RENORMALIZATION

Quantum Field Theory and Quantum Gravity

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Course

19S1 D. Anselmi
Theories of gravitation

Program

Recent Papers

24A2 Damiano Anselmi
Quantum gravity with purely virtual particles from asymptotically local quantum field theory

We investigate the local limits of various classes of unitary, nonlocal quantum field theories. While it is easy to build nonlocal models with well-behaved asymptotics ... (read more)
24A1 Damiano Anselmi
Cosmological inhomogeneities, primordial black holes, and a hypothesis on the death of the universe

We study the impact of the expansion of the universe on a broad class of objects, including black holes, neutron stars, white dwarfs, and others. ... (read more)
23A3 Damiano Anselmi
Gauge theories and quantum gravity in a finite interval of time, on a compact space manifold

We study gauge theories and quantum gravity in a finite interval of time $ \tau $, on a compact space manifold $\Omega $. The initial, ... (read more)
23A2 Damiano Anselmi
Propagators and widths of physical and purely virtual particles in a finite interval of time

We study the free and dressed propagators of physical and purely virtual particles in a finite interval of time $τ$ and on a compact space ... (read more)
23A1 Damiano Anselmi
Quantum field theory of physical and purely virtual particles in a finite interval of time on a compact space manifold: diagrams, amplitudes and unitarity

We provide a diagrammatic formulation of perturbative quantum field theory in a finite interval of time $τ$, on a compact space manifold $Ω$. We explain ... (read more)
22A5 Damiano Anselmi
A new quantization principle from a minimally non time-ordered product

We formulate a new quantization principle for perturbative quantum field theory, based on a minimally non time-ordered product, and show that it gives the theories ... (read more)
22A4 Damiano Anselmi
Purely virtual extension of quantum field theory for gauge invariant fields: quantum gravity

Quantum gravity is extended to include purely virtual “cloud sectors”, which allow us to define a complete set of point-dependent observables, including a gauge invariant ... (read more)
22A3 Damiano Anselmi
Purely virtual extension of quantum field theory for gauge invariant fields: Yang-Mills theory

We extend quantum field theory by including purely virtual “cloud” sectors, to define physical off-shell correlation functions of gauge invariant quark and gluon fields, without ... (read more)
22A2 Damiano Anselmi
Purely virtual particles versus Lee-Wick ghosts: physical Pauli-Villars fields, finite QED and quantum gravity

We reconsider the Lee-Wick (LW) models and compare their properties to the properties of the models that contain purely virtual particles. We argue against the ... (read more)
22A1 Damiano Anselmi
Dressed propagators, fakeon self-energy and peak uncertainty

We study the resummation of self-energy diagrams into dressed propagators in the case of purely virtual particles and compare the results with those obtained for ... (read more)
21A5 Damiano Anselmi
Diagrammar of physical and fake particles and spectral optical theorem

We prove spectral optical identities in quantum field theories of physical particles (defined by the Feynman $i\epsilon $ prescription) and purely virtual particles (defined by ... (read more)
21A4 Damiano Anselmi, Kristjan Kannike, Carlo Marzo, Luca Marzola, Aurora Melis, Kristjan Müürsepp, Marco Piva and Martti Raidal
A fake doublet solution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment

Extensions to the Standard Model that use strictly off-shell degrees of freedom – the fakeons – allow for new measurable interactions at energy scales usually ... (read more)
21A3 Damiano Anselmi, Kristjan Kannike, Carlo Marzo, Luca Marzola, Aurora Melis, Kristjan Müürsepp, Marco Piva, Martti Raidal
Phenomenology of a Fake Inert Doublet Model

We introduce a new way of modeling the physics beyond the Standard Model by considering fake, strictly off-shell degrees of freedom: the fakeons. To demonstrate ... (read more)
21A2 Damiano Anselmi
Perturbation spectra and renormalization-group techniques in double-field inflation and quantum gravity cosmology

We study primordial cosmology with two scalar fields that participate in inflation at the same time, by coupling quantum gravity (i.e., the theory $R+R^2+C^2$ with ... (read more)
21A1 Damiano Anselmi, Filippo Fruzza and Marco Piva
Renormalization-group techniques for single-field inflation in primordial cosmology and quantum gravity

We study inflation as a “cosmic” renormalization-group flow. The flow, which encodes the dependence on the background metric, is described by a running coupling $\alpha ... (read more)

Euclidean space

Time is not time, but an imaginary space

January 2, 2017

It is normally believed that viewing time as time, that is to say a real coordinate $t$ with a Minkowski metric, is equivalent to viewing it as a space coordinate $x^4$ (with a Euclidean metric) that is turned into imaginary values by means of the Wick rotation. Indeed, most quantum field theories, including the standard model, can be equivalently formulated directly in Minkowski spacetime or by Wick rotating their Euclidean versions.

However, in a recent paper it was shown that the two formulations are not always equivalent. In particular, they are not equivalent in a wide realm of quantum field theories that is relevant for the search of quantum gravity.

The two formulations differ so much that one of the two, the Minkowski one, is mathematically inconsistent, because it leads to nonlocal divergences that cannot be subtracted away. The only viable formulation of quantum field theory is thus the Wick rotation of a Euclidean theory.

This observation could have very broad consequences. Ultimately, it tells us that the environment of quantum field theory is not Minkowski spacetime, but a different kind of spacetime, which we may call Wick spacetime, that is to say the Wick rotated Euclidean space.

If we believe that quantum field theory is the correct framework to describe nature, as all experimental evidence suggests so far, the conclusion extends from quantum field theory to nature itself, i.e.

the universe does not live in Minkowski spacetime, but in Wick spacetime.

Said differently,

time is not time, but an imaginary space.

Posted in Posts, Quantum gravity | Tags: Minkowski spacetime, Wick spacetime, Euclidean space, Wick rotation

Book

14B1 D. Anselmi
Renormalization

Course on renormalization, taught in 2015.

Last update: September 15th 2023, 242 pages

The final (2023) edition is vaibable on Amazon:

US IT DE FR ES UK JP CA

Contents:
Preface
1. Functional integral
2. Renormalization
3. Renormalization group
4. Gauge symmetry
5. Canonical formalism
6. Quantum electrodynamics
7. Non-Abelian gauge field theories
Notation and useful formulas
References

The pdf file of the 2015 Edition is available here: PDF

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