We present an overview of the phenomenological implications of the theory of resummed quantum gravity. We discuss its prediction for the cosmological constant in the context of the Planck scale cosmology of Bonanno and Reuter, its relationship to Weinbergs asymptotic safety idea, and its relationship to Weinbergs soft graviton resummation theorem. We also discuss constraints and consistency checks of the theory.
In this paper we use the AdS/CFT correspondence to refine and then establish a set of old conjectures about symmetries in quantum gravity. We first show that any global symmetry, discrete or continuous, in a bulk quantum gravity theory with a CFT dual would lead to an inconsistency in that CFT, and thus that there are no bulk global symmetries in AdS/CFT. We then argue that any long-range bulk gauge symmetry leads to a global symmetry in the boundary CFT, whose consistency requires the existence of bulk dynamical objects which transform in all finite-dimensional irreducible representations of the bulk gauge group. We mostly assume that all internal symmetry groups are compact, but we also give a general condition on CFTs, which we expect to be true quite broadly, which implies this. We extend all of these results to the case of higher-form symmetries. Finally we extend a recently proposed new motivation for the weak gravity conjecture to more general gauge groups, reproducing the convex hull condition of Cheung and Remmen. An essential point, which we dwell on at length, is precisely defining what we mean by gauge and global symmetries in the bulk and boundary. Quantum field theory results we meet while assembling the necessary tools include continuous global symmetries without Noether currents, new perspectives on spontaneous symmetry-breaking and t Hooft anomalies, a new order parameter for confinement which works in the presence of fundamental quarks, a Hamiltonian lattice formulation of gauge theories with arbitrary discrete gauge groups, an extension of the Coleman-Mandula theorem to discrete symmetries, and an improved explanation of the decay $pi^0togamma gamma$ in the standard model of particle physics. We also describe new black hole solutions of the Einstein equation in $d+1$ dimensions with horizon topology $mathbb{T}^ptimes mathbb{S}^{d-p-1}$.
There are many theories of quantum gravity, depending on asymptotic boundary conditions, and the amount of supersymmetry. The cosmological constant is one of the fundamental parameters that characterize different theories. If it is positive, supersymmetry must be broken. A heuristic calculation shows that a cosmological constant of the observed size predicts superpartners in the TeV range. This mechanism for SUSY breaking also puts important constraints on low energy particle physics models. This essay was submitted to the Gravity Research Foundation Competition and is based on a longer article, which will be submitted in the near future.
Causality in quantum field theory is defined by the vanishing of field commutators for space-like separations. However, this does not imply a direction for causal effects. Hidden in our conventions for quantization is a connection to the definition of an arrow of causality, i.e. what is the past and what is the future. If we mix quantization conventions within the same theory, we get a violation of microcausality. In such a theory with mixed conventions the dominant definition of the arrow of causality is determined by the stable states. In some quantum gravity theories, such as quadratic gravity and possibly asymptotic safety, such a mixed causality condition occurs. We discuss some of the implications.
Discussion of physical realization of coordinates demonstrates that the quantum theory of gravity (still absent) should be non-local and, probably, non-commutative as well.
We discuss a variation of quadratic gravity in which the gravitational interaction remains weakly coupled at all energies, but is assisted by a Yang-Mills gauge theory which becomes strong at the Planck scale. The Yang-Mills interaction is used to induce the usual Einstein-Hilbert term, which was taken to be small or absent in the original action. We study the spin-two propagator in detail, with a focus on the high mass resonance which is shifted off the real axis by the coupling to real decay channels. We calculate scattering in the $J=2$ partial wave and show explicitly that unitarity is satisfied. The theory will in general have a large cosmological constant and we study possible solutions to this, including a unimodular version of the theory. Overall, the theory satisfies our present tests for being a ultraviolet completion of quantum gravity.