Renormalization
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 manifold $Ω$, using coherent states. In the free-field limit, the propagators are described by the entire function $(e^{z}-1-z)/z^{2}$, whose shape on the real axis is similar to the one of a Breit-Wigner function, with an effective width around $1/τ$. The real part is positive, in agreement with unitarity, and remains so after including the radiative corrections, which shift the function into the physical half plane. We investigate the effects of the restriction to finite $τ$ on the problem of unstable particles vs resonances, and show that the muon observation emerges from the right physical process, differently from what happens at $τ=\infty $. We also study the case of purely virtual particles, and show that, if $τ$ is small enough, there exists a situation where the geometric series of the self-energies is always convergent. The plots of the dressed propagators show testable differences: while physical particles are characterized by the usual, single peak, purely virtual particles are characterized by twin peaks.
J. High Energ. Phys. 07 (2023) 99 | DOI: 10.1007/JHEP07(2023)099
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 affecting the $S$ matrix amplitudes. The extension is made of certain cloud bosons, plus their anticommuting partners. Both are quantized as purely virtual, to ensure that they do not propagate ghosts. The extended theory is renormalizable and unitary. In particular, the off-shell, diagrammatic version of the optical theorem holds. We calculate the one-loop two-point functions of dressed quarks and gluons, and show that their absorptive parts are gauge independent, cloud independent and positive (while they are generically unphysical if the cloud sectors are not purely virtual). A gauge/cloud duality simplifies the computations and shows that the gauge choice is just a particular cloud. It is possible to dress every field insertion with a different cloud. We compare the purely virtual extension to previous approaches to similar problems.
Eur. Phys. J. C 83 (2023) 544 | DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-11717-2
Talk given at the conference PAFT 2019 – Current problems in theoretical physics. Aspects of nonperturbative QFT, foundations of quantum theory, quantum spacetime. XXV edition, Vietri sul Mare (Salerno, Italy), April 13-17, 2019
A new quantization prescription is able to endow quantum field theory with a new type of “particle”, the fakeon (fake particle), which mediates interactions, but cannot be observed. A massive fakeon of spin 2 (together with a scalar field) allows us to build a theory of quantum gravity that is both renormalizable and unitary, and to some extent unique. After presenting the general properties of this theory, I discuss its classical limit, which carries important remnants of the fakeon quantization prescription and reveals unforeseen features.
The “fakeon” is a fake degree of freedom, i.e. a degree of freedom that does not belong to the physical spectrum, but propagates inside the Feynman diagrams. Fakeons can be used to make higher-derivative theories unitary. Moreover, they help us clarify how the Lee-Wick models work. In this paper we study the fakeon models, that is to say the theories that contain fake and physical degrees of freedom. We formulate them by (nonanalytically) Wick rotating their Euclidean versions. We investigate the properties of arbitrary Feynman diagrams and, among other things, prove that the fakeon models are perturbatively unitary to all orders. If standard power counting constraints are fulfilled, the models are also renormalizable. The S matrix is regionwise analytic. The amplitudes can be continued from the Euclidean region to the other regions by means of an unambiguous, but nonanalytic, operation, called average continuation. We compute the average continuation of typical amplitudes in four, three and two dimensions and show that its predictions agree with those of the nonanalytic Wick rotation. By reconciling renormalizability and unitarity in higher-derivative theories, the fakeon models are good candidates to explain quantum gravity.
J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2018) 141 | DOI: 10.1007/JHEP02(2018)141
We study the main options for a unitary and renormalizable, local quantum field theory of the gravitational interactions. The first model is a Lee-Wick superrenormalizable higher-derivative gravity, formulated as a nonanalytically Wick rotated Euclidean theory. We show that, under certain conditions, the $S$ matrix is unitary when the cosmological constant vanishes. The model is the simplest of its class. However, infinitely many similar options are allowed, which raises the issue of uniqueness. To deal with this problem, we propose a new quantization prescription, by doubling the unphysical poles of the higher-derivative propagators and turning them into Lee-Wick poles. The Lagrangian of the simplest theory of quantum gravity based on this idea is the linear combination of $R$, $R_{\mu \nu}R^{\mu \nu }$, $R^{2}$ and the cosmological term. Only the graviton propagates in the cutting equations and, when the cosmological constant vanishes, the $S$ matrix is unitary. The theory satisfies the locality of counterterms and is renormalizable by power counting. It is unique in the sense that it is the only one with a dimensionless gauge coupling.
J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2017) 086 | DOI: 10.1007/JHEP06(2017)086
We show that Minkowski higher-derivative quantum field theories are generically inconsistent, because they generate nonlocal, non-Hermitian ultraviolet divergences, which cannot be removed by means of standard renormalization procedures. By “Minkowski theories” we mean theories that are defined directly in Minkowski spacetime. The problems occur when the propagators have complex poles, so that the correlation functions cannot be obtained as the analytic continuations of their Euclidean versions. The usual power counting rules fail and are replaced by much weaker ones. Self-energies generate complex divergences proportional to inverse powers of D’Alembertians. Three-point functions give more involved nonlocal divergences, which couple to infrared effects. The violations of the locality and Hermiticity of counterterms are illustrated by means of explicit computations in scalar models and higher-derivative gravity.
Eur. Phys. J. C 77 (2017) 84 | DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4646-7
The properties of quantum gravity are reviewed from the point of view of renormalization. Various attempts to overcome the problem of nonrenormalizability are presented, and the reasons why most of them fail for quantum gravity are discussed. Interesting possibilities come from relaxing the locality assumption, which can inspire the investigation of a largely unexplored sector of quantum field theory. Another possibility is to work with infinitely many independent couplings, and search for physical quantities that only depend on a finite subset of them. In this spirit, it is useful to organize the classical action of quantum gravity, determined by renormalization, in a convenient way. Taking advantage of perturbative local field redefinitions, we write the action as the sum of the Hilbert term, the cosmological term, a peculiar scalar that is important only in higher dimensions, plus invariants constructed with at least three Weyl tensors. We show that the FRLW configurations, and many other locally conformally flat metrics, are exact solutions of the field equations in arbitrary dimensions $d>3$. If the metric is expanded around such configurations the quadratic part of the action is free of higher-time derivatives. Other well-known metrics, such as those of black holes, are instead affected in nontrivial ways by the classical corrections of quantum origin.
Mod. Phys. Lett. A 30 (2015) 1540004 | DOI: 10.1142/S0217732315400040
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Quantum Gravity 
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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:
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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