Cosmological and astrophysical tests of quantum gravity

Abstract

Physics in the vicinity of an ultraviolet stable fixed point of a quantum field theory is parametrized by a renormalization group invariant macroscopic length scale, the correlation length $ξ,$ with the quantum effective action a function of this length scale. Numerical simulations of quantum gravity suggest the existence of just such a fixed point. Since the quantum effective action is a function only of $ξ,$ the cosmological constant must be $k ξ^{-2}$ with $k$ a pure number. Higher derivative terms are also parametrized by this length scale, so in particular the effective Newtonian dynamics of a test particle is modified at acceleration scales of order $1/ξ.$ Thus, renormalization group effects in quantum gravity provide a natural link between the phenomenological acceleration scale associated with galactic rotation curves and the value of the cosmological constant favoured by recent supernovae observations.