Ghost wavefunction renormalization in asymptotically safe quantum gravity

Abstract

Motivated by Weinberg's asymptotic safety scenario, we investigate the gravitational renormalization group flow in the Einstein–Hilbert truncation supplemented by the wavefunction renormalization of the ghost fields. The latter induces non-trivial corrections to the β-functions for Newton's constant and the cosmological constant. The resulting ghost-improved phase diagram is investigated in detail. In particular, we find a non-trivial ultraviolet fixed point, in agreement with the asymptotic safety conjecture which also survives in the presence of extra dimensions. In four dimensions the ghost anomalous dimension at the fixed point is η*c = −1.8, supporting spacetime being effectively two dimensional at short distances.