arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Stefan Lippoldt.
We explore asymptotic safety of gravity-matter systems, discovering indications for a near-perturbative nature of these systems in the ultraviolet. Our results are based on the dynamical emergence of effective universality at the asymptotically safe fixed point. Our findings support the conjecture that an asymptotically safe completion of the Standard Model with gravity could be realized in a near-perturbative setting.
We zoom in on the microscopic dynamics for fermions and quantum gravity within the asymptotic-safety paradigm. A key finding of our study is the unavoidable presence of a nonminimal derivative coupling between the curvature and fermion fields in the ultraviolet. Its backreaction on the properties of the Reuter fixed point remains small for finite fermion numbers within a bounded range. This constitutes a nontrivial test of the asymptotic-safety scenario for gravity and fermionic matter, additionally supplemented by our studies of the momentum-dependent vertex flow which indicate the subleading nature of higher-derivative couplings. Moreover our study provides further indications that the critical surface of the Reuter fixed point has a low dimensionality even in the presence of matter.
In the asymptotic-safety scenario for gravity, nonzero interactions are present in the ultraviolet. This property should also percolate into the matter sector. Symmetry- based arguments suggest that nonminimal derivative interactions of scalars with curvature tensors should therefore be present in the ultraviolet regime. We perform a nonminimal test of the viability of the asymptotic-safety scenario by working in a truncation of the Renormalization Group flow, where we discover the existence of an interacting fixed point for a corresponding nonminimal coupling. The back-coupling of such nonminimal interactions could in turn destroy the asymptotically safe fixed point in the gravity sector. As a key finding, we observe nontrivial indications of stability of the fixed-point properties under the impact of nonminimal derivative interactions, further strengthening the case for asymptotic safety in gravity-matter systems.
We construct a new version of the effective average action together with its flow equation. The construction entails in particular the consistency of fluctuation field and background field equations of motion, even for finite renormalization group scales. Here we focus on the quantum gravity application, while the generalization of this idea to gauge theories is obvious. Our approach has immediate impact on the background field approximation, which is the most prominent approximation scheme within the asymptotic safety scenario. We outline the calculation of quantum gravity observables from first principles using the new effective average action.
We investigate gravitational correlation functions in a curved background with the help of nonperturbative renormalization group methods. Beta functions for eleven couplings are derived, two of which correspond to running gauge parameters. A unique ultraviolet fixed point is found, suitable for a UV completion in the sense of Asymptotic Safety. To arrive at a well-behaved flow in a curved background, the regularization must be chosen carefully. We provide two admissible choices to solve this issue in the present approximation. We further demonstrate by an explicit calculation that the Landau limit is a fixed point also for quantum gravity, and additionally show that in this limit, the gauge parameter $β$ does not flow.
We discover that chiral symmetry does not act as an infrared attractor of the renormalization group flow under the impact of quantum gravity fluctuations. Thus, observationally viable quantum gravity models must respect chiral symmetry. In our truncation, asymptotically safe gravity does, as a chiral fixed point exists. A second non-chiral fixed point with massive fermions provides a template for models with dark matter. This fixed point disappears for more than 10 fermions, suggesting that an asymptotically safe ultraviolet completion for the standard model plus gravity enforces chiral symmetry.
Weinberg's asymptotic safety scenario provides an elegant mechanism to construct a quantum theory of gravity within the framework of quantum field theory based on a non-Gaußian fixed point of the renormalization group flow. In this work we report novel evidence for the validity of this scenario, using functional renormalization group techniques to determine the renormalization group flow of the Einstein-Hilbert action supplemented by the two-loop counterterm found by Goroff and Sagnotti. The resulting system of beta functions comprises three scale-dependent coupling constants and exhibits a non-Gaußian fixed point which constitutes the natural extension of the one found at the level of the Einstein-Hilbert action. The fixed point exhibits two ultraviolet attractive and one repulsive direction supporting a low-dimensional UV-critical hypersurface. Our result vanquishes the longstanding criticism that asymptotic safety will not survive once a "proper perturbative counterterm" is included in the projection space.
We critically examine the gauge, and field-parametrization dependence of renormalization group flows in the vicinity of non-Gaußian fixed points in quantum gravity. While physical observables are independent of such calculational specifications, the construction of quantum gravity field theories typically relies on off-shell quantities such as $β$ functions and generating functionals and thus face potential stability issues with regard to such generalized parametrizations. We analyze a two-parameter class of covariant gauge conditions, the role of momentum-dependent field rescalings and a class of field parametrizations. Using the product of Newton and cosmological constant as an indicator, the principle of minimum sensitivity identifies stationary points in this parametrization space which show a remarkable insensitivity to the parametrization. In the most insensitive cases, the quantized gravity system exhibits a non-Gaußian UV stable fixed point, lending further support to asymptotically free quantum gravity. One of the stationary points facilitates an analytical determination of the quantum gravity phase diagram and features ultraviolet and infrared complete RG trajectories with a classical regime.
The concept of spin-base invariance is extended to arbitrary integer dimension $d \geq 2$. Explicit formulas for the spin connection as a function of the Dirac matrices are found. We disclose the hidden spin-base invariance of the vielbein formalism and give a detailed motivation for this symmetry from first principles. The common Lorentz symmetric gauge for the vielbein is constructed for the Dirac matrices, even for metrics which are not linearly connected. Under certain criteria, it constitutes the simplest possible gauge, demonstrating why this gauge is so useful.
The spin-base invariant formalism of Dirac fermions in curved space maintains the essential symmetries of general covariance as well as similarity transformations of the Clifford algebra. We emphasize the advantages of the spin-base invariant formalism both from a conceptual as well as from a practical viewpoint. This suggests that local spin-base invariance should be added to the list of (effective) properties of (quantum) gravity theories. We find support for this viewpoint by the explicit construction of a global realization of the Clifford algebra on a 2-sphere which is impossible in the spin-base non-invariant vielbein formalism.
We study a formulation of Dirac fermions in curved spacetime that respects general coordinate invariance as well as invariance under local spin-base transformations. The natural variables for this formulation are spacetime-dependent Dirac matrices subject to the Clifford-algebra constraint. In particular, a coframe, i.e. vierbein field is not required. The corresponding affine spin connection consists of a canonical part that is completely fixed in terms of the Dirac matrices and a free part that can be interpreted as spin torsion. A general variation of the Dirac matrices naturally induces a spinorial Lie derivative which coincides with the known Kosmann-Lie derivative in the absence of torsion. Using this formulation for building a field theory of quantized gravity and matter fields, we show that it suffices to quantize the metric and the matter fields. This observation is of particular relevance for field theory approaches to quantum gravity, as it can serve for a purely metric-based quantization scheme for gravity even in the presence of fermions.
Catalyzed symmetry breaking arises from a parametric enhancement of critical fluctuations independently of the coupling strength. Symmetry-breaking fermionic long-range fluctuations exhibit such an enhancement on negatively curved spaces, as is known from mean-field studies. We study gravitational catalysis from the viewpoint of the functional renormalization group using the 3d Gross-Neveu model as a specific example. We observe gravitational catalysis towards a phase of broken discrete chiral symmetry both on a maximally symmetric (AdS) and on a purely spatially curved manifold for constant negative curvature (Lobachevsky plane). The resulting picture for gravitational catalysis obtained from the renormalization flow is closely related to that of magnetic catalysis. As an application, we estimate the curvature required for subcritical systems of finite length to acquire a gravitionally catalyzed gap.