Related papers: Signs and Stability in Higher-Derivative Gravity
We use functional renormalization group methods to study gravity minimally coupled to a free scalar field. This setup provides the prototype of a gravitational theory which is perturbatively non-renormalizable at one-loop level, but may…
We establish the functional Renormalization Group as an exploratory tool to investigate a possible phase transition between a pre-geometric discrete phase and a geometric continuum phase in quantum gravity. In this paper, based on the…
It is shown that polynomial gravity theories with more than four derivatives in each scalar and tensor sectors have a regular weak-field limit, without curvature singularities. This is achieved by proving that in these models the effect of…
We summarize recent evidence supporting the conjecture that four-dimensional Quantum Einstein Gravity (QEG) is nonperturbatively renormalizable along the lines of Weinberg's asymptotic safety scenario. This would mean that QEG is…
We discuss exact renormalization group (RG) in $R^2$-gravity using effective average action formalism. The truncated evolution equation for such a theory on De Sitter background leads to the system of nonperturbative RG equations for…
A new exact renormalization group equation for the effective average action of Euclidean quantum gravity is constructed. It is formulated in terms of the component fields appearing in the transverse-traceless decomposition of the metric. It…
In this paper we introduce a perturbatively super-renormalizable and unitary theory of quantum gravity in any dimension D. The theory presents two entire functions, a.k.a. "form factors", and a finite number of local operators required by…
We study the degrees of freedom of the metric in a general class of higher derivative gravity models, which are interesting in the context of quantum gravity as they are (super)renormalizable. First, we linearize the theory for a flat…
Hyperuniformity, where the static structure factor obeys $S(q)\sim q^{\varsigma}$ with $\varsigma> 0$, emerges at criticality in systems having multiple, symmetry-unrelated, absorbing states. Important examples arise in periodically sheared…
I study some aspects of the renormalization of quantum field theories with infinitely many couplings in arbitrary space-time dimensions. I prove that when the space-time manifold admits a metric of constant curvature the propagator is not…
We study the viability conditions for the absence of ghost, gradient and tachyonic instabilities, in scalar-torsion $f(T,\phi)$ gravity theories in the presence of a general barotropic perfect fluid. To describe the matter sector, we use…
Unitarity of scale-invariant coupled theory of higher-derivative gravity and matter is investigated. A scalar field coupled with dirac fermion is taken as matter sector.Following the idea of induced gravity Einstein-Hilbert term is…
We discuss general bosonic configurations of four-dimensional N=2 supergravity coupled to vector multiplets in (t,s) space-time. The supergravity theories with Euclidean and neutral signature are described by the so-called para-special…
We discuss exactly solvable systems involving integrals of motion with higher powers of momenta. If one of these integrals is chosen for the Hamiltonian, we obtain a higher-derivative system involving ghosts, i.e. a system whose Hamiltonian…
The gradient flow in non-abelian gauge theories on R^4 is defined by a local diffusion equation that evolves the gauge field as a function of the flow time in a gauge-covariant manner. Similarly to the case of the Langevin equation, the…
We set up a consistent background field formalism for studying the renormalization group (RG) flow of gravity coupled to $N_f$ Dirac fermions on maximally symmetric backgrounds. Based on Wetterich's equation we perform a detailed study of…
Motivated by Weinberg's asymptotic safety scenario, we investigate the gravitational renormalization group flow in the Einstein-Hilbert truncation supplemented by the wave-function renormalization of the ghost fields. The latter induces…
Interacting theories with higher derivatives involve ghosts. They correspond to instabilities that display themselves at the classical level. We notice that comparatively "benign" mechanical higher-derivative systems exist where the…
We introduce new techniques that can preserve unitarity of the system including ghost particles. Negative norms of the particles can be involved in zero-norm states by constraints of the physical space. These are useful to apply the…
In this paper, we investigate three important issues: stability, ghost and strong coupling, in the Horava-Melby-Thompson setup of the Horava-Lifshitz theory with $\lambda \not= 1$, generalized recently by da Silva. We first develop the…