Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Essential renormalization group equation for gravity coupled to a scalar field

Nobuyoshi Ohta1,* and Masatoshi Yamada2,†

  • *Contact author: ohtan.gm@gmail.com
  • †Contact author: m.yamada@kwansei.ac.jp

Phys. Rev. D 112, 066013 – Published 22 September, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/16c5-73q2

Abstract

We study the essential renormalization group equation, in which inessential couplings are removed via field redefinitions, for Einstein gravity coupled to a massive scalar field in the presence of a cosmological constant. Our results indicate that perturbatively nonrenormalizable terms can be eliminated due to the cosmological term, in contrast to the case of perturbation around flat spacetime. We find a nontrivial fixed point for the Newton coupling and the cosmological term.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (128)

  1. G. ’t Hooft and M. J. G. Veltman, One loop divergencies in the theory of gravitation, Ann. Inst. Henri Poincare A Phys. Theor. 20, 69 (1974).
  2. S. Weinberg, Ultraviolet divergences in quantum theories of gravitation, General Relativity: An Einstein Centenary Survey, edited by S. W. Hawking and W. Israel (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1979), Chap. 16.
  3. J. S. R. Chisholm, Change of variables in quantum field theories, Nucl. Phys. 26, 469 (1961).
  4. S. Kamefuchi, L. O’Raifeartaigh, and A. Salam, Change of variables and equivalence theorems in quantum field theories, Nucl. Phys. 28, 529 (1961).
  5. M. H. Goroff and A. Sagnotti, Quantum gravity at two loops, Phys. Lett. B 160B, 81 (1985).
  6. M. H. Goroff and A. Sagnotti, The ultraviolet behavior of Einstein gravity, Nucl. Phys. B266, 709 (1986).
  7. A. E. M. van de Ven, Two loop quantum gravity, Nucl. Phys. B378, 309 (1992).
  8. M. Reuter, Nonperturbative evolution equation for quantum gravity, Phys. Rev. D 57, 971 (1998).
  9. W. Souma, Nontrivial ultraviolet fixed point in quantum gravity, Prog. Theor. Phys. 102, 181 (1999).
  10. J. Julve and M. Tonin, Quantum gravity with higher derivative terms, Nuovo Cimento Soc. Ital. Fis. 46B, 137 (1978).
  11. E. S. Fradkin and A. A. Tseytlin, Renormalizable asymptotically free quantum theory of gravity, Nucl. Phys. B201, 469 (1982).
  12. I. G. Avramidi and A. O. Barvinsky, Asymptotic freedom in higher derivative quantum gravity, Phys. Lett. 159B, 269 (1985).
  13. M. Reuter and F. Saueressig, Renormalization group flow of quantum gravity in the Einstein-Hilbert truncation, Phys. Rev. D 65, 065016 (2002).
  14. O. Lauscher and M. Reuter, Flow equation of quantum Einstein gravity in a higher derivative truncation, Phys. Rev. D 66, 025026 (2002).
  15. G. de Berredo-Peixoto and I. L. Shapiro, Higher derivative quantum gravity with Gauss-Bonnet term, Phys. Rev. D 71, 064005 (2005).
  16. N. Ohta and R. Percacci, Higher derivative gravity and asymptotic safety in diverse dimensions, Classical Quantum Gravity 31, 015024 (2014).
  17. N. Ohta and R. Percacci, Ultraviolet fixed points in conformal gravity and general quadratic theories, Classical Quantum Gravity 33, 035001 (2016).
  18. A. Codello and R. Percacci, Fixed points of higher derivative gravity, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 221301 (2006).
  19. P. F. Machado and F. Saueressig, On the renormalization group flow of f(R)-gravity, Phys. Rev. D 77, 124045 (2008).
  20. A. Codello, R. Percacci, and C. Rahmede, Ultraviolet properties of f(R)-gravity, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 23, 143 (2008).
  21. D. Benedetti and F. Caravelli, The Local potential approximation in quantum gravity, J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2012) 017.
  22. K. Falls, D. F. Litim, K. Nikolakopoulos, and C. Rahmede, A bootstrap towards asymptotic safety, arXiv:1301.4191.
  23. D. Benedetti, On the number of relevant operators in asymptotically safe gravity, Europhys. Lett. 102, 20007 (2013).
  24. K. Falls, D. F. Litim, K. Nikolakopoulos, and C. Rahmede, Further evidence for asymptotic safety of quantum gravity, Phys. Rev. D 93, 104022 (2016).
  25. K. Falls, C. R. King, D. F. Litim, K. Nikolakopoulos, and C. Rahmede, Asymptotic safety of quantum gravity beyond Ricci scalars, Phys. Rev. D 97, 086006 (2018).
  26. K. G. Falls, D. F. Litim, and J. Schröder, Aspects of asymptotic safety for quantum gravity, Phys. Rev. D 99, 126015 (2019).
  27. G. P. De Brito, N. Ohta, A. D. Pereira, A. A. Tomaz, and M. Yamada, Asymptotic safety and field parametrization dependence in the f(R) truncation, Phys. Rev. D 98, 026027 (2018).
  28. N. Ohta, R. Percacci, and G. P. Vacca, Flow equation for f(R) gravity and some of its exact solutions, Phys. Rev. D 92, 061501 (2015).
  29. N. Ohta, R. Percacci, and G. P. Vacca, Renormalization group equation and scaling solutions for f(R) gravity in exponential parametrization, Eur. Phys. J. C 76, 46 (2016).
  30. H. Gies, B. Knorr, S. Lippoldt, and F. Saueressig, Gravitational two-loop counterterm is asymptotically safe, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 211302 (2016).
  31. K. Falls and N. Ohta, Renormalization group equation for f(R) gravity on hyperbolic spaces, Phys. Rev. D 94, 084005 (2016).
  32. N. Christiansen, Four-derivative quantum gravity beyond perturbation theory, arXiv:1612.06223.
  33. T. Denz, J. M. Pawlowski, and M. Reichert, Towards apparent convergence in asymptotically safe quantum gravity, Eur. Phys. J. C 78, 336 (2018).
  34. K. Falls, N. Ohta, and R. Percacci, Towards the determination of the dimension of the critical surface in asymptotically safe gravity, Phys. Lett. B 810, 135773 (2020).
  35. S. Sen, C. Wetterich, and M. Yamada, Asymptotic freedom and safety in quantum gravity, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2022) 130.
  36. H. Kawai and N. Ohta, Wave function renormalization and flow of couplings in asymptotically safe quantum gravity, Phys. Rev. D 107, 126025 (2023).
  37. H. Kawai and N. Ohta, Wave function renormalization in asymptotically safe quantum gravity, Phys. Rev. D 111, 046012 (2025).
  38. D. Benedetti, P. F. Machado, and F. Saueressig, Asymptotic safety in higher-derivative gravity, Mod. Phys. Lett. A 24, 2233 (2009).
  39. D. Benedetti, P. F. Machado, and F. Saueressig, Taming perturbative divergences in asymptotically safe gravity, Nucl. Phys. B824, 168 (2010).
  40. R. Percacci and D. Perini, Asymptotic safety of gravity coupled to matter, Phys. Rev. D 68, 044018 (2003).
  41. G. Narain and R. Percacci, Renormalization group flow in scalar-tensor theories. I, Classical Quantum Gravity 27, 075001 (2010).
  42. G. Narain and C. Rahmede, Renormalization group flow in scalar-tensor theories. II, Classical Quantum Gravity 27, 075002 (2010).
  43. A. Eichhorn, Quantum-gravity-induced matter self-interactions in the asymptotic-safety scenario, Phys. Rev. D 86, 105021 (2012).
  44. T. Henz, J. M. Pawlowski, A. Rodigast, and C. Wetterich, Dilaton quantum gravity, Phys. Lett. B 727, 298 (2013).
  45. T. Henz, J. M. Pawlowski, and C. Wetterich, Scaling solutions for dilaton quantum gravity, Phys. Lett. B 769, 105 (2017).
  46. C. Wetterich, Effective scalar potential in asymptotically safe quantum gravity, Universe 7, 45 (2021).
  47. P. Dona, A. Eichhorn, and R. Percacci, Matter matters in asymptotically safe quantum gravity, Phys. Rev. D 89, 084035 (2014).
  48. P. Labus, R. Percacci, and G. P. Vacca, Asymptotic safety in O(N) scalar models coupled to gravity, Phys. Lett. B 753, 274 (2016).
  49. K. Oda and M. Yamada, Non-minimal coupling in Higgs-Yukawa model with asymptotically safe gravity, Classical Quantum Gravity 33, 125011 (2016).
  50. Y. Hamada and M. Yamada, Asymptotic safety of higher derivative quantum gravity non-minimally coupled with a matter system, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2017) 070.
  51. A. Eichhorn, Y. Hamada, J. Lumma, and M. Yamada, Quantum gravity fluctuations flatten the Planck-scale Higgs potential, Phys. Rev. D 97, 086004 (2018).
  52. J. M. Pawlowski, M. Reichert, C. Wetterich, and M. Yamada, Higgs scalar potential in asymptotically safe quantum gravity, Phys. Rev. D 99, 086010 (2019).
  53. C. Wetterich and M. Yamada, Variable Planck mass from the gauge invariant flow equation, Phys. Rev. D 100, 066017 (2019).
  54. J. Meibohm, J. M. Pawlowski, and M. Reichert, Asymptotic safety of gravity-matter systems, Phys. Rev. D 93, 084035 (2016).
  55. N. Christiansen, D. F. Litim, J. M. Pawlowski, and M. Reichert, Asymptotic safety of gravity with matter, Phys. Rev. D 97, 106012 (2018).
  56. A. Pastor-Gutiérrez, J. M. Pawlowski, and M. Reichert, The asymptotically safe standard model: From quantum gravity to dynamical chiral symmetry breaking, SciPost Phys. 15, 105 (2023).
  57. N. Christiansen, K. Falls, J. M. Pawlowski, and M. Reichert, Curvature dependence of quantum gravity, Phys. Rev. D 97, 046007 (2018).
  58. N. Ohta and M. Yamada, Higgs scalar potential coupled to gravity in the exponential parametrization in arbitrary gauge, Phys. Rev. D 105, 026013 (2022).
  59. M. Niedermaier and M. Reuter, The asymptotic safety scenario in quantum gravity, Living Rev. Relativity 9, 5 (2006).
  60. M. Niedermaier, The Asymptotic safety scenario in quantum gravity: An introduction, Classical Quantum Gravity 24, R171 (2007).
  61. R. Percacci, Asymptotic safety, arXiv:0709.3851.
  62. M. Reuter and F. Saueressig, Quantum Einstein gravity, New J. Phys. 14, 055022 (2012).
  63. A. Codello, R. Percacci, and C. Rahmede, Investigating the ultraviolet properties of gravity with a Wilsonian renormalization group equation, Ann. Phys. (Amsterdam) 324, 414 (2009).
  64. A. Eichhorn, Status of the asymptotic safety paradigm for quantum gravity and matter, Found. Phys. 48, 1407 (2018).
  65. R. Percacci, An Introduction to Covariant Quantum Gravity and Asymptotic Safety, Vol. 3 of 100 Years of General Relativity (World Scientific, Singapore, 2017), 10.1142/10369.
  66. A. Eichhorn, An asymptotically safe guide to quantum gravity and matter, Front. Astron. Space Sci. 5, 47 (2019).
  67. M. Reuter and F. Saueressig, Quantum Gravity and the Functional Renormalization Group: The Road towards Asymptotic Safety (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 2019), 10.1017/9781316227596.
  68. A. Bonanno, A. Eichhorn, H. Gies, J. M. Pawlowski, R. Percacci, M. Reuter et al., Critical reflections on asymptotically safe gravity, Front. Phys. 8, 269 (2020).
  69. M. Reichert, Lecture notes: Functional renormalisation group and asymptotically safe quantum gravity, Proc. Sci., Modave2019 (2020) 005.
  70. A. Eichhorn, Status update: Asymptotically safe gravity-matter systems, Nuovo Cimento Soc. Ital. Fis. 45C, 29 (2022).
  71. A. Eichhorn and M. Schiffer, Asymptotic safety of gravity with matter, arXiv:2212.07456.
  72. J. M. Pawlowski and M. Reichert, Quantum gravity: A fluctuating point of view, Front. Phys. 8, 551848 (2021).
  73. J. M. Pawlowski and M. Reichert, Quantum Gravity from Dynamical Metric Fluctuations (Springer Nature Singapore, 2024), pp. 1–70.
  74. A. Baldazzi, R. B. A. Zinati, and K. Falls, Essential renormalisation group, SciPost Phys. 13, 085 (2022).
  75. A. Baldazzi and K. Falls, Essential quantum Einstein gravity, Universe 7, 294 (2021).
  76. A. Baldazzi, K. Falls, Y. Kluth, and B. Knorr, Robustness of the derivative expansion in asymptotic safety, arXiv:2312.03831.
  77. B. Knorr, Safe essential scalar-tensor theories, arXiv:2204.08564.
  78. S. N. Solodukhin, Metric redefinition and UV divergences in quantum Einstein gravity, Phys. Lett. B 754, 157 (2016).
  79. K. S. Stelle, Renormalization of higher derivative quantum gravity, Phys. Rev. D 16, 953 (1977).
  80. D. Anselmi, On the quantum field theory of the gravitational interactions, J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2017) 086.
  81. D. Anselmi, Fakeons and Lee-Wick models, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2018) 141.
  82. J. F. Donoghue and G. Menezes, Unitarity, stability and loops of unstable ghosts, Phys. Rev. D 100, 105006 (2019).
  83. P. D. Mannheim, Ghost problems from Pauli–Villars to fourth-order quantum gravity and their resolution, Int. J. Mod. Phys. D 29, 2043009 (2020).
  84. J. F. Donoghue and G. Menezes, Ostrogradsky instability can be overcome by quantum physics, Phys. Rev. D 104, 045010 (2021).
  85. P. D. Mannheim, Solution to the ghost problem in higher-derivative gravity, Nuovo Cimento Soc. Ital. Fis. 45C, 27 (2022).
  86. T. D. Lee and G. C. Wick, Negative metric and the unitarity of the S matrix, Nucl. Phys. B9, 209 (1969).
  87. T. D. Lee and G. C. Wick, Finite theory of quantum electrodynamics, Phys. Rev. D 2, 1033 (1970).
  88. S. Coleman, Acausality, in Subnuclear Phenomena, edited by A. Zichichi (Academic Press, 1970), pp. 282–328.
  89. N. Nakanishi, Lorentz noninvariance of the complex-ghost relativistic field theory, Phys. Rev. D 3, 811 (1971).
  90. N. Nakanishi, Remarks on the complex-ghost relativistic field theory, Phys. Rev. D 3, 3235 (1971).
  91. N. Nakanishi, Covariant formulation of the complex-ghost relativistic field theory and the lorentz noninvariance of the s matrix, Phys. Rev. D 5, 1968 (1972).
  92. N. Nakanishi, Indefinite metric quantum field theory, Prog. Theor. Phys. Suppl. 51, 1 (1972).
  93. T. D. Lee and G. C. Wick, Questions of Lorentz invariance in field theories with indefinite metric, Phys. Rev. D 3, 1046 (1971).
  94. J. Kubo and T. Kugo, Unitarity violation in field theories of Lee–Wick’s complex ghost, Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys. 2023, 123B02 (2023).
  95. J. Kubo and T. Kugo, Anti-instability of complex ghost, Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys. 2024, 053B01 (2024).
  96. N. H. Barth and S. M. Christensen, Quantizing fourth order gravity theories. 1. The functional integral, Phys. Rev. D 28, 1876 (1983).
  97. M. Reuter and C. Wetterich, Gluon condensation in nonperturbative flow equations, Phys. Rev. D 56, 7893 (1997).
  98. L. Bosma, B. Knorr, and F. Saueressig, Resolving spacetime singularities within asymptotic safety, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 101301 (2019).
  99. B. Knorr, C. Ripken, and F. Saueressig, Form factors in asymptotic safety: Conceptual ideas and computational toolbox, Classical Quantum Gravity 36, 234001 (2019).
  100. B. Knorr, C. Ripken, and F. Saueressig, Form Factors in Asymptotically Safe Quantum Gravity (Springer Nature, Singapore, 2024), pp. 1–49.
  101. C. Wetterich, Exact evolution equation for the effective potential, Phys. Lett. B 301, 90 (1993).
  102. M. Reuter and C. Wetterich, Effective average action for gauge theories and exact evolution equations, Nucl. Phys. B417, 181 (1994).
  103. T. R. Morris, Elements of the continuous renormalization group, Prog. Theor. Phys. Suppl. 131, 395 (1998).
  104. J. Berges, N. Tetradis, and C. Wetterich, Nonperturbative renormalization flow in quantum field theory and statistical physics, Phys. Rep. 363, 223 (2002).
  105. K. Aoki, Introduction to the nonperturbative renormalization group and its recent applications, Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 14, 1249 (2000).
  106. C. Bagnuls and C. Bervillier, Exact renormalization group equations. An introductory review, Phys. Rep. 348, 91 (2001).
  107. J. Polonyi, Lectures on the functional renormalization group method, Central Eur. J. Phys. 1, 1 (2003).
  108. J. M. Pawlowski, Aspects of the functional renormalisation group, Ann. Phys. (Amsterdam) 322, 2831 (2007).
  109. H. Gies, Introduction to the functional RG and applications to gauge theories, Lect. Notes Phys. 852, 287 (2012).
  110. B. Delamotte, An introduction to the nonperturbative renormalization group, Lect. Notes Phys. 852, 49 (2012).
  111. H. Sonoda, The exact renormalization group: Renormalization theory revisited, arXiv:0710.1662.
  112. Y. Igarashi, K. Itoh, and H. Sonoda, Realization of symmetry in the ERG approach to quantum field theory, Prog. Theor. Phys. Suppl. 181, 1 (2010).
  113. O. J. Rosten, Fundamentals of the exact renormalization group, Phys. Rep. 511, 177 (2012).
  114. T. Kugo and S. Uehara, General procedure of gauge fixing based on BRS invariance principle, Nucl. Phys. B197, 378 (1982).
  115. N. Ohta, General procedure of gauge fixings and ghosts, Phys. Lett. B 811, 135965 (2020).
  116. U. Ellwanger, Flow equations for N point functions and bound states, Z. Phys. C 62, 503 (1994).
  117. T. R. Morris, The exact renormalization group and approximate solutions, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 09, 2411 (1994).
  118. D. F. Litim, Optimized renormalization group flows, Phys. Rev. D 64, 105007 (2001).
  119. C. Wetterich, Field transformations in functional integral, effective action and functional flow equations, Nucl. Phys. B1008, 116707 (2024).
  120. R. Percacci and G. P. Vacca, Are there scaling solutions in the O(N)-models for large N in d>4 ?, Phys. Rev. D 90, 107702 (2014).
  121. A. Bonanno, E. Glaviano, and G. P. Vacca, Proper-time functional renormalization in O(N) scalar models coupled to gravity, arXiv:2508.00807.
  122. A. Eichhorn and M. Pauly, Constraining power of asymptotic safety for scalar fields, Phys. Rev. D 103, 026006 (2021).
  123. C. Wetterich and M. Yamada, Gauge hierarchy problem in asymptotically safe gravity–the resurgence mechanism, Phys. Lett. B 770, 268 (2017).
  124. P. B. Gilkey, Invariance Theory, the Heat Equation and the Atiyah-Singer Index Theorem, 2nd (CRC Press, 1995).
  125. J. M. Martin-Garcia, R. Portugal, and L. R. U. Manssur, The invar tensor package, Comput. Phys. Commun. 177, 640 (2007).
  126. J. M. Martín-García, xPerm: Fast index canonicalization for tensor computer algebra, Comput. Phys. Commun. 179, 597 (2008).
  127. D. Brizuela, J. M. Martin-Garcia, and G. A. Mena Marugan, xPert: Computer algebra for metric perturbation theory, Gen. Relativ. Gravit. 41, 2415 (2009).
  128. T. Nutma, xtras: A field-theory inspired xact package for mathematica, Comput. Phys. Commun. 185, 1719 (2014).

Outline

Information

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation