Abstract
We present a candidate quantum field theory of gravity with dynamical critical exponent equal to in the UV. (As in condensed-matter systems, measures the degree of anisotropy between space and time.) This theory, which at short distances describes interacting nonrelativistic gravitons, is power-counting renormalizable in dimensions. When restricted to satisfy the condition of detailed balance, this theory is intimately related to topologically massive gravity in three dimensions, and the geometry of the Cotton tensor. At long distances, this theory flows naturally to the relativistic value , and could therefore serve as a possible candidate for a UV completion of Einstein’s general relativity or an infrared modification thereof. The effective speed of light, the Newton constant and the cosmological constant all emerge from relevant deformations of the deeply nonrelativistic theory at short distances.
- Received 28 January 2009
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.79.084008
©2009 American Physical Society
Synopsis
An approach to a theory of quantum gravity
Published 20 April 2009
Finding a quantum theory of gravity remains one of the great unsolved problems in modern physics. Two papers present a quantum gravity theory that, while making different assumptions than general relativity, still reproduces Einstein’s theory in certain limits.
See more in Physics