Diffusion in quantum geometry

Abstract

The change of the effective dimension of spacetime with the probed scale is a universal phenomenon shared by independent models of quantum gravity. Using tools of probability theory and multifractal geometry, we show how dimensional flow is controlled by a multiscale fractional diffusion equation, and physically interpreted as a composite stochastic process. The simplest example is a fractional telegraph process, describing quantum spacetimes with a spectral dimension equal to 2 in the ultraviolet and monotonically rising to 4 towards the infrared. The general profile of the spectral dimension of the recently introduced multifractional spaces is constructed for the first time.