Renormalization group effects in the conformal sector of 4d quantom gravity with matter

We discuss the ``gravitationally dressed'' beta functions in the Gross--Neveu model interacting with 2d Liouville theory and in $SU(N)$ gauge theory interacting with the conformal sector of 4d quantum gravity. Among the effects that we suggest may feel the gravitational dressing are the minimum of the effective potential and the running of the gauge coupling.Comment: 7 pages, plain TEX, SISSA 45/94/E

Yang-Mills vacuum structure and quantum gravity

Using renormalization group methods we calculate the derivative expansion of the effective Lagrangian for a covariantly constant gauge field in curved spacetime. Curvature affects the vacuum, in particular it could induce phase transitions between different vacua. We also consider the effect of quantum fluctuations of the metric , in the context of a renormalizable $R^2$ theory. In this case the critical curvature depends on the gravi tational coupling constants.Comment: Latex file, 8 page

Conformal anomaly for dilaton coupled electromagnetic field

The derivation of the conformal anomaly for dilaton coupled electromagnetic field in curved space is presented. The models of this sort naturally appear in stringy gravity or after spherical reduction of multidimensional Einstein-Maxwell theory. It is shown that unlike the case of minimal vector in curved space or dilaton coupled scalar the anomaly induced effective action cannot be derived. The reason is the same why anomaly induced effective action cannot be constructed for interacting theories (like QED) in curved space.Comment: Latex file, 10 page

General dilatonic gravity with an asymptotically free gravitational coupling constant near two dimensions

We study a renormalizable, general theory of dilatonic gravity (with a kinetic-like term for the dilaton) interacting with scalar matter near two dimensions. The one-loop effective action and the beta functions for this general theory are written down. It is proven that the theory possesses a non-trivial ultraviolet fixed point which yields an asymptotically free gravitational coupling constant (at $\epsilon \rightarrow 0$) in this regime. Moreover, at the fixed point the theory can be cast under the form of a string-inspired model with free scalar matter. The renormalization of the Jackiw-Teitelboim model and of lineal gravity in $2+\epsilon$ dimensions is also discussed. We show that these two theories are distinguished at the quantum level. Finally, fermion-dilatonic gravity near two dimensions is considered.Comment: LaTeX, 13 pages, no figure

Dark Energy: the equation of state description versus scalar-tensor or modified gravity

Dark energy dynamics of the universe can be achieved by equivalent mathematical descriptions taking into account generalized fluid equations of state in General Relativity, scalar-tensor theories or modified F(R) gravity in Einstein or Jordan frames. The corresponding technique transforming equation of state description to scalar-tensor or modified gravity is explicitly presented. We show that such equivalent pictures can be discriminated by matching solutions with data capable of selecting the true physical frame.Comment: LaTeX file, 10 pages, 3 figures, the fit of two equivalent models with observational data is added, new reference

Gravitational Phase Transitions in Infrared Quantum Gravity

The conformal anomaly induced sector of four-dimensional quantum gravity (infrared quantum gravity) ---which has been introduced by Antoniadis and Mottola--- is here studied on a curved fiducial background. The one-loop effective potential for the effective conformal factor theory is calculated with accuracy, including terms linear in the curvature. It is proven that a curvature induced phase transition can actually take place. An estimation of the critical curvature for different choices of the parameters of the theory is given.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX file, 3 figures (not included), HUPD-92-10, UB-ECM-PF 92/2