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Exploring quantum Horava-Lifshitz gravity with causal dynamical triangulations

Mathematical Physics Seminar

Speaker: Joshua Cooperman, UC Davis
Location: 2112 MSB
Start time: Tue, Apr 17 2012, 4:10PM

Horava-Lifshitz gravity is a particular proposal for a power-counting renormalizable, unitary, classical theory of gravity. Causal dynamical triangulations is a novel path integral approach to the construction of quantum theories of gravity. Intriguingly, a slew of connections between Horava-Lifshitz gravity and causal dynamically triangulated Einstein gravity has recently surfaced. After introducing the frameworks of Horava-Lifshitz gravity and causal dynamical triangulations, I will survey these sundry connections, the impetus for our investigation of causal dynamically triangulated Horava-Lifshitz gravity. I will then present the particular model of Horava-Lifshitz gravity that we have elected to study and explain its quantization using causal dynamical triangulations. I will report on what we have ascertained thus far, specifically about the model's phase structure and the physical properties of its phases. I will conclude with an update regarding our most recent findings and ongoing explorations.