Renormalization in Liouville gravity and stochastic inflation

Abstract

Motivated by inflation and Liouville theory, we consider random $d$-dimensional geometries characterized by an overall scale factor $ds^2 = e^{2 ζ} dx^2 $ given in terms of a random Gaussian field $ζ(x)$ with logarithmic correlations. We discuss aspects of the renormalization of the volume element $e^{d ζ}$, connecting well-known Liouville theory formulas (KPZ) and inflationary ones. By starting from a fixed physical cutoff and coarse-graining operators to a fixed fiducial cutoff, defined via the flat metric $dx^2$, we provide a direct physical derivation of the KPZ scaling relation. We point out that the same renormalization problem arises in stochastic inflation, where it is modeled by Brownian motion of the inflaton field. We show that the breakdown of the renormalization of the Liouville volume when the fluctuation amplitude exceeds a critical value corresponds to the transition to eternal inflation. In $d = 2$, this matches the familiar $c_m = 1$ barrier in Liouville gravity. We also discuss connections to mathematical probabilistic approaches to random surfaces.