arXiv subjects

Pietro Donà

Publications and source records attributed to Pietro Donà.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Matter matters in asymptotically safe quantum gravity

We investigate the compatibility of minimally coupled scalar, fermion and gauge fields with asymptotically safe quantum gravity, using nonperturbative functional Renormalization Group methods. We study d=4,5 and 6 dimensions and within certain approximations find that for a given number of gauge fields there is a maximal number of scalar and fermion degrees of freedom compatible with an interacting fixed point at positive Newton coupling. The bounds impose severe constraints on grand unification with fundamental Higgs scalars. Supersymmetry and universal extra dimensions are also generally disfavored. The standard model and its extensions accommodating right-handed neutrinos, the axion and dark-matter models with a single scalar are compatible with a fixed point.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Closing the Loop: from EPRL-FK spinfoams to Regge dynamics

The EPRL-FK spinfoam model in its semiclassical regime at fixed discretization faces a big limitation: its dominant configurations describe only flat geometries. We ask what additional condition is needed for the variational principle to reproduce the equations of motion of Regge calculus, the standard discretization of General Relativity. We recast the EPRL-FK model in wedge-holonomy variables and identify geometric closure as the missing condition. We prove that imposing geometric closure as an additional constraint alongside local flatness allows us to reconstruct curved geometries. On a regular, nondegenerate Lorentzian branch with spacelike tetrahedra, modulo gauge, they define a constraint surface equivalent to the space of length-Regge geometries. The wedge action restricted to this surface becomes the Regge action, and its tangent variations yield the length-Regge equations. Finally, we propose a way to implement geometric closure directly in the spinfoam amplitude. With this additional constraint, the EPRL-FK model is therefore equivalent to Regge calculus in its semiclassical regime.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2026

Typical entanglement entropy with charge conservation

We consider a many-body Hilbert space with a fixed global charge and show that the typical entanglement entropy of a subsystem, at the leading and subleading order in the thermodynamic limit, can be expressed in terms of a single quantity which represents the local thermal entropy at fixed charge density. We find a general formula which applies both to abelian U(1) symmetry and non-abelian SU(2) symmetry, including the case of a local Hilbert space which transforms under a general reducible representation of the symmetry group. We illustrate the general formula with model systems and discuss the relevance of the results as a probe of quantum chaos for physical Hamiltonians.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Spinfoam tunneling of quantum geometries in angle variables

Tunneling processes offer a promising path for finding signatures of quantum gravity. While tunneling of geometry has long been recognized in the literature, few detailed analyses in covariant Loop Quantum Gravity have been carried out. We investigate spinfoam transitions in the holonomy representation, which naturally encodes the extrinsic curvature of boundary states. To reduce technical complications to a minimum, we study these amplitudes within the simple framework of the Ponzano-Regge spinfoam model for three-dimensional Euclidean quantum gravity. We identify the geometries dominating the spinfoam path integral in the classically forbidden regime when formulated in terms of dihedral angles as boundary data. We characterize these non-classical geometries and show that their contributions to the spinfoam amplitude are exponentially suppressed in the semiclassical limit via analytic continuation of the discrete gravity action. We argue that they satisfy all the desired properties of tunneling processes. We also shed light on quantum black-to-white-hole transitions, in particular clarifying the origin of the exponential suppression of various quantum amplitudes, while at the same time laying the basis for a future complete calculation of the amplitude in covariant Loop Quantum Gravity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Radiative corrections to the Lorentzian EPRL spin foam propagator

We numerically estimate the divergence of several two-vertex diagrams that contribute to the radiative corrections for the Lorentzian EPRL spin foam propagator. We compute the amplitudes as functions of a homogeneous cutoff over the bulk quantum numbers, fixed boundary data, and different Immirzi parameters, and find that for a class of two-vertex diagrams, those with fewer than six internal faces are convergent. The calculations are done with the numerical framework sl2cfoam-next.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

The arrow of time in operational formulations of quantum theory

The operational formulations of quantum theory are drastically time oriented. However, to the best of our knowledge, microscopic physics is time-symmetric. We address this tension by showing that the asymmetry of the operational formulations does not reflect a fundamental time-orientation of physics. Instead, it stems from built-in assumptions about the $users$ of the theory. In particular, these formalisms are designed for predicting the future based on information about the past, and the main mathematical objects contain implicit assumption about the past, but not about the future. The main asymmetry in quantum theory is the difference between knowns and unknowns.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

SU(2) graph invariants, Regge actions and polytopes

We revisit the the large spin asymptotics of 15j symbols in terms of cosines of the 4d Euclidean Regge action, as derived by Barrett and collaborators using a saddle point approximation. We bring it closer to the perspective of area-angle Regge calculus and twisted geometries, and compute explicitly the Hessian and phase offsets. We then extend it to more general SU(2) graph invariants, showing that saddle points still exist and have a similar structure. For graphs dual to 4d polytopes we find again two distinct saddle points leading to a cosine asymptotic formula, however a conformal shape-mismatch is allowed by these configurations, and the asymptotic action is thus a generalisation of the Regge action. The allowed mismatch correspond to angle-matched twisted geometries, 3d polyhedral tessellations with adjacent faces matching areas and 2d angles, but not their diagonals. We study these geometries, identify the relevant subsets corresponding to 3d Regge data and flat polytope data, and discuss the corresponding Regge actions emerging in the asymptotics. Finally, we also provide the first numerical confirmation of the large spin asymptotics of the 15j symbol. We show that the agreement is accurate to the per cent level already at spins of order 10, and the next-to-leading order oscillates with the same frequency and same global phase.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Quantum reduced loop gravity: extension to gauge vector field

Within the framework of Quantum Reduced Loop Gravity we quantize the Hamiltonian for a gauge vector field. The regularization can be performed using tools analogous to the ones adopted in full Loop Quantum Gravity, while the matrix elements of the resulting operator between basis states are analytic coefficients. This analysis is the first step towards deriving the full quantum gravity corrections to the vector field semiclassical dynamics.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Dark Energy and Dark Matter from Yang-Mills Condensate and the Peccei-Quinn mechanism

We analyze a model of cold axion Dark Matter weakly coupled with a dark gluon condensate, reproducing Dark Energy. We first review how to recover the Dark Energy behavior using the functional renormalization group approach, and ground our study on the properties of the effective Lagrangian, to be determined non-perturbatively. Then, within the context of $G_{SM}\times SU(2)_{D}\times U(1)_{PQ}$, we consider YMC interactions with QCD axions. We predict a transfer of Dark Energy density into Dark Matter density in a cosmological time that can be tested in the next generation of experiments dedicated to Dark Energy measures.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Asymptotic safety in an interacting system of gravity and scalar matter

Asymptotic safety is an attractive scenario for the dynamics of quantum spacetime. Here, we work from a phenomenologically motivated point of view and emphasize that a viable dynamics for quantum gravity in our universe must account for the existence of matter. In particular, we explore the scale-dependence of a scalar matter-gravity-vertex, and investigate whether an interacting fixed point exists for the so-defined Newton coupling. We find a viable fixed point in the pure-gravity system, disregarding scalar quantum fluctuations. We explore its extensions to the case with dynamical scalars, and find indications of asymptotic safety in the matter-gravity system. We moreover examine the anomalous dimensions for different components of the metric fluctuations, and find significant differences between the transverse traceless and scalar component.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

Non-Perturbative Yang-Mills Condensate as Dark Energy

Models based on Yang-Mills condensate (YMC) have been advocated in the literature and claimed to be successful candidates to explain dark energy. Several instantiations of this simple idea have been considered, the most promising of which are reviewed here. Nevertheless, results previously attained heavily relied on the perturbative approach to the analysis of the effective Yang-Mills action, which is only adequate in the asymptotically-free limit, and were extended into a regime, the infrared limit, in which confinement is expected. We show that if a minimum of the effective Lagrangian in $θ\!=\! - F_{\, \, μν}^a \, F^{a μν}/2$ exists, a YMC forms that drives the Universe toward an accelerated de Sitter phase. The details of the models depend weakly on the specific form of the effective Yang-Mills Lagrangian. Using non-perturbative techniques mutated from the functional renormalization group procedure, we finally show that the minimum in $θ$ of the effective Lagrangian exists, thus YMC can actually take place. The non-perturbative model has properties similar to the ones of the perturbative model. In the early stage of the universe, the YMC equation of state has an evolution that resembles the radiation component, i.e. $w_y \rightarrow 1/3$. However, in the late stage, $w_y$ naturally runs to the critical state with $w_y =-1$, and the universe transits from matter-dominated into dark energy dominated stage only recently, at a redshift the value of which depends on the initial conditions that are chosen while solving the dynamical system.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

Scattering amplitudes in super-renormalizable gravity

We explicitly compute the tree-level on-shell four-graviton amplitudes in four, five and six dimensions for local and weakly nonlocal gravitational theories that are quadratic in both, the Ricci and scalar curvature with form factors of the d'Alembertian operator inserted between. More specifically we are interested in renormalizable, super-renormalizable or finite theories. The scattering amplitudes for these theories turn out to be the same as the ones of Einstein gravity regardless of the explicit form of the form factors. As a special case the four-graviton scattering amplitudes in Weyl conformal gravity are identically zero. Using a field redefinition, we prove that the outcome is correct for any number of external gravitons (on-shell $n-$point functions) and in any dimension for a large class of theories. However, when an operator quadratic in the Riemann tensor is added in any dimension (with the exception of the Gauss-Bonnet term in four dimensions) the result is completely altered, and the scattering amplitudes depend on all the form factors introduced in the action.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

Functional renormalization with fermions and tetrads

We investigate some aspects of the renormalization group flow of gravity in the presence of fermions, which have remained somewhat puzzling so far. The first is the sign of the fermionic contribution to the running of Newton's constant, which depends on details of the cutoff. We argue that only one of the previously used schemes correctly implements the cutoff on eigenvalues of the Dirac operator, and it acts in the sense of screening Newton's constant. We also show that Kähler fermions give the same contribution to the running of the cosmological and Newton constant as four Dirac spinors. We then calculate the graviton contributions to the beta functions by imposing the cutoffs on the irreducible spin components of the tetrad. In this way we can probe the gauge dependence of the off-shell flow. The results resemble closely those of the metric formalism, except for an increased scheme-- and (off shell) gauge--dependence.

hep-th↗