We demonstrate in two minisuperspace models that a perturbation expansion of quasiclassical Euclidean gravity has a factorial dependence on the order of the term at large orders. This behavior indicates that the expansion is an asymptotic series which is suggestive of an effective field theory. The series may or may not be Borel summable depending on the classical solution expanded around. We assume that only the positive action classical solution contributes to path integrals. We close with some speculative discussion on possible implications of the asymptotic nature of the expansion.
We present a higher order generalisation of the clockwork mechanism starting from an underlying non-linear multigravity theory with a single scale and nearest neighbour ghost-free interactions. Without introducing any hierarchies in the underlying potential, this admits a family of Minkowski vacua around which massless graviton fluctuations couple to matter exponentially more weakly than the heavy modes. Although multi-diffeomorphisms are broken to the diagonal subgroup in our theory, an asymmetric distribution of conformal factors in the background vacua translates this diagonal symmetry into an asymmetric shift of the graviton gears. In particular we present a TeV scale multigravity model with ${cal O}(10)$ sites that contains a massless mode whose coupling to matter is Planckian, and a tower of massive modes starting at a TeV mass range and with TeV strength couplings. This suggests a possible application to the hierarchy problem as well as a candidate for dark matter.
Using the action for the instanton representation of Plebanski gravity (IRPG), we construct minisuperspace solutions restricted to diagonal variables. We have treated the Euclidean signature case with zero cosmological constant, depicting a gravitational analogy to free particle motion. This paper provides a testing ground for the IRPG for a simple case, which will be extended to the full theory in future work.
We review the holographic correspondence between field theories and string/M theory, focusing on the relation between compactifications of string/M theory on Anti-de Sitter spaces and conformal field theories. We review the background for this correspondence and discuss its motivations and the evidence for its correctness. We describe the main results that have been derived from the correspondence in the regime that the field theory is approximated by classical or semiclassical gravity. We focus on the case of the N=4 supersymmetric gauge theory in four dimensions, but we discuss also field theories in other dimensions, conformal and non-conformal, with or without supersymmetry, and in particular the relation to QCD. We also discuss some implications for black hole physics.
We consider a class of higher order corrections with arbitrary power $n$ of the curvature tensor to the standard gravity action in arbitrary space-time dimension $D$. The corrections are in the form of Euler densities and are unique at each $n$ and $D$. We present a generating functional and an explicit form of the corresponding conserved energy-momentum tensors. The case of conformally flat metrics is discussed in detail. We show that this class of corrections allows for domain wall solutions since, despite the presence of higher powers of the curvature tensor, the singularity structure at the wall is of the same type as in the standard gravity. However, models with higher order corrections have larger set of domain wall solutions and the existence of these solutions no longer depends on the presence of cosmological constants. We find for example that the Randall-Sundrum scenario can be realized without any need for bulk and/or brane cosmological constant.
We study scalar, fermionic and gauge fields coupled nonminimally to gravity in the Einstein-Cartan formulation. We construct a wide class of models with nondynamical torsion whose gravitational spectra comprise only the massless graviton. Eliminating non-propagating degrees of freedom, we derive an equivalent theory in the metric formulation of gravity. It features contact interactions of a certain form between and among the matter and gauge currents. We also discuss briefly the inclusion of curvature-squared terms.