Quantum Gravity

473 talks

S005

Collection Type Series

Source Repository PIRSA

Description This series consists of talks in the area of Quantum Gravity.

Displaying 313 - 324 of 473

Nonlocal cosmology

Richard Woodard University of Florida
February 27, 2014

PIRSA:14020137
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
Quantum Raychaudhuri equation

Saurya Das University of Lethbridge
February 20, 2014

PIRSA:14020130
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
Firewall evasion by quantum gravity

Ted Jacobson University of Maryland, College Park
February 13, 2014

PIRSA:14020136
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
Black hole entropy and the case for self-dual loop quantum gravity
January 29, 2014

PIRSA:14010098
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
Wilson Lines in Higher Spin Gravity

Alejandra Castro University of Cambridge
January 23, 2014

PIRSA:14010081
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
Curvature in terms of entanglement

Achim Kempf University of Waterloo
December 12, 2013

PIRSA:13120064
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
From spin foams to anyons and back again - Joint Condensed Matter/Quantum Gravity Seminar

Bianca Dittrich Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
December 05, 2013

PIRSA:13120048
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
Divergences in Spinfoam Quantum Gravity

Aldo Riello Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
November 28, 2013

PIRSA:13110063
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
Dimensional reduction in the sky
November 21, 2013

PIRSA:13110059
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
Finite regions, spherical entanglement, and quantum gravity

Hal Haggard Bard College
November 14, 2013

PIRSA:13110049
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
Matter matters in asymptotically safe quantum gravity
November 07, 2013

PIRSA:13110048
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
A causal set action

Lisa Glaser University of Vienna
October 31, 2013

PIRSA:13100063
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology

Nonlocal cosmology

Richard Woodard University of Florida
February 27, 2014

PIRSA:14020137
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
I review a class of nonlocally modified gravity models which were proposed to explain the current phase of cosmic acceleration without dark energy. Among the topics considered are deriving causal and conserved field equations, adjusting the model to make it support a given expansion history, why these models do not require an elaborate screening mechanism to evade solar system tests, degrees of freedom and kinetic stability, and the negative verdict of structure formation. Although these simple models are not consistent with data on the growth of cosmic structures many of their features are likely to carry over to more complicated models which are in better agreement with the data.
Quantum Raychaudhuri equation

Saurya Das University of Lethbridge
February 20, 2014

PIRSA:14020130
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
We compute quantum corrections to the Raychaudhuri equation, by replacing classical geodesics with quantal (Bohmian) trajectories, and show that they prevent focusing of geodesics, and the formation of conjugate points. We discuss implications for the Hawking-Penrose singularity theorems, and for curvature singularities. Reference: arXiv: 1311.6539
Firewall evasion by quantum gravity

Ted Jacobson University of Maryland, College Park
February 13, 2014

PIRSA:14020136
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
It has been argued that if black hole evaporation is a unitary quantum process, then a black hole horizon must be cloaked by a "firewall", i.e. a highly excited state of local quantum fields. This reasoning is based on factorizing the Hilbert space into interior and exterior degrees of freedom. Such factorization ignores the Wheeler-deWitt constraint equation, which arises from the diffeomorphism invariance of quantum gravity. I will argue that this constraint evades the firewall.
Black hole entropy and the case for self-dual loop quantum gravity
January 29, 2014

PIRSA:14010098
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
By focusing on aspects of black hole thermodynamics, I will present some evidences supporting the unexpected role of the complex self-dual variables in quantum gravity. This will also be the occasion of revisiting some aspects of three-dimensional gravity, and in particular the link between the BTZ black hole and the Turaev-Viro state sum model. Also the information on the website for next week needs to be modified: We will not have a seminar on Thursday (as Thursday is PI day). Instead, we will have the seminar on Wednesday, but actually would prefer a different time, namely 3.30 pm.
Wilson Lines in Higher Spin Gravity

Alejandra Castro University of Cambridge
January 23, 2014

PIRSA:14010081
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
In this talk I will review the interpretation of Wilson line operators in the context of higher spin gravity in 2+1 dim and holography. I will show how a Wilson line encapsulates the thermodynamics of black holes. Furthermore it provides an elegant description of massive particles. This opens a new window of observables which will allow us to probe the true geometrical nature of higher spin gravity.
Curvature in terms of entanglement

Achim Kempf University of Waterloo
December 12, 2013

PIRSA:13120064
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
The entanglement of the quantum field theoretic vacuum state is affected by curvature. I ask if or under which conditions the curvature of spacetime can be expressed entirely in terms of the spatial entanglement structure of the vacuum. This would open up the prospect that general relativity could be formulated in quantum theoretic terms, which should then be helpful for studies in quantum gravity.
From spin foams to anyons and back again - Joint Condensed Matter/Quantum Gravity Seminar

Bianca Dittrich Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
December 05, 2013

PIRSA:13120048
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
Spin foams provide models for quantum gravity and hence quantum space time. One of the key outstanding questions is to show that they reproduce smooth space time manifolds in a continuum limit.I will start with a very short introduction to spin foams and the structure of quantum space time they encode. I will explain how the investigation of the continuum limit via coarse graining and renormalization techniques led as to consider anyonic spin chains and a classification of ground states in systems with quantum group symmetries.I will then present new results on the continuum limit of spin net models, that allow us to draw first conclusions about the large scale dynamics of spin foams.
Based on: B.D., W. Kaminski, Topological lattice field theories from intertwiner dynamics, arXiv:1311.1798, B.D., S. Steinhaus, Time evolution as refining, coarse graining and entangling, to appear, B.D. M. Martin-Benito, S. Steinhaus, The refinement limit of quantum group spin net models, to appear
Divergences in Spinfoam Quantum Gravity

Aldo Riello Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
November 28, 2013

PIRSA:13110063
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
The most relevant evidences in favour of the Lorentzian EPRL-FK spinfoam model come from its capibility of reproducing the expected semiclassical limit in the large spin regime. The main examples of this are the large spin limit of the vertex amplitude, later extended to arbitrary triangulations, and that of the spinfoam graviton propagator, which was calculated on the simplest possible two complex. These results are very promising. Nonetheless, their relevance may be endangered by the effects associated to radiative corrections. In this seminar, I will focus on the role played by the simplest diverging graph, the so called 'melon graph', which is known to play a fundamental role in tensorial group field theories. In particular, I will discuss its most divergent part and its geometrical interpretation. I will finally comment on the result, with particular attention to its physical consequences, especially in relation with the semiclassical limit of the spinfoam graviton propagator.
Dimensional reduction in the sky
November 21, 2013

PIRSA:13110059
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
In several approaches to quantum-gravity, the spectral dimension of spacetime runs from the standard value of 4 in the infrared (IR) to a smaller value in the ultraviolet (UV). Describing this running in terms of deformed dispersion relations, I show that a striking cosmological implication is that that UV behavior leading to 2 spectral dimensions results in an exactly scale-invariant spectrum of vacuum scalar and tensor fluctuations. I discuss scenarios that break exact scale-invariance and show that the tensor to scalar ratio is fixed by the UV ratio between the speed of gravity and the speed of light. Cosmological perturbations in this framework display a wavelength-dependent speed of light, but by transforming to a suitable "rainbow frame" this feature can be removed, at the expense of modifying gravity. In particular it turns out that the following concepts are closely connected: scale-invariance of vacuum fluctuations, conformal invariance of the gravitational coupling, UV reduction to spectral dimension 2 in position space and UV reduction to Hausdorff dimension 2 in energy-momentum space.
Finite regions, spherical entanglement, and quantum gravity

Hal Haggard Bard College
November 14, 2013

PIRSA:13110049
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
An exciting frontier in physics is to understand the quantum nature of gravitation in finite regions of spacetime. Study of these regions from ``below'', that is, by studying the quantum geometry of finite regions emerging from loop gravity and spin networks has recently resulted in a new road to the quantization of volume and to evidence that there is a robust gap in the volume spectrum. In this talk I will complement these results with recent work on conformal field theories in a particular finite region, a spherical ball of space. This new view afforded from ``above" gives insights into entanglement and the Reeh-Schlieder theorem, allows calculation of the entanglement spectrum, and suggests a new route to constructing the Minkowski vacuum out of independent finite regions in quantum gravity.
Matter matters in asymptotically safe quantum gravity
November 07, 2013

PIRSA:13110048
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
The Functional Renormalisation Group technique has received great attention in recent times proving itself as a powerful tool to describe the high energy behaviour of gravitational interactions.
Its key ingredient is a nontrivial fixed point of the theory renormalization group flow which controls the behavior of the coupling constants in the ultraviolet regime and ensures that physical quantities are safe from divergences. I will briefly review the main ingredients of the gravitational asymptotic safety framework before focusing on the effect of massless minimally coupled scalars, fermions and vector fields on the gravitational fixed point. I will then set bounds on the type and number of such fields requiring the existence of a UV attractive fixed point. I will also discuss the dynamically generated quantum-gravity scale in asymptotic safety, which is the transition scale to the fixed-point regime, and its variation as a function of matter degrees of freedom. To conclude I will also consider the case of higher dimensional models.
A causal set action

Lisa Glaser University of Vienna
October 31, 2013

PIRSA:13100063
General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology
Causal set theory is discrete, fully covariant theory of quantum gravity. The discrete framework makes it necessary to reformulate continuum concepts. One of these concepts is that of a derivative operator. It is possible to define a derivative operator in causal sets that in the continuum limit agrees with the d'Alembertian for a scalar field. This operator can be used to define a causal set action, which enables Monte-Carlo simulations. In this seminar I will present this operator and action and then show some results of Monte-Carlo simulations in 2 dimensions.

Title	Speaker(s)	Date	Talk Type	Info
Nonlocal cosmology	Richard Woodard	2014-02-27	Scientific Series	View details
Quantum Raychaudhuri equation	Saurya Das	2014-02-20	Scientific Series	View details
Firewall evasion by quantum gravity	Ted Jacobson	2014-02-13	Scientific Series	View details
Black hole entropy and the case for self-dual loop quantum gravity		2014-01-29	Scientific Series	View details
Wilson Lines in Higher Spin Gravity	Alejandra Castro	2014-01-23	Scientific Series	View details
Curvature in terms of entanglement	Achim Kempf	2013-12-12	Scientific Series	View details
From spin foams to anyons and back again - Joint Condensed Matter/Quantum Gravity Seminar	Bianca Dittrich	2013-12-05	Scientific Series	View details
Divergences in Spinfoam Quantum Gravity	Aldo Riello	2013-11-28	Scientific Series	View details
Dimensional reduction in the sky		2013-11-21	Scientific Series	View details
Finite regions, spherical entanglement, and quantum gravity	Hal Haggard	2013-11-14	Scientific Series	View details
Matter matters in asymptotically safe quantum gravity		2013-11-07	Scientific Series	View details
A causal set action	Lisa Glaser	2013-10-31	Scientific Series	View details

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Format results

Nonlocal cosmology

Quantum Raychaudhuri equation

Firewall evasion by quantum gravity

Black hole entropy and the case for self-dual loop quantum gravity

Wilson Lines in Higher Spin Gravity

Curvature in terms of entanglement

From spin foams to anyons and back again - Joint Condensed Matter/Quantum Gravity Seminar

Divergences in Spinfoam Quantum Gravity

Dimensional reduction in the sky

Finite regions, spherical entanglement, and quantum gravity

Matter matters in asymptotically safe quantum gravity

A causal set action

Nonlocal cosmology

Quantum Raychaudhuri equation

Firewall evasion by quantum gravity

Black hole entropy and the case for self-dual loop quantum gravity

Wilson Lines in Higher Spin Gravity

Curvature in terms of entanglement

From spin foams to anyons and back again - Joint Condensed Matter/Quantum Gravity Seminar

Divergences in Spinfoam Quantum Gravity

Dimensional reduction in the sky

Finite regions, spherical entanglement, and quantum gravity

Matter matters in asymptotically safe quantum gravity

A causal set action