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PIRSA:22120046

Non-locality in Quantum Gravity

APA

Buoninfante, L. (2022). Non-locality in Quantum Gravity. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. https://pirsa.org/22120046

Luca Buoninfante Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics

Talk numberPIRSA:22120046
Source RepositoryPIRSA
Collection

Abstract

A natural way to extend Einstein's General Relativity to the high-energy regime is to introduce quadratic curvature operators, which give rise to a renormalizable gravitational Lagrangian in four dimensions. However, this theory turns out to be pathological due to an additional massive spin-2 ghost that causes classical instabilities and breaks perturbative unitarity at the quantum level. In this talk, we investigate which principles of QFT are usually affected when higher-order derivative operators are present in a Lagrangian, and show that one possibility to avoid ghosts is giving up locality. In fact, the emergence of non-local physics at short distances and high energies is a common prediction for various quantum gravity approaches. We propose a model-independent approach to constrain the non-local Lagrangian in quantum gravity, thus providing a novel scenario in which different quantum gravity programs can be fruitfully contrasted in terms of foundational concepts and computational methods.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/96167652193?pwd=OWFDV1JXVGxLdE1qMHo4N3ZKcDByQT09