Andrzej Görlich

Nonperturbative quantum gravity

Abstract Asymptotic safety describes a scenario in which general relativity can be quantized as a conventional field theory, despite being nonrenormalizable when expanding it around a fixed background geometry. It is formulated in the framework of the Wilsonian renormalization group and relies crucially on the existence of an ultraviolet fixed point, for which evidence has been found using renormalization group equations in the continuum. “Causal Dynamical Triangulations” (CDT) is a concrete research program to obtain a nonperturbative quantum field theory of gravity via a lattice regularization, and represented as a sum over spacetime histories. In the Wilsonian spirit one can use this formulation to try to locate fixed points of the lattice theory and thereby provide independent, nonperturbative evidence for the existence of a UV fixed point. We describe the formalism of CDT, its phase diagram, possible fixed points and the “quantum geometries” which emerge in the different phases. We also argue that the formalism may be able to describe a more general class of Hořava–Lifshitz gravitational models.

Planckian Birth of a Quantum de Sitter Universe

We show that the quantum universe emerging from a nonperturbative, Lorentzian sum over geometries can be described with a high accuracy by a four-dimensional de Sitter spacetime. By a scaling analysis involving Newtons constant, we establish that the linear size of the quantum universes under study is in between 17 and 28 Planck lengths. Somewhat surprisingly, the measured quantum fluctuations around the de Sitter universe in this regime are to good approximation still describable semiclassically. The numerical evidence presented comes from a regularization of quantum gravity in terms of causal dynamical triangulations.

Nonperturbative quantum de Sitter universe

The dynamical generation of a four-dimensional classical universe from nothing but fundamental quantum excitations at the Planck scale is a long-standing challenge to theoretical physicists. A candidate theory of quantum gravity which achieves this goal without invoking exotic ingredients or excessive fine-tuning is based on the nonperturbative and background-independent technique of causal dynamical triangulations. We demonstrate in detail how in this approach a macroscopic de Sitter universe, accompanied by small quantum fluctuations, emerges from the full gravitational path integral, and how the effective action determining its dynamics can be reconstructed uniquely from Monte Carlo data. We also provide evidence that it may be possible to penetrate to the sub-Planckian regime, where the Planck length is large compared to the lattice spacing of the underlying regularization of geometry.

CDT meets Hořava–Lifshitz gravity

The theory of causal dynamical triangulations (CDT) attempts to define a nonperturbative theory of quantum gravity as a sum over spacetime geometries. One of the ingredients of the CDT framework is a global time foliation, which also plays a central role in the quantum gravity theory recently formulated by Hořava. We show that the phase diagram of CDT bears a striking resemblance with the generic Lifshitz phase diagram appealed to by Hořava. We argue that CDT might provide a unifying nonperturbative framework for anisotropic as well as isotropic theories of quantum gravity.

The semiclassical limit of causal dynamical triangulations

Abstract Previous work has shown that the macroscopic structure of the theory of quantum gravity defined by causal dynamical triangulations (CDT) is compatible with that of a de Sitter universe. After emphasizing the strictly nonperturbative nature of this semiclassical limit we present a detailed study of the three-volume data, which allows us to re-confirm the de Sitter structure, exhibit short-distance discretization effects, and make a first detailed investigation of the presence of higher-order curvature terms in the effective action for the scale factor. Technically, we make use of a novel way of fixing the total four-volume in the simulations.

Geometry of the quantum universe

A quantum universe with the global shape of a (Euclidean) de Sitter spacetime appears as dynamically generated background geometry in the causal dynamical triangulation (CDT) regularisation of quantum gravity. We investigate the micro- and macro-geometry of this universe, using geodesic shell decompositions of spacetime. More specifically, we focus on evidence of fractality and global anisotropy, and on how they depend on the bare coupling constants of the theory.

Renormalization group flow in CDT

We perform a first investigation of the coupling constant flow of the nonperturbative lattice model of four-dimensional quantum gravity given in terms of causal dynamical triangulations (CDT). After explaining how standard concepts of lattice field theory can be adapted to the case of this background-independent theory, we define a notion of ‘lines of constant physics’ in coupling constant space in terms of certain semiclassical properties of the dynamically generated quantum universe. Determining flow lines with the help of Monte Carlo simulations, we find that the second-order phase transition line present in this theory can be interpreted as a UV phase transition line if we allow for an anisotropic scaling of space and time.

Quantum Gravity via Causal Dynamical Triangulations

Causal dynamical triangulations (CDT ) represent a lattice regularization of the sum over spacetime histories, providing us with a nonperturbative formulation of quantum gravity. The ultraviolet fixed points of the lattice theory can be used to define a continuum quantum field theory, potentially making contact with quantum gravity defined via asymptotic safety. We describe the formalism of CDT, its phase diagram, and the quantum geometries emerging from it. We also argue that the formalism should be able to describe a more general class of quantum-gravitational models of Hořava–Lifshitz type.

New multicritical matrix models and multicritical 2d CDT

Abstract We define multicritical CDT models of 2d quantum gravity and show that they are a special case of multicritical generalized CDT models obtained from the new scaling limit, the so-called “classical” scaling limit, of matrix models. The multicritical behavior agrees with the multicritical behavior of the so-called branched polymers.

The transfer matrix in four-dimensional CDT

A bstractThe Causal Dynamical Triangulation model of quantum gravity (CDT) has a transfer matrix, relating spatial geometries at adjacent (discrete lattice) times. The transfer matrix uniquely determines the theory. We show that the measurements of the scale factor of the (CDT) universe are well described by an effective transfer matrix where the matrix elements are labeled only by the scale factor. Using computer simulations we determine the effective transfer matrix elements and show how they relate to an effective minisuperspace action at all scales.