Related papers: Spectral Dimension of the Universe
We provide detailed evidence for the claim that nonperturbative quantum gravity, defined through state sums of causal triangulated geometries, possesses a large-scale limit in which the dimension of spacetime is four and the dynamics of the…
Hints from a number of different approaches to quantum gravity point to a phenomenon of "spontaneous dimensional reduction" to two spacetime dimensions near the Planck scale. I examine the physical meaning of the term "dimension" in this…
If gravity is asymptotically safe, operators will exhibit anomalous scaling at the ultraviolet fixed point in a way that makes the theory effectively two-dimensional. A number of independent lines of evidence, based on different approaches…
We reinterpret the spectral dimension of spacetimes as the scaling of an effective self-energy transition amplitude in quantum field theory (QFT), when the system is probed at a given resolution. This picture has four main advantages: (a)…
We evaluate the spectral dimension in causal set quantum gravity by simulating random walks on causal sets. In contrast to other approaches to quantum gravity, we find an increasing spectral dimension at small scales. This observation can…
We extend the definition of "spectral dimension" (usually defined for fractal and lattice geometries) to theories on smooth spacetimes with anisotropic scaling. We show that in quantum gravity dominated by a Lifshitz point with dynamical…
In this paper, we calculate in a transparent way the spectral dimension of a quantum spacetime, considering a diffusion process propagating on a fluctuating manifold. To describe the erratic path of the diffusion, we implement a minimal…
The seemingly universal phenomenon of scale-dependent effective dimensions in non-perturbative theories of quantum gravity has been shown to be a potential source of quantum gravity phenomenology. The scale-dependent effective dimension…
One could begin a study like the present one by simply postulating that our universe is four-dimensional. There are ample reasons for doing this. Experience, observation and experiment all point to the fact that we inhabit a…
A number of very different approaches to quantum gravity contain a common thread, a hint that spacetime at very short distances becomes effectively two dimensional. I review this evidence, starting with a discussion of the physical meaning…
We study the diffusion equation in two-dimensional quantum gravity, and show that the spectral dimension is two despite the fact that the intrinsic Hausdorff dimension of the ensemble of two-dimensional geometries is very different from…
Several lines of evidence suggest that quantum gravity at very short distances may behave effectively as a two-dimensional theory. I summarize these hints, and offer an additional argument based on the strong-coupling limit of the…
Different approaches to quantum gravity generally predict that the dimension of spacetime at the fundamental level is not 4. The principal tool to measure how the dimension changes between the IR and UV scales of the theory is the spectral…
Several approaches to quantum gravity suggest that the standard description of spacetime as probed at low-energy, with four dimensions, is replaced in the Planckian regime by a spacetime with a spectral dimension of two. The implications…
We present a new model of quantum gravity as a theory of random geometries given explicitly in terms of a multitrace matrix model. This is a generalization of the usual discretized random surfaces of 2D quantum gravity which works away from…
Causal Dynamical Triangulations in four dimensions provide a background-independent definition of the sum over geometries in nonperturbative quantum gravity, with a positive cosmological constant. We present evidence that a macroscopic…
Despite their diversity, many of the most prominent candidate theories of quantum gravity share the property to be effectively lower-dimensional at small scales. In particular, dimension two plays a fundamental role in the finiteness of…
The method of four-dimensional Causal Dynamical Triangulations provides a background-independent definition of the sum over geometries in quantum gravity, in the presence of a positive cosmological constant. We present the evidence…
The spectral dimension measures the dimensionality of a space as witnessed by a diffusing random walker. Within the causal dynamical triangulations approach to the quantization of gravity, the spectral dimension exhibits novel…
The spectral dimension is an indicator of geometry and topology of spacetime and a tool to compare the description of quantum geometry in various approaches to quantum gravity. This is possible because it can be defined not only on smooth…