Limiting fluctuations in quantum gravity to diffeomorphisms
Keyword(s):
Within the background field formalism of quantum gravity, I show that if the quantum fluctuations are limited to diffeomorphic gauge transformations rather than the physical degrees of freedom, as in conventional quantum field theory, all the quantum corrections vanish on shell and the effective action is equivalent to the classical action. In principle, the resulting theory is finite and unitary, and requires no renormalization. I also show that this is the unique parameterization that renders the path integral independent of the on-shell condition for the background field, a form of background independence. Thus, a connection is established between background independence and renormalizability and unitarity.
Keyword(s):
2016 ◽
Vol 31
(01)
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pp. 1630001
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Keyword(s):
Keyword(s):
2019 ◽
Vol 28
(14)
◽
pp. 1944006
2003 ◽
Vol 649
(3)
◽
pp. 491-510
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2020 ◽
Vol 35
(02n03)
◽
pp. 2040012