Trans-Planckian Physics and Inflation
An Introduction to Renormalizable and Background-Free Quantum Gravity

By (author) Ken-ji Hamada

ISBN13: 9789819634750

Imprint: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Format: Hardback

Published: 25/04/2025

Availability: Not yet available

Description
This book comprehensively describes recent developments in the research of renormalizable quantum gravity, focusing on its application to physics beyond the Planck scale, particularly in inflationary cosmology. It challenges the notion that the Planck scale is an impassable barrier, addressing issues such as singularity, renormalizability, unitarity, time, primordial fluctuations, and the cosmological constant. To describe the trans-Planckian world, it is necessary to break away from the view of graviton scattering and carry out the quantization of spacetime itself. Utilizing conformal field theory techniques to achieve background freedom, the book presents a renormalizable quantum theory of gravity that overcomes the Planck-scale wall. Historically, discussions on renormalizability of gravity declined due to ghost issues. However, ghosts are essential in gravitational systems where the total Hamiltonian/momentum vanishes strictly, for aspects such as cosmic entropy, the formation of the universe, and gravitational objects. Quantum gravity approaches known in recent years often break diffeomorphism invariance or sacrifice renormalizability to eliminate ghosts. In contrast, this book presents a novel attempt which maintains that these are guiding principles even in the trans-Planckian domain, but constrains ghosts to be unphysical. The renormalizability implies a new scale that leads to a quantum gravity inflation scenario with a spacetime phase transition as the Big Bang. This book offers fresh insights into the trans-Planckian physics for graduate students and researchers.
Preface.- What quantum gravity should reveal.- Renormalizable quantum gravity.- Conformal invariance as background freedom.- Physical meaning of Hamiltonian constraint.- Renormalization by dimensional regularization.- BRST conformal algebra and physical states.- Quantum gravity inflation.- Localized massive excitation of quantum gravity.-  What the cosmological constant problem is.- Amplitude reduction of fluctuations and primordial spectra.- Topology and quantum gravity.- Simplicial quantum gravity.
  • Cosmology & the universe
  • Gravity
  • Professional & Vocational
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List Price: £129.99