10 research outputs found
Energy in Generic Higher Curvature Gravity Theories
We define and compute the energy of higher curvature gravity theories in
arbitrary dimensions. Generically, these theories admit constant curvature
vacua (even in the absence of an explicit cosmological constant), and
asymptotically constant curvature solutions with non-trivial energy properties.
For concreteness, we study quadratic curvature models in detail. Among them,
the one whose action is the square of the traceless Ricci tensor always has
zero energy, unlike conformal (Weyl) gravity. We also study the string-inspired
Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet model and show that both its flat and Anti-de-Sitter
vacua are stable.Comment: 18 pages, typos corrected, one footnote added, to appear in Phys.
Rev.
Why Does Inflation Start at the Top of the Hill?
We show why the universe started in an unstable de Sitter state. The quantum
origin of our universe implies one must take a `top down' approach to the
problem of initial conditions in cosmology, in which the histories that
contribute to the path integral, depend on the observable being measured. Using
the no boundary proposal to specify the class of histories, we study the
quantum cosmological origin of an inflationary universe in theories like trace
anomaly driven inflation in which the effective potential has a local maximum.
We find that an expanding universe is most likely to emerge in an unstable de
Sitter state, by semiclassical tunneling via a Hawking-Moss instanton. Since
the top down view is forced upon us by the quantum nature of the universe, we
argue that the approach developed here should still apply when the framework of
quantum cosmology will be based on M-Theory.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figur
Renormalization Group and Decoupling in Curved Space: II. The Standard Model and Beyond
We continue the study of the renormalization group and decoupling of massive
fields in curved space, started in the previous article and analyse the higher
derivative sector of the vacuum metric-dependent action of the Standard Model.
The QCD sector at low-energies is described in terms of the composite effective
fields. For fermions and scalars the massless limit shows perfect
correspondence with the conformal anomaly, but similar limit in a massive
vector case requires an extra compensating scalar. In all three cases the
decoupling goes smoothly and monotonic. A particularly interesting case is the
renormalization group flow in the theory with broken supersymmetry, where the
sign of one of the beta-functions changes on the way from the UV to IR.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figure
A Field-theoretical Interpretation of the Holographic Renormalization Group
A quantum-field theoretical interpretation is given to the holographic RG
equation by relating it to a field-theoretical local RG equation which
determines how Weyl invariance is broken in a quantized field theory. Using
this approach we determine the relation between the holographic C theorem and
the C theorem in two-dimensional quantum field theory which relies on the
Zamolodchikov metric. Similarly we discuss how in four dimensions the
holographic C function is related to a conjectured field-theoretical C
function. The scheme dependence of the holographic RG due to the possible
presence of finite local counterterms is discussed in detail, as well as its
implications for the holographic C function. We also discuss issues special to
the situation when mass deformations are present. Furthermore we suggest that
the holographic RG equation may also be obtained from a bulk diffeomorphism
which reduces to a Weyl transformation on the boundary.Comment: 24 pages, LaTeX, no figures; references added, typos corrected,
paragraph added to section
Four Dimensional Conformal Supergravity From AdS Space
Exploring the role of conformal theories of gravity in string theory, we show
that the minimal (N=2) gauged supergravities in five dimensions induce the
multiplets and transformations of N=1 four dimensional conformal supergravity
on the spacetime boundary. N=1 Poincare supergravity can be induced by
explicitly breaking the conformal invariance via a radial cutoff in the 5d
space. The AdS/CFT correspondence relates the maximal gauged supergravity in
five dimensions to N=4 super Yang-Mills on the 4d spacetime boundary. In this
context we show that the conformal anomaly of the gauge theory induces
conformal gravity on the boundary of the space and that this theory, via the
renormalization group, encapsulates the gravitational dynamics of the skin of
asymptotically AdS spacetimes. Our results have several applications to the
AdS/CFT correspondence and the Randall-Sundrum scenario.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX. v3. references and minor comments adde
What is Q-Curvature?
The original publication can be found at www.springerlink.comBransonâs Q-curvature is now recognized as a fundamental quantity in conformal geometry. We outline its construction and present its basic properties.S.-Y. Alice Chang, Michael Eastwood, Bent Ărsted and Paul C. Yan