Ultraviolet properties of f(R)-Gravity

We discuss the existence and properties of a nontrivial fixed point in f(R)-gravity, where f is a polynomial of order up to six. Within this seven-parameter class of theories, the fixed point has three ultraviolet-attractive and four ultraviolet-repulsive directions; this brings further support to the hypothesis that gravity is nonperturbatively renormalizabile.Comment: 4 page

The Running Gravitational Couplings

We compute the running of the cosmological constant and Newton's constant taking into account the effect of quantum fields with any spin between 0 and 2. We find that Newton's constant does not vary appreciably but the cosmological constant can change by many orders of magnitude when one goes from cosmological scales to typical elementary particle scales. In the extreme infrared, zero modes drive the cosmological constant to zero.Comment: 19 pages, TeX file, revised and expanded, some misprints correcte

Deformed Special Relativity from Asymptotically Safe Gravity

By studying the notion of a fundamentally minimal length scale in asymptotically safe gravity we find that a specific version of deformed special relativity (DSR) naturally arises in this approach. We then consider two thought experiments to examine the interpretation of the scenario and discuss similarities and differences to other approaches to DSR.Comment: replaced with published versio

Further Evidence for a Gravitational Fixed Point

A theory of gravity with a generic action functional and minimally coupled to N matter fields has a nontrivial fixed point in the leading large N approximation. At this fixed point, the cosmological constant and Newton's constant are nonzero and UV relevant; the curvature squared terms are asymptotically free with marginal behaviour; all higher order terms are irrelevant and can be set to zero by a suitable choice of cutoff function.Comment: LaTEX, 4 pages. Relative to the published paper, a sign has been corrected in equations (17) and (18

On the Ultraviolet Behaviour of Newton's constant

We clarify a point concerning the ultraviolet behaviour of the Quantum Field Theory of gravity, under the assumption of the existence of an ultraviolet Fixed Point. We explain why Newton's constant should to scale like the inverse of the square of the cutoff, even though it is technically inessential. As a consequence of this behaviour, the existence of an UV Fixed Point would seem to imply that gravity has a built-in UV cutoff when described in Planck units, but not necessarily in other units.Comment: 8 pages; CQG class; minor changes and rearrangement

The Renormalization Group, Systems of Units and the Hierarchy Problem

In the context of the Renormalization Group (RG) for gravity I discuss the role of field rescalings and their relation to choices of units. I concentrate on a simple Higgs model coupled to gravity, where natural choices of units can be based on Newton's constant or on the Higgs mass. These quantities are not invariant under the RG, and the ratio between the units is scale-dependent. In the toy model, strong RG running occurs in the intermediate regime between the Higgs and the Planck scale, reproducing the results of the Randall-Sundrum I model. Possible connections with the problem of the mass hierarchy are pointed out.Comment: Plain TEX, 16 pages. Some revisions, some references adde

Non-Perturbative Quantum Field Theory

This book presents in a systematic fashion a number of quantum field theoretic phenomena that have a topological underpinning. The systematics is provided by the homotopy groups of the configuration space: solitons and instantons are related to the zeroth and first homotopy groups respectively, and quantized parameters to the second. The close relation of some of these notions to anomalies is also discussed. These concepts have many applications, from particle physics to statistical and condensed matter physics. The focus is mainly on the former, but some particularly instructive examples of the latter are also described

Dynamical diffeomorphisms

We construct a general effective dynamics for diffeomorphisms of spacetime, in a fixed external metric. Though related to familiar models of scalar fields as coordinates, our models have subtly different properties, both at kinematical and dynamical level. The energy-momentum tensor consists of two independently conserved parts. The background solution is the identity diffeomorphism and the energy-momentum tensor of this solution gives rise to an effective cosmological constant

One Loop Beta Functions in Topologically Massive Gravity

We calculate the running of the three coupling constants in cosmological, topologically massive 3d gravity. We find that \nu, the dimensionless coefficient of the Chern-Simons term, has vanishing beta function. The flow of the cosmological constant and Newton's constant depends on \nu, and for any positive \nu there exist both a trivial and a nontrivial fixed point.Comment: 44 pages, 16 figure

Some simple theories of gravity with propagating nonmetricity

We investigate symmetric Metric-Affine Theories of Gravity with a Lagrangian containing all operators of dimension up to four that are relevant to free propagation in flat space. Complementing recent work in the antisymmetric case, we derive the conditions for the existence of a single massive particle with good properties, in addition to the graviton.Comment: 20 page