculational formalism is based on a pseudodifferential operator calculus which allows one to build a linear operator map from the heat kernel of the minimal operator to the nonminimal one. This map is realized as a local expansion in powers of spacetime curvature, dimensional background fields, and their covariant derivatives with the coefficients -- the functions of the Synge world function and its derivatives. Finiteness of these functions, determined by multiple proper time integrals, is achieved by a special subtraction procedure which is an important part of the calculational scheme. We illustrate this technique on the examples of the vector Proca model and the vector field operator with a nondegenerate principal symbol. We also discuss smoothness properties of heat kernels of nonminimal operators in connection with the nondegenerate nature of their operator symbols.

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arXiv2024

Renormalization group flow of projectable Hořava gravity in (3+1) dimensions

We report a comprehensive numerical study of the renormalization group flow of marginal couplings in $(3+1)$-dimensional projectable Hořava gravity. First, we classify all fixed points of the flow and analyze their stability matrices. We find that some of the stability matrices possess complex eigenvalues and discuss why this does not contradict unitarity. Next, we scan over the renormalization group trajectories emanating from all asymptotically free fixed points. We identify a unique fixed point giving rise to a set of trajectories spanning the whole range of the kinetic coupling $λ$ compatible with unitarity. This includes the region $0<λ-1\ll 1$ assumed in previous phenomenological applications. The respective trajectories closely follow a single universal trajectory, differing only by the running of the gravitational coupling. The latter exhibits non-monotonic behavior along the flow, vanishing both in the ultraviolet and the infrared limits. The requirement that the theory remains weakly coupled along the renormalization group trajectory implies a natural hierarchy between the scale of Lorentz invariance violation and a much larger value of the Planck mass inferred from low-energy interactions.

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arXiv2024

Commutator technique for the heat kernel of minimal higher derivative operators

We suggest a new technique of the asymptotic heat kernel expansion for minimal higher derivative operators of a generic $2M$-th order, $F(\nabla)=(-\Box)^M+\cdots$, in the background field formalism of gauge theories and quantum gravity. This technique represents the conversion of the recently suggested Fourier integral method of generalized exponential functions [Phys. Rev. D105, 065013 (2022), arXiv:2112.03062] into the commutator algebra of special differential operators, which allows one to express expansion coefficients for $F(\nabla)$ in terms of the Schwinger-DeWitt coefficients of a minimal second order operator $H(\nabla)$. This procedure is based on special functorial properties of the formalism including the Mellin-Barnes representation of the complex operator power $H^M(\nabla)$ and naturally leads to the origin of generalized exponential functions without directly appealing to the Fourier integral method. The algorithm is essentially more straightforward than the Fourier method and consists of three steps ready for computer codification by symbolic manipulation programs. They begin with the decomposition of the operator into a power of some minimal second order operator $H(\nabla)$ and its lower derivative "perturbation part" $W(\nabla)$, $F(\nabla)=H^M(\nabla)+W(\nabla)$, followed by considering their multiple nested commutators. The second step is the construction of special local differential operators -- the perturbation theory in powers of the lower derivative part $W(\nabla)$. The final step is the so-called procedure of their {\em syngification} consisting in a special modification of the covariant derivative monomials in these operators by Synge world function $σ(x,x')$ with their subsequent action on the HaMiDeW coefficients of $H(\nabla)$.

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arXiv2024

Notes on peculiarities of Schwinger--DeWitt technique: one-loop double poles, total-derivative terms and determinant anomalies

We discuss peculiarities of the Schwinger--DeWitt technique for quantum effective action, associated with the origin of dimensionally regularized double-pole divergences of the one-loop functional determinant for massive Proca model in a curved spacetime. These divergences have the form of the total-derivative term generated by integration by parts in the functional trace of the heat kernel for the Proca vector field operator. Because of the nonminimal structure of second-order derivatives in this operator, its vector field heat kernel has a nontrivial form, involving the convolution of the scalar d'Alembertian Green's function with its heat kernel. Moreover, its asymptotic expansion is very different from the universal predictions of Gilkey-Seeley heat kernel theory because the Proca operator violates one of the basic assumptions of this theory -- the nondegeneracy of the principal symbol of an elliptic operator. This modification of the asymptotic expansion explains the origin of double-pole total-derivative terms. Another hypostasis of such terms is in the problem of multiplicative determinant anomalies -- lack of factorization of the functional determinant of a product of differential operators into the product of their individual determinants. We demonstrate that this anomaly should have the form of total-derivative terms and check this statement by calculating divergent parts of functional determinants for products of minimal and nonminimal second-order differential operators in curved spacetime.

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arXiv2023

Asymptotic freedom in (3+1)-dimensional projectable Horava gravity: connecting ultraviolet to infrared

We investigate the renormalization group flow of projectable Horava gravity in $(3+1)$ dimensions generated by marginal operators with respect to the Lifshitz scaling. The flow possesses a number of asymptotically free fixed points. We find a family of trajectories connecting one of these fixed points in the ultraviolet to the region of the parameter space where the kinetic term of the theory acquires the general relativistic form. The gravitational coupling exhibits non-monotonic behavior along the flow, vanishing both in the ultraviolet and the infrared.

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arXiv2023

On the local term in the anomaly-induced action of Weyl quantum gravity

The finite local conformally non-invariant $R^2$-term emerges in the one-loop effective action of the model of quantum gravity based on the Weyl-squared classical action. This term is related to the $\Box R$ contribution to the conformal anomaly, which in a wide class of regularization schemes is determined by the second Schwinger-DeWitt (or Gilkey-Seeley) coefficient of the heat kernel expansion for inverse propagators of the theory. The calculation of this term requires evaluating the contributions of the fourth-order derivative minimal and of the second-order nonminimal operators in the tensor and vector sectors of the theory, corresponding to metric, ghost and gauge-fixing operators. To ensure the correctness of existing formulas, we derived (and confirmed) the result using a special technique of calculations, based on the heat-kernel representation of the Euclidean Green's function and the method of universal functional traces.

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arXiv2023

Nonequilibrium Schwinger-Keldysh formalism for density matrix states: analytic properties and implications in cosmology

Motivated by cosmological Hartle-Hawking and microcanonical density matrix prescriptions for the quantum state of the Universe we develop Schwinger-Keldysh in-in formalism for generic nonequilibrium dynamical systems with the initial density matrix. We build the generating functional of in-in Green's functions and expectation values for a generic density matrix of the Gaussian type and show that the requirement of particle interpretation selects a distinguished set of positive/negative frequency basis functions of the wave operator of the theory, which is determined by the density matrix parameters. Then we consider a special case of the density matrix determined by the Euclidean path integral of the theory, which in the cosmological context can be considered as a generalization of the no-boundary pure state to the case of the microcanonical ensemble, and show that in view of a special reflection symmetry its Wightman Green's functions satisfy Kubo-Martin-Schwinger periodicity conditions which hold despite the nonequilibrium nature of the physical setup. Rich analyticity structure in the complex plane of the time variable reveals the combined Euclidean-Lorentzian evolution of the theory, which depending on the properties of the initial density matrix can be interpreted as a decay of a classically forbidden quantum state.

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arXiv2023

Nonminimal Higgs Inflation and Initial Conditions in Cosmology

We discuss applications of perturbative quantum gravity in the theory of very early quantum Universe and quantum cosmology. Consistency of the theoretical formalism for quantum effects of matter and correspondence with observational status of modern precision cosmology impose stringent bounds on and establish strong links with high energy particle phenomenology. Within this line of reasoning we study various aspects of one-loop approximation for the cosmological wave function, review Higgs inflation model intertwining the physics of electroweak sector of the Standard Model with the characteristics of the observable cosmic microwave background and, finally, consider the problem of quantum initial conditions for inflationary Universe. We formulate a cosmological quantum state in the form of the microcanonical density matrix -- a universal equipartition of eigenstates of the Wheeler-DeWitt equations. We demonstrate elimination of the inalienable infrared catastrophe of vanishing cosmological constant for the no-boundary quantum state of the Universe and derive initial conditions for inflation in the form of a special garland-type cosmological instanton -- the saddle point of quantum gravity path integral. Applied to the cosmological model of the Universe with a hidden sector of numerous conformally invariant higher spin fields, this setup suggests a solution to the problem of hierarchy between the Planck and the inflation energy scales and, thus, admits applicability of perturbative semiclassical expansion methods.

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arXiv2023

Hořava models as palladium of unitarity and renormalizability in quantum gravity

We give a review of UV renormalization of Hořava gravity (HG) models introduced as a remedy against violation of unitarity in quantum gravity theory. Projectable and non-projectable low-dimensional HG models and the spectra of their physical degrees of freedom are considered in the linearized approximation on flat spacetime background. The problem of regularity of their propagators depending on the choice of gauge fixing procedure is discussed along with the role of this regularity in UV renormalization. With the choice of a special class of quasi-relativistic gauge conditions perturbative renormalizability of projectable HG models is proven in any spacetime dimension and the status of renormalization in non-projectable models is briefly discussed. We show how the covariance of counterterms is provided within the class of background covariant gauge conditions and show asymptotic freedom of $(2+1)$-dimensional HG. We also present the calculation of beta-functions in $(3+1)$-dimensional theory by the generalized Schwinger-DeWitt technique of universal functional traces and obtain fixed points of its renormalization group flow, some of them being good candidates for asymptotic freedom.

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arXiv2022

Heat kernel expansion for higher order minimal and nonminimal operators

We build a systematic calculational method for the covariant expansion of the two-point heat kernel $\hat K(τ|x,x')$ for generic minimal and non-minimal differential operators of any order. This is the expansion in powers of dimensional background field objects -- the coefficients of the operator and the corresponding spacetime and vector bundle curvatures, suitable in renormalization and effective field theory applications. For minimal operators whose principal symbol is given by an arbitrary power of the covariant Laplacian $(-\Box)^M$, $M>1$, this result generalizes the well-known Schwinger--DeWitt (or Seeley--Gilkey) expansion to the infinite series of positive and negative fractional powers of the proper time $τ^{1/M}$, weighted by the generalized exponential functions of the dimensionless argument $-σ(x,x')/2τ^{1/M}$ depending on the Synge world function $σ(x,x')$. The coefficients of this series are determined by the chain of auxiliary differential operators acting on the two-point parallel transport tensor, which in their turn follow from the solution of special recursive equations. The derivation of these operators and their recursive equations are based on the covariant Fourier transform in curved spacetime. The series of negative fractional powers of $τ$ vanishes in the coincidence limit $x'=x$, which makes the proposed method consistent with the heat kernel theory of Seeley--Gilkey and generalizes it beyond the heat kernel diagonal in the form of the asymptotic expansion in the domain $σ(x,x')\llτ^{1/M}$, $τ\to 0$.$\nabla^aσ(x,x')\llτ^{1/2M}$, $τ\to 0$.

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arXiv2021

Beta functions of (3+1)-dimensional projectable Horava gravity

We derive the full set of beta functions for the marginal essential couplings of projectable Horava gravity in (3 + 1)-dimensional spacetime. To this end we compute the divergent part of the one-loop effective action in static background with arbitrary spatial metric. The computation is done in several steps: reduction of the problem to three dimensions, extraction of an operator square root from the spatial part of the fluctuation operator, and evaluation of its trace using the method of universal functional traces. This provides us with the renormalization of couplings in the potential part of the action which we combine with the results for the kinetic part obtained previously. The calculation uses symbolic computer algebra and is performed in four different gauges yielding identical results for the essential beta functions. We additionally check the calculation by evaluating the effective action on a special background with spherical spatial slices using an alternative method of spectral summation. We conclude with a preliminary discussion of the properties of the beta functions and the resulting renormalization group flow, identifying several candidate asymptotically free fixed points.

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arXiv2020

Parisi-Sourlas-like dimensional reduction of quantum gravity in the presence of observers

One of the sources of incompatibility between general relativity and quantum mechanics is perturbative non-renormalizability of quantum gravity in $3+1$ spacetime dimensions. Here, we show that in the presence of disorder induced by random networks of observers measuring covariant quantities (such as scalar curvature) $(3+1)$-dimensional quantum gravity exhibits an effective dimensional reduction at large spatio-temporal scales, which is analogous to the Parisi-Sourlas phenomenon observed for quantum field theories in random external fields. After averaging over associated disorder and focusing on the infrared dynamics of the theory we find that the upper critical dimension of quantum gravity is lifted from $D_{\rm cr}=1+1$ to $D_{\rm cr}=3+1$ dimensions.

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arXiv2020

Preferred basis, decoherence and a quantum state of the Universe

We review a number of issues in foundations of quantum theory and quantum cosmology including, in particular, the problem of the preferred basis in the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, the relation between this interpretation and the decoherence phenomenon, application of decoherence approach to quantum cosmology, the relation between the many-worlds interpretation and Anthropic Principle along with the notion of quantum-classical duality. We also discuss the concept of fundamentally mixed quantum state of the Universe represented by a special microcanonical density matrix and its dynamical realization in the form of the semiclassically treated path integral over spacetime geometries and quantum matter fields. These issues can be considered as a part of the scientific legacy of H. D. Zeh generously left to us in his two seminal papers published at the beginning of seventies in Foundations of Physics.

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arXiv2019

Towards the renormalization group flow of Horava gravity in $(3+1)$ dimensions

We compute the renormalization group running of the Newton constant and the parameter $λ$ in $(3+1)$-dimensional projectable Horava gravity. We use the background field method expanding around configurations with flat spatial metric, but non-vanishing shift. This allows us to reduce the number of interaction vertices and thereby drastically simplify the calculations. The gauge invariant $β$-function of $λ$ has two families of zeros, attractive in the infrared and ultraviolet respectively. They are candidates for the fixed points of the full renormalization group flow of the theory, once the $β$-functions for the rest of the couplings are added.

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arXiv2018

Structure of Correlated Worldline Theories of Quantum Gravity

We consider the general form of "Correlated Worldline" (CWL) theories of quantum gravity. We show that one can have 2 different kinds of CWL theory, in which the generating functional is written as either a sum or a product over multiple copies of the coupled matter and gravitational fields. In both versions, the paths in a functional formulation are correlated via gravity itself, causing a breakdown of the superposition principle; however, the product form survives consistency tests not satisfied by the summed form. To better understand the structure of these two theories, we show how to perform diagrammatic expansions in the gravitational coupling for each version of CWL theory, using particle propagation and scalar fields as examples. We explicitly calculate contributions to 2-point and 4-point functions, again for each version of the theory, up to 2nd-order in the gravitational coupling.

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arXiv2018

Hořava gravity is asymptotically free (in 2+1 dimensions)

We compute the $β$-functions of marginal couplings in projectable Hořava gravity in $2+1$ spacetime dimensions. We show that the renormalization group flow has an asymptotically-free fixed point in the ultraviolet (UV), establishing the theory as a UV-complete model with dynamical gravitational degrees of freedom. Therefore, this theory may serve as a toy-model to study fundamental aspects of quantum gravity. Our results represent a step forward towards understanding the UV properties of realistic versions of Hořava gravity.

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