arXiv subjects

Astrid Eichhorn

Publications and source records attributed to Astrid Eichhorn.

131 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

arXiv2011

Light fermions in quantum gravity

We study the impact of quantum gravity, formulated as a quantum field theory of the metric, on chiral symmetry in a fermionic matter sector. We specifically address the question as to whether metric fluctuations can induce chiral symmetry breaking and bound state formation. Our results based on the functional Renormalization Group indicate that chiral symmetry is left intact even at strong gravitational coupling. In particular, we find that asymptotically safe quantum gravity where the gravitational couplings approach a non-Gaussian fixed point generically admits universes with light fermions. Our results thus further support quantum gravity theories built on fluctuations of the metric field such as the asymptotic-safety scenario. A study of chiral symmetry breaking through gravitational quantum effects may serve as a significant benchmark test also for other quantum gravity scenarios, since a completely broken chiral symmetry at the Planck scale would not be in accordance with the observation of light fermions in our universe. We demonstrate that this elementary observation already imposes constraints on a generic UV completion of gravity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2011

Gluon condensation and scaling exponents for the propagators in Yang-Mills theory

We investigate the infrared (strong-coupling) regime of SU(N)-Yang-Mills theory on a self-dual background. We present an evaluation of the full effective potential for the field strength invariant F_{μν}F^{μν} from non-perturbative gauge correlation functions and find a non-trivial minimum corresponding to the existence of a dimension four gluon condensate in the vacuum. We also relate the infrared asymptotic form of the beta function of the running background-gauge coupling to the asymptotic behavior of Landau-gauge gluon and ghost propagators. Consistency between both gauges in the infrared imposes a new upper bound on the infrared exponents of the propagators. For the scaling solution, this bound reads kappa_c < 23/38 which, together with Zwanziger's horizon condition kappa_c> 1/2, defines a rather narrow window for this critical exponent. Current estimates from functional methods indeed satisfy these bounds.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2010

On the Nature of the Phase Transition in SU(N), Sp(2) and E(7) Yang-Mills theory

We study the nature of the confinement phase transition in d=3+1 dimensions in various non-abelian gauge theories with the approach put forward in [1]. We compute an order-parameter potential associated with the Polyakov loop from the knowledge of full 2-point correlation functions. For SU(N) with N=3,...,12 and Sp(2) we find a first-order phase transition in agreement with general expectations. Moreover our study suggests that the phase transition in E(7) Yang-Mills theory also is of first order. We find that it is weaker than for SU(N). We show that this can be understood in terms of the eigenvalue distribution of the order parameter potential close to the phase transition.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2010

Ghost anomalous dimension in asymptotically safe quantum gravity

We compute the ghost anomalous dimension within the asymptotic-safety scenario for quantum gravity. For a class of covariant gauge fixings and using a functional RG scheme, the anomalous dimension $η_c$ is negative, implying an improved UV behavior of ghost fluctuations. At the non-Gaussian UV fixed point, we observe a maximum value of $η_c\simeq -0.78$ for the Landau-deWitt gauge within the given scheme and truncation. Most importantly, the backreaction of the ghost flow onto the Einstein-Hilbert sector preserves the non-Gaussian fixed point with only mild modifications of the fixed-point values for the gravitational coupling and cosmological constant and the associated critical exponents; also their gauge dependence is slightly reduced. Our results provide further evidence for the asymptotic-safety scenario of quantum gravity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2009

Asymptotically free scalar curvature-ghost coupling in Quantum Einstein Gravity

We consider the asymptotic-safety scenario for quantum gravity which constructs a non-perturbatively renormalisable quantum gravity theory with the help of the functional renormalisation group. We verify the existence of a non-Gaussian fixed point and include a running curvature-ghost coupling as a first step towards the flow of the ghost sector of the theory. We find that the scalar curvature-ghost coupling is asymptotically free and RG relevant in the ultraviolet. Most importantly, the property of asymptotic safety discovered so far within the Einstein-Hilbert truncation and beyond remains stable under the inclusion of the ghost flow.

hep-th↗