arXiv subjects

Gianluca Calcagni

Publications and source records attributed to Gianluca Calcagni.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Effective potential in non-perturbative gauge theories

We consider a formalism to describe the false-vacuum decay of a scalar field in gauge theories in non-perturbative regimes. We find that the larger the gauge coupling with respect to the self-coupling of the scalar, the shallower the local minimum of the unstable vacuum, to the point where it disappears. This offers the possibility to obtain a consistent picture of early universe cosmology: at high temperatures, a false-vacuum decay is strongly favoured and the universe naturally evolves towards a stable state.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

LISA Definition Study Report

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is the first scientific endeavour to detect and study gravitational waves from space. LISA will survey the sky for Gravitational Waves in the 0.1 mHz to 1 Hz frequency band which will enable the study of a vast number of objects ranging from Galactic binaries and stellar mass black holes in the Milky Way, to distant massive black-hole mergers and the expansion of the Universe. This definition study report, or Red Book, presents a summary of the very large body of work that has been undertaken on the LISA mission over the LISA definition phase.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Log-periodic gravitational-wave background beyond Einstein gravity

Periodic patterns of logarithmic oscillations can arise in primordial curvature perturbation spectra and in the associated gravitational-wave background via different mechanisms. We show that, in the presence of log oscillations, the spectral shape of the stochastic background has a unique parametrization independent of its physical origin. We also show that this log-periodic modulation can be generated in any scenario beyond Einstein gravity endowed with an approximate discrete scale invariance, a symmetry typical of deterministic fractal spacetimes that could emerge in quantum gravity under certain conditions. We discuss how a log-oscillatory spectral shape arises from concrete inflationary models beyond Einstein gravity and the prospects for detection in Einstein Telescope and other next-generation gravitational-wave observatories. We find that these instruments will be sensitive to log-periodic features if the detection is made with a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and that the error scales as $1/{\rm SNR}$.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Ultraviolet-complete quantum field theories with fractional operators

We explore quantum field theories with fractional d'Alembertian $\Box^γ$. Both a scalar field theory with a derivative-dependent potential and gauge theory are super-renormalizable for a fractional power $1<γ\leq 2$, one-loop super-renormalizable for $γ>2$ and finite if one introduces killer operators. Unitarity is achieved by splitting the kinetic term into the product of massive fractional operators, eventually sending the masses to zero if so desired. Fractional quantum gravity is also discussed and found to be super-renormalizable for $2<γ\leq 4$ and one-loop super-renormalizable for $γ>4$. To make it unitary, we combine the splitting procedure with a fractional generalization of the Anselmi-Piva procedure for fakeons. Among new technical results with wider applications, we highlight the Leibniz rule for arbitrary powers of the d'Alembertian and the Källén-Lehmann representation for a propagator with an arbitrary number of branch cuts.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Renormalizability of nonlocal quantum gravity coupled to matter

We extensively study the ultraviolet quantum properties of a nonlocal action for gravity nonminimally coupled to matter. The theory unifies matter and gravity in an action principle such that all the classical solutions of Einstein's theory coupled to matter are also solutions of the nonlocal theory. At the quantum level, we show that the theory is power-counting super-renormalizable in even dimensions and finite in odd dimensions. A simple extension of the model compatible with the above properties is finite also in even dimensions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Modified Gravity and Cosmology: An Update by the CANTATA Network

General Relativity and the $Λ$CDM framework are currently the standard lore and constitute the concordance paradigm. Nevertheless, long-standing open theoretical issues, as well as possible new observational ones arising from the explosive development of cosmology the last two decades, offer the motivation and lead a large amount of research to be devoted in constructing various extensions and modifications. All extended theories and scenarios are first examined under the light of theoretical consistency, and then are applied to various geometrical backgrounds, such as the cosmological and the spherical symmetric ones. Their predictions at both the background and perturbation levels, and concerning cosmology at early, intermediate and late times, are then confronted with the huge amount of observational data that astrophysics and cosmology are able to offer recently. Theories, scenarios and models that successfully and efficiently pass the above steps are classified as viable and are candidates for the description of Nature. This work is a Review of the recent developments in the fields of gravity and cosmology, presenting the state of the art, high-lighting the open problems, and outlining the directions of future research. Its realization was performed in the framework of the COST European Action ``Cosmology and Astrophysics Network for Theoretical Advances and Training Actions''.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Quantum field theory with ghost pairs

We explicitly show that general local higher-derivative theories with only complex conjugate ghosts and normal real particles are unitary at any perturbative order in the loop expansion. The proof presented here relies on integrating the loop energies on complex paths resulting from the deformation of the purely imaginary paths, when the external energies are continued from imaginary to real values. Contrary to the case of nonlocal theories, where the same integration path was first proposed, for the classes of theories studied here the same procedure is not analytic, but the resulting theory is unitary and unique when the complex ghosts are present in pairs. As an explicit application, a special class of higher-derivative super-renormalizable or finite gravitational and gauge theories turns out to be unitary at any perturbative order if we exclude the complex ghosts from the spectrum of the theory, as it is normally accepted for Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) ghosts. Finally, we propose an analogy between confined gluons in quantum Yang-Mills theory and classical complex pairs in local higher-derivative theories. According to such interpretation, complex ghosts will not appear on shell as asymptotic states because confined in what is natural to name "ghostballs."

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Classical and quantum nonlocal gravity

This chapter of the Handbook of Quantum Gravity aims to illustrate how nonlocality can be implemented in field theories, as well as the manner it solves fundamental difficulties of gravitational theories. We review Stelle's quadratic gravity, which achieves multiplicative renormalizability successfully to remove quantum divergences by modifying the Einstein's action but at the price of breaking the unitarity of the theory and introducing Ostrogradski's ghosts. Utilizing nonlocal operators, one is able not only to make the theory renormalizable, but also to get rid of these ghost modes that arise from higher derivatives. We start this analysis by reviewing the classical scalar field theory and highlighting how to deal with this new kind of nonlocal operators. Subsequently, we generalize these results to classical nonlocal gravity and, via the equations of motion, we derive significant results about the stable vacuum solutions of the theory. Furthermore, we discuss the way nonlocality could potentially solve the singularity problem of Einstein's gravity. In the final part, we examine how nonlocality induced by exponential and asymptotically polynomial form factors preserves unitarity and improves the renormalizability of the theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Lectures on classical and quantum cosmology

These lecture notes introduce the reader to the hot big bang model, cosmological perturbations, gravitational waves, the cosmic microwave background, inflation, the singularity problem, the cosmological constant problem and the cosmology of quantum gravity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Gravitational potential and galaxy rotation curves in multi-fractional spacetimes

Multi-fractional theories with integer-order derivatives are models of gravitational and matter fields living in spacetimes with variable Hausdorff and spectral dimension, originally proposed as descriptions of geometries arising in quantum gravity. We derive the Poisson equation and the Newtonian potential of these theories starting from their covariant modified Einstein's equations. In particular, in the case of the theory $T_v$ with weighted derivatives with small fractional corrections, we find a gravitational potential that grows logarithmically at large radii when the fractional exponent takes the special value $α=4/3$. This behaviour is associated with a restoration law for the Hausdorff dimension of spacetime independently found in the dark-energy sector of the same theory. As an application, we check whether this potential can serve as an alternative to dark matter for the galaxies NGC7814, NGC6503 and NGC3741 in the SPARC catalogue. We show that their rotation curves at medium-to-large radii can indeed be explained by purely geometric effects, although the Tully--Fisher relation is not reproduced well. We discuss how to fix the small-radius behaviour by lifting some approximations and how to test the model with other observables and an enlarged galaxy sample.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Measuring the propagation speed of gravitational waves with LISA

The propagation speed of gravitational waves, $c_T$, has been tightly constrained by the binary neutron star merger GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart, under the assumption of a frequency-independent $c_T$. Drawing upon arguments from Effective Field Theory and quantum gravity, we discuss the possibility that modifications of General Relativity allow for transient deviations of $c_T$ from the speed of light at frequencies well below the band of current ground-based detectors. We motivate two representative Ansätze for $c_T(f)$, and study their impact upon the gravitational waveforms of massive black hole binary mergers detectable by the LISA mission. We forecast the constraints on $c_T(f)$ obtainable from individual systems and a population of sources, from both inspiral and a full inspiral-merger-ringdown waveform. We show that LISA will enable us to place stringent independent bounds on departures from General Relativity in unexplored low-frequency regimes, even in the absence of an electromagnetic counterpart.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

New Horizons for Fundamental Physics with LISA

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) has the potential to reveal wonders about the fundamental theory of nature at play in the extreme gravity regime, where the gravitational interaction is both strong and dynamical. In this white paper, the Fundamental Physics Working Group of the LISA Consortium summarizes the current topics in fundamental physics where LISA observations of GWs can be expected to provide key input. We provide the briefest of reviews to then delineate avenues for future research directions and to discuss connections between this working group, other working groups and the consortium work package teams. These connections must be developed for LISA to live up to its science potential in these areas.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Cosmology with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) has two scientific objectives of cosmological focus: to probe the expansion rate of the universe, and to understand stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds and their implications for early universe and particle physics, from the MeV to the Planck scale. However, the range of potential cosmological applications of gravitational wave observations extends well beyond these two objectives. This publication presents a summary of the state of the art in LISA cosmology, theory and methods, and identifies new opportunities to use gravitational wave observations by LISA to probe the universe.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Tree-level scattering amplitudes in nonlocal field theories

We prove in two ways that, for a special class of nonlocal field theories consistent with linear and non-linear stability at the classical level, and with unitarity and super-renormalizability or finiteness at the quantum level, the $n$-point tree-level scattering amplitudes are the same as those of the underlying local theory. In particular, the $n$-point amplitudes of nonlocal gravity, with or without coupling to matter, are the same as for Einstein's general relativity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Quantum gravity and gravitational-wave astronomy

We review the present status of quantum-gravity phenomenology in relation to gravitational waves (GWs). The topic can be approached from two direction, a model-dependent one and a model-independent one. In the first case, we introduce some among the most prominent cosmological models embedded in theories of quantum gravity, while in the second case we point out certain common features one finds in quantum gravity. Three cosmological GW observables can be affected by perturbative as well as non-perturbative quantum-gravity effects: the stochastic GW background, the propagation speed of GWs and the luminosity distance of GW sources. While many quantum-gravity models do not give rise to any observable signal, some predict a blue-tilted stochastic background or a modified luminosity distance, both detectable by future GW interferometers. We conclude that it is difficult, but still possible, to test quantum gravity with GW observations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Quantum scalar field theories with fractional operators

We study a class of perturbative scalar quantum field theories where dynamics is characterized by Lorentz-invariant or Lorentz-breaking non-local operators of fractional order and the underlying spacetime has a varying spectral dimension. These theories are either ghost free or power-counting renormalizable but they cannot be both at the same time. However, some of them are one-loop unitary and finite, and possibly unitary and finite at all orders.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Classical and quantum gravity with fractional operators

Following the same steps made for a scalar field in a parallel publication, we propose a class of perturbative theories of quantum gravity based on fractional operators, where the kinetic operator of the graviton is either made of fractional derivatives or a covariant fractional d'Alembertian. The classical action for each theory is constructed and the equations of motion are derived. Unitarity and renormalizability of theories with a fractional d'Alembertian are also considered. We argue that unitarity and power-counting renormalizability never coexist, although in some cases one-loop unitary and finiteness are possible. One of the theories is unitary and infrared-finite and can serve as a ghost-free model with large-scale modifications of general relativity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Multifractional theories: an updated review

The status of multifractional theories is reviewed using comparative tables. Theoretical foundations, classical matter and gravity dynamics, cosmology and experimental constraints are summarized and the application of the multifractional paradigm to quantum gravity is discussed. We also clarify the issue of unitarity in theories with integer-order derivatives.

hep-th↗