Mainz 2014 – scientific programme

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 83: Quantenfeldtheorie 1

T 83.5: Talk

Wednesday, March 26, 2014, 17:45–18:00, P15

Renormalization group flow of Horava-Lifshitz gravity at low energies — •Adriano Contillo¹, Stefan Rechenberger², and Frank Saueressig¹ — ¹Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen, The Netherlands — ²Technische Universität, Darmstadt, Germany

The functional renormalization group equation for projectable Horava-Lifshitz gravity is used to derive the non-perturbative beta functions for the Newton's constant, cosmological constant and anisotropy parameter. The resulting coupled differential equations are studied in detail and exemplary RG trajectories are constructed numerically. The beta functions possess a non-Gaussian fixed point and a one-parameter family of Gaussian fixed points. One of the Gaussian fixed points corresponds to the Einstein-Hilbert action with vanishing cosmological constant and constitutes a saddle point with one IR-attractive direction. For RG trajectories dragged into this fixed point at low energies diffeomorphism invariance is restored. The emergence of general relativity from Horava-Lifshitz gravity can thus be understood as a crossover-phenomenon where the IR behavior of the theory is controlled by this Gaussian fixed point. In particular RG trajectories with a tiny positive cosmological constant also come with an anisotropy parameter which is compatible with experimental constraints, providing a mechanism for the approximate restoration of diffeomorphism invariance in the IR. The non-Gaussian fixed point is UV-attractive in all three coupling constants. Most likely, this fixed point is the imprint of Asymptotic Safety at the level of Horava-Lifshitz gravity.