On the reconstruction problem in quantum gravity

Abstract

Path integrals and the Wilsonian renormalization group provide two complementary computational tools for investigating continuum approaches to quantum gravity. The starting points of these constructions utilize a bare action and a fixed point of the renormalization group flow, respectively. While it is clear that there should be a connection between these ingredients, their relation is far from trivial. This results in the so-called reconstruction problem. In this work, we demonstrate that the map between these two formulations does not generate non-localities at quadratic order in the background curvature. At this level, the bare action in the path integral and the fixed-point action obtained from the Wilsonian renormalization group differ by local terms only. This conclusion does not apply to theories coming with a physical ultraviolet cutoff or a fundamental non-locality scale.