2020/02/05 by J. Ambjørn, J. Gizbert-Studnicki, Ambjorn, J. +7 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Physics - Lattice (hep-lat) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2002.01693
openalex publication_date 2020/02/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A hallmark of non-perturbative theories of quantum gravity is the absence of a fixed background geometry, and therefore the absence in a Planckian regime of any notion of length or scale that is defined a priori. This has potentially far-reaching consequences for the application of renormalization group methods a la Wilson, which rely on these notions in a crucial way. We review the status quo of attempts in the Causal Dynamical Triangulations (CDT) approach to quantum gravity to find an ultraviolet fixed point associated with the second-order phase transitions observed in the lattice theory. Measurements of the only invariant correlator currently accessible, that of the total spatial three-volume, has not produced any evidence of such a fixed point. A possible explanation for this result is our incomplete and perhaps naive understanding of what constitutes an appropriate notion of (quantum) length near the Planck scale.