On avoiding Ostrogradski instabilities within Asymptotic Safety

We study the renormalization group flow of gravity coupled to scalar matter using functional renormalization group techniques. The novel feature is the inclusion of higher-derivative terms in the scalar propagator. Such terms give rise to Ostrogradski ghosts which signal an instability of the system and are therefore dangerous for the consistency of the theory. Since it is expected that such terms are generated dynamically by the renormalization group flow they provide a potential threat when constructing a theory of quantum gravity based on Asymptotic Safety. Our work then establishes the following picture: upon incorporating higher-derivative terms in the scalar propagator the flow of the gravity-matter system possesses a fixed point structure suitable for Asymptotic Safety. This structure includes an interacting renormalization group fixed point where the Ostrogradski ghosts acquire an infinite mass and decouple from the system. Tracing the flow towards the infrared it is found that there is a subset of complete renormalization group trajectories which lead to stable renormalized propagators. This subset is in one-to-one correspondence to the complete renormalization group trajectories obtained in computations which do not track of the higher-derivative terms. Thus our asymptotically safe gravity-matter systems are not haunted by Ostrogradski ghosts.Comment: 35 pages, 10 figure

De Sitter scattering amplitudes in the Born approximation

We present a covariant framework to compute scattering amplitudes and potentials in a de Sitter background. In this setting, we compute the potential of a graviton-mediated scattering process involving two very massive scalars at tree level. Although the obtained scattering potential reproduces the Newtonian potential at short distances, on Hubble-size length scales it is affected by the constant curvature: effectively, it yields a repulsive force at sub-Hubble distances. This can be attributed to the expansion of the de Sitter universe. Beyond the de Sitter horizon, the potential vanishes identically. Hence, the scattering amplitude unveils the geometric properties of de Sitter spacetime in a novel and nontrivial way

Quadratic gravity potentials in de Sitter spacetime from Feynman diagrams

We employ a manifestly covariant formalism to compute the tree-level amputated Green's function of non-minimally coupled scalar fields in quadratic gravity in a de Sitter background. We study this Green's function in the adiabatic limit, and construct the classical Newtonian potential. At short distances, the flat-spacetime Yukawa potential is reproduced, while the curvature gives rise to corrections to the potential at large distances. Beyond the Hubble radius, the potential vanishes identically, in agreement with the causal structure of de Sitter spacetime. For sub-Hubble distances, we investigate whether the modifications to the potential reproduce Modified Newtonian Dynamics.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figure

Form Factors in Asymptotic Safety: conceptual ideas and computational toolbox

Over the last years the Asymptotic Safety program has matured into a serious candidate for a quantum theory of gravity compatible with observations. The rapid technical progress in computing renormalisation group flows for gravity and gravity-matter systems in the non-perturbative regime has put many interesting physical questions within reach. In particular, the construction of the non-perturbative quantum corrections to the propagation of fields on a fluctuating spacetime allows addressing the effective propagation of matter on a quantum spacetime or the possible resolution of spacetime singularities based on first principle computations. In this article, we assemble a technical toolbox for carrying out investigations on this promising research frontier. As a specific example we present results for the momentum-dependent two-point function for a scalar field induced by the quantum fluctuations of the underlying geometry in a self-consistent way.Comment: 48 pages, 2 Mathematica notebook

Reflection positivity in higher derivative scalar theories

Reflection positivity constitutes an integral prerequisite in the Osterwalder-Schrader reconstruction theorem which relates quantum field theories defined on Euclidean space to their Lorentzian signature counterparts. In this work we rigorously prove the violation of reflection positivity in a large class of free scalar fields with a rational propagator. This covers in particular higher-derivative theories where the propagator admits a partial fraction decomposition as well as degenerate cases including e.g. p^4 -type propagators.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur

Consistent early and late time cosmology from the RG flow of gravity

We investigate the compatibility of cosmological constraints on inflation and the cosmological constant with the asymptotic safety scenario of quantum gravity. The effective action is taken to be of $f(R)$ form, truncated to second order. The flow generated by the Functional Renormalisation Group Equation is analysed and it is found to allow for trajectories that are compatible with the observational constraints on the parameters of the action, both at early and late cosmological times. In particular, the gravitational effective dynamics generated in the trans-Planckian regime flows to Starobinsky inflation at early times and to standard Einstein Gravity with a cosmological constant at late times. Moreover, the cosmological constant acquires an energy dependence at $10^{-2}$ eV, increasing from its current value of $10^{-66} \,\text{eV}^{2}$ on Hubble scale to a value of $10^{30}\, \text{eV}^{2}$ at inflation scale.Comment: v2 matches the JCAP accepted versio

Graviton-Mediated Scattering Amplitudes from the Quantum Effective Action

We employ the curvature expansion of the quantum effective action for gravity-matter systems to construct graviton-mediated scattering amplitudes for non-minimally coupled scalar fields in a Minkowski background. By design, the formalism parameterises all quantum corrections to these processes and is manifestly gauge-invariant. The conditions resulting from UV-finiteness, unitarity, and causality are analysed in detail and it is shown by explicit construction that the quantum effective action provides sufficient room to meet these structural requirements without introducing non-localities or higher-spin degrees of freedom. Our framework provides a bottom-up approach to all quantum gravity programs seeking for the quantisation of gravity within the framework of quantum field theory. Its scope is illustrated by specific examples, including effective field theory, Stelle gravity, infinite derivative gravity, and Asymptotic Safety

Finite Quantum Gravity Amplitudes -- no strings attached

We study the gravity-mediated scattering of scalar fields based on a parameterisation of the Lorentzian quantum effective action. We demonstrate that the interplay of infinite towers of spin zero and spin two poles at imaginary squared momentum leads to scattering amplitudes that are compatible with unitarity bounds, causal, and scale-free at trans-Planckian energy. Our construction avoids introducing non-localities or the massive higher-spin particles that are characteristic in string theory.Comment: v2: various small improvements/clarifications, version accepted for publicatio