Grant N. Remmen

Naturalness and the weak gravity conjecture.

The weak gravity conjecture (WGC) is an ultraviolet consistency condition asserting that an Abelian force requires a state of charge q and mass m with q>m/m_{Pl}. We generalize the WGC to product gauge groups and study its tension with the naturalness principle for a charged scalar coupled to gravity. Reconciling naturalness with the WGC either requires a Higgs phase or a low cutoff at Λ∼qm_{Pl}. If neither applies, one can construct simple models that forbid a natural electroweak scale and whose observation would rule out the naturalness principle.

Consistency conditions for an AdS multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz correspondence

The Multi-scale Entanglement Renormalization Ansatz (MERA) is a tensor network that provides an efficient way of variationally estimating the ground state of a critical quantum system. The network geometry resembles a discretization of spatial slices of an AdS spacetime and “geodesics” in the MERA reproduce the Ryu–Takayanagi formula for the entanglement entropy of a boundary region in terms of bulk properties. It has therefore been suggested that there could be an AdS/MERA correspondence, relating states in the Hilbert space of the boundary quantum system to ones defined on the bulk lattice. Here we investigate this proposal and derive necessary conditions for it to apply, using geometric features and entropy inequalities that we expect to hold in the bulk. We show that, perhaps unsurprisingly, the MERA lattice can only describe physics on length scales larger than the AdS radius. Further, using the covariant entropy bound in the bulk, we show that there are no conventional MERA parameters that completely reproduce bulk physics even on super-AdS scales. We suggest modifications or generalizations of this kind of tensor network that may be able to provide a more robust correspondence. ∗ ningbao@theory.caltech.edu, seancarroll@gmail.com, cjcao@caltech.edu, achatwin@caltech.edu, nickrhj@theory.caltech.edu, jpollack@caltech.edu, gremmen@theory.caltech.edu 1 ar X iv :1 50 4. 06 63 2v 1 [ he pth ] 2 4 A pr 2 01 5

Positive signs in massive gravity

A bstractWe derive new constraints on massive gravity from unitarity and analyticity of scattering amplitudes. Our results apply to a general effective theory defined by Einstein gravity plus the leading soft diffeomorphism-breaking corrections. We calculate scattering amplitudes for all combinations of tensor, vector, and scalar polarizations. The high-energy behavior of these amplitudes prescribes a specific choice of couplings that ameliorates the ultraviolet cutoff, in agreement with existing literature. We then derive consistency conditions from analytic dispersion relations, which dictate positivity of certain combinations of parameters appearing in the forward scattering amplitudes. These constraints exclude all but a small island in the parameter space of ghost-free massive gravity. While the theory of the “Galileon” scalar mode alone is known to be inconsistent with positivity constraints, this is remedied in the full massive gravity theory.

Infrared Consistency and the Weak Gravity Conjecture

A bstractThe weak gravity conjecture (WGC) asserts that an Abelian gauge theory coupled to gravity is inconsistent unless it contains a particle of charge q and mass m such that q≥m/mPl. This criterion is obeyed by all known ultraviolet completions and is needed to evade pathologies from stable black hole remnants. In this paper, we explore the WGC from the perspective of low-energy effective field theory. Below the charged particle threshold, the effective action describes a photon and graviton interacting via higher-dimension operators. We derive infrared consistency conditions on the parameters of the effective action using i ) analyticity of light-by-light scattering, ii ) unitarity of the dynamics of an arbitrary ultraviolet completion, and iii ) absence of superluminality and causality violation in certain non-trivial backgrounds. For convenience, we begin our analysis in three spacetime dimensions, where gravity is non-dynamical but has a physical effect on photon-photon interactions. We then consider four dimensions, where propagating gravity substantially complicates all of our arguments, but bounds can still be derived. Operators in the effective action arise from two types of diagrams: those that involve electromagnetic interactions (parameterized by a charge-to-mass ratio q/m) and those that do not (parameterized by a coefficient γ). Infrared consistency implies that q/m is bounded from below for small γ.

Quantum Gravity Constraints from Unitarity and Analyticity

We derive rigorous bounds on corrections to Einstein gravity using unitarity and analyticity of graviton scattering amplitudes. In D≥4 spacetime dimensions, these consistency conditions mandate positive coefficients for certain quartic curvature operators. We systematically enumerate all such positivity bounds in D=4 and D=5 before extending to D≥6. Afterwards, we derive positivity bounds for supersymmetric operators and verify that all of our constraints are satisfied by weakly coupled string theories. Among quadratic curvature operators, we find that the Gauss-Bonnet term in D≥5 is inconsistent unless new degrees of freedom enter at the natural cutoff scale defined by the effective theory. Our bounds apply to perturbative ultraviolet completions of gravity.

Attractor Solutions in Scalar-Field Cosmology

Models of cosmological scalar fields often feature “attractor solutions” to which the system evolves for a wide range of initial conditions. There is some tension between this well-known fact and another well-known fact: Liouville’s theorem forbids true attractor behavior in a Hamiltonian system. In universes with vanishing spatial curvature, the field variables ϕ and ϕ˙ specify the system completely, defining an effective phase space. We investigate whether one can define a unique conserved measure on this effective phase space, showing that it exists for m^2ϕ^2 potentials and deriving conditions for its existence in more general theories. We show that apparent attractors are places where this conserved measure diverges in the ϕ-ϕ˙ variables and suggest a physical understanding of attractor behavior that is compatible with Liouville’s theorem.

How Many

We address the issue of how many e-folds we would naturally expect if inflation occurred at an energy scale of order 10^(16) GeV. We use the canonical measure on trajectories in classical phase space, specialized to the case of flat universes with a single scalar field. While there is no exact analytic expression for the measure, we are able to derive conditions that determine its behavior. For a quadratic potential V(ϕ)=m^2ϕ^2/2 with m=2×10^(13) GeV and cutoff at M_(Pl)=2.4×10^(18) GeV, we find an expectation value of 2×1010 e-folds on the set of FRW trajectories. For cosine inflation V(ϕ)=Λ^4[1−cos(ϕ/f)] with f=1.5×10^(19) GeV, we find that the expected total number of e-folds is 50, which would just satisfy the observed requirements of our own Universe; if f is larger, more than 50 e-folds are generically attained. We conclude that one should expect a large amount of inflation in large-field models and more limited inflation in small-field (hilltop) scenarios.

e

A bstractWe recast the action of pure gravity into a form that is invariant under a twofold Lorentz symmetry. To derive this representation, we construct a general parameterization of all theories equivalent to the Einstein-Hilbert action up to a local field redefinition and gauge fixing. We then exploit this freedom to eliminate all interactions except those exhibiting two sets of independently contracted Lorentz indices. The resulting action is local, remarkably simple, and naturally expressed in a field basis analogous to the exponential parameterization of the nonlinear sigma model. The space of twofold Lorentz invariant field redefinitions then generates an infinite class of equivalent representations. By construction, all off-shell Feynman diagrams are twofold Lorentz invariant while all on-shell tree amplitudes are automatically twofold gauge invariant. We extend our results to curved spacetime and calculate the analogue of the Einstein equations. While these twofold invariances are hidden in the canonical approach of graviton perturbation theory, they are naturally expected given the double copy relations for scattering amplitudes in gauge theory and gravity.

-Folds Should We Expect from High-Scale Inflation?

We study the Gauss-Bonnet (GB) term as the leading higher-curvature correction to pure Einstein gravity. Assuming a tree-level ultraviolet completion free of ghosts or tachyons, we prove that the GB term has a nonnegative coefficient in dimensions greater than 4. Our result follows from unitarity of the spectral representation for a general ultraviolet completion of the GB term.

Twofold symmetries of the pure gravity action

We investigate theories in which gravity arises as a consequence of entropy. We distinguish between two approaches to this idea: holographic gravity, in which Einstein’s equation arises from keeping entropy stationary in equilibrium under variations of the geometry and quantum state of a small region, and thermodynamic gravity, in which Einstein’s equation emerges as a local equation of state from constraints on the area of a dynamical light sheet in a fixed spacetime background. Examining holographic gravity, we argue that its underlying assumptions can be justified in part using recent results on the form of the modular energy in quantum field theory. For thermodynamic gravity, on the other hand, we find that it is difficult to formulate a self-consistent definition of the entropy, which represents an obstacle for this approach. This investigation points the way forward in understanding the connections between gravity and entanglement.