Impact of topology in foliated quantum Einstein gravity

Abstract

We use a functional renormalization group equation tailored to the Arnowitt–Deser–Misner formulation of gravity to study the scale dependence of Newton’s coupling and the cosmological constant on a background spacetime with topology S1× Sd. The resulting beta functions possess a non-trivial renormalization group fixed point, which may provide the high-energy completion of the theory through the asymptotic safety mechanism. The fixed point is robust with respect to changing the parametrization of the metric fluctuations and regulator scheme. The phase diagrams show that this fixed point is connected to a classical regime through a crossover. In addition the flow may exhibit a regime of “gravitational instability”, modifying the theory in the deep infrared. Our work complements earlier studies of the gravitational renormalization group flow on a background topology S1× Td (Biemans et al. Phys Rev D 95:086013, 2017, Biemans et al. arXiv:1702.06539, 2017) and establishes that the flow is essentially independent of the background topology.