Related papers: Determining the normalization of the quantum field…
This article aims at discussing the cosmological constant problem at a pedagogical but fully technical level. We review how the vacuum energy can be regularized in flat and curved space-time and how it can be understood in terms of Feynman…
Coupling quantum field theory (QFT) \!-\! even free QFT \!-\! to gravity leads to well-known problems. In particular, the stress tensor $T_{\mu\nu}$ (gravity's source) and its correlators typically diverge in the UV, creating a conflict…
The free quantum states of topologically massive electrodynamics and gravity in 2+1 dimensions, are explicitly found. It is shown that in both theories the states are described by infrared-regular polarization tensors containing a…
A fully consistent linear perturbation theory for cosmology is derived in the presence of quantum corrections as they are suggested by properties of inverse volume operators in loop quantum gravity. The underlying constraints present a…
We formally prove the existence of a quantization procedure that makes the path integral of a general diffeomorphism-invariant theory of gravity, with fixed total spacetime volume, equivalent to that of its unimodular version. This is…
To understand better the quantum structure of field theory and standard model in particle physics, it is necessary to investigate carefully the divergence structure in quantum field theories (QFTs) and work out a consistent framework to…
In this paper, we will make an attempt to clarify the relation between three-dimensional euclidean loop quantum gravity with vanishing cosmological constant and quantum field theory in the continuum. We will argue, in particular, that in…
The quantum gravity path integral involves a sum over topologies that invites comparisons to worldsheet string theory and to Feynman diagrams of quantum field theory. However, the latter are naturally associated with the non-abelian algebra…
It is widely believed, and axiomatically postulated in mathematical quantum field theory, that the vacuum is a unique vector state. The recent solution of the quantum Yang-Mills theory of the strong interaction revealed the presence of two…
Gravitation, according to General Relativity, is an attribute of space-time's geometry and hence not a force in the Newtonian sense. This is a consequence of Einstein's equivalence principle, which so far passed all experimental tests with…
We complement Weinberg's no go theorem on the cosmological constant problem in quantum gravity by generalizing it to the case of a scale-invariant theory. Our analysis makes use of the effective action and the BRST symmetry in a manifestly…
The most general version of a renormalizable $d=4$ theory corresponding to a dimensionless higher-derivative scalar field model in curved spacetime is explored. The classical action of the theory contains $12$ independent functions, which…
Theoretical considerations of fundamental physics, as well as certain cosmological observations, persistently point out to permissibility, and maybe necessity, of macroscopic modifications of the Einstein general relativity. The…
Loop quantum gravity methods are applied to a symmetry-reduced model with homogeneity in two dimensions, derived from a Gowdy model [5,6]. The conditions for propagation of unidirectional plane gravitational waves at exactly the speed of…
Any theory of quantum gravity must ultimately be connected to observations. This demand is difficult to be met due to the high energies at which we expect the quantum nature of gravity to become manifest. Here we study, how viable quantum…
A model for quantum gravity in one (time) dimension is discussed, based on Regge's discrete formulation of gravity. The nature of exact continuous lattice diffeomorphisms and the implications for a regularized gravitational measure are…
Quantum scale invariant regularization is a variant of dimensional regularization where the renormalization scale is treated as a dynamical field. But, rather than be regarded as a novel regularization method on par with dimensional…
The theory of quantum gravity, in which tetrads emerge as the bilinear combinations of the fermionic field, suggests that in general relativity the interval $ds$ is dimensionless. Several other approaches to quantum gravity, including the…
In the asymptotic safety paradigm, a quantum field theory reaches a regime with quantum scale invariance in the ultraviolet, which is described by an interacting fixed point of the Renormalization Group. Compelling hints for the viability…
The vacuum of quantum fields contains correlated fluctuations. When restricted to one side of a surface these have a huge entropy of entanglement that scales with the surface area. If UV physics renders this entropy finite, then a…