I review the lattice approach to quantum gravity, and how it relates to the non-trivial ultraviolet fixed point scenario of the continuum theory. After a brief introduction covering the general problem of ultraviolet divergences in gravity and other non-renormalizable theories, I discuss the general methods and goals of the lattice approach. An underlying theme is the attempt at establishing connections between the continuum renormalization group results, which are mainly based on diagrammatic perturbation theory, and the recent lattice results, which apply to the strong gravity regime and are inherently non-perturbative. A second theme in this review is the ever-present natural correspondence between infrared methods of strongly coupled non-abelian gauge theories on the one hand, and the low energy approach to quantum gravity based on the renormalization group and universality of critical behavior on the other. Towards the end of the review I discuss possible observational consequences of path integral quantum gravity, as derived from the non-trivial ultraviolet fixed point scenario. I argue that the theoretical framework naturally leads to considering a weakly scale-dependent Newton’s constant, with a scaling violation parameter related to the observed scaled cosmological constant (and not, as naively expected, to the Planck length).

In this work nonperturbative aspects of quantum gravity are investigated using the lattice formulation, and some new results are presented for critical exponents, amplitudes, and invariant correlation functions. Values for the universal scaling dimensions are compared with other nonperturbative approaches to gravity in four dimensions, and specifically to the conjectured value for the universal critical exponent ν=1/3. The lattice results are generally consistent with gravitational antiscreening, which would imply a slow increase in the strength of the gravitational coupling with distance, and presented herein are detailed estimates for exponents and amplitudes characterizing this slow rise. Furthermore, it is shown that in the lattice approach (as for gauge theories) the quantum theory is highly constrained, and eventually, by virtue of scaling, depends on a rather small set of physical parameters. Arguments are given in support of the statement that the fundamental reference scale for the growth of the gravitational coupling G with distance is represented by the observed scaled cosmological constant λ, which in gravity acts as an effective nonperturbative infrared cutoff. In this nonperturbative vacuum condensate picture a fundamental relationship emerges among the scale characterizing the running of G at large distances, the macroscopic scale for the curvature as described by the observed cosmological constant, and the behavior of invariant gravitational correlation functions at large distances. Overall, the lattice results suggest that the slow infrared growth of G with distance should become observable only on very large distance scales, comparable to λ. One may hope that future high precision satellite experiments could possibly come within reach of this small quantum correction, as suggested by the vacuum condensate picture of quantum gravity.

I review discrete and continuum approaches to quantized gravity based on the covariant Feynman path integral approach.

We examine the general issue of whether a scale dependent cosmological constant can be consistent with general covariance, a problem that arises naturally in the treatment of quantum gravitation, where coupling constants generally run as a consequence of renormalization group effects. The issue is approached from several points of view, which include the manifestly covariant functional integral formulation, covariant continuum perturbation theory about two dimensions, the lattice formulation of gravity, and the nonlocal effective action and effective field equation methods. In all cases we find that the cosmological constant cannot run with scale, unless general covariance is explicitly broken by the regularization procedure. Our results are expected to have some bearing on current quantum gravity calculations, but more generally should apply to phenomenological approaches to the cosmological vacuum energy problem. © 2013 World Scientific Publishing Company.

In some models of electroweak interactions the W and Z bosons are considered composites, made up of spin-$\frac12$ subconstituents. In these models a spin-0 counterpart of the W and Z boson naturally appears, whose higher mass can be attributed to a particular type of hyperfine spin interaction among the various subconstituents. Recently, it has been argued that the scalar state could be identified with the newly discovered Higgs (H) candidate. Here, we use the known spin splitting between the W/Z and H states to infer, within the framework of a purely phenomenological model, the relative strength of the spin-spin interactions. The results are then applied to the lepton sector, and used to crudely estimate the relevant spin splitting between the two lowest states. Our calculations in many ways parallels what is done in the SU(6) quark model, where most of the spin splittings between the lowest lying baryon and meson states are reasonably well-accounted for a simple color hyperfine interaction, with constituent (color-dressed) quark masses. © 2014 World Scientific Publishing Company.

Physical properties of the quantum gravitational vacuum state are explored by solving a lattice version of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. The constraint of diffeomorphism invariance is strong enough to uniquely determine part of the structure of the vacuum wave functional in the limit of infinitely fine triangulations of the three-sphere. In the large fluctuation regime, the nature of the wave function solution is such that a physically acceptable ground state emerges, with a finite nonperturbative correlation length naturally cutting off any infrared divergences. The location of the critical point in Newton's constant Gc, separating the weak from the strong coupling phase, is obtained, and it is inferred from the general structure of the wave functional that fluctuations in the curvatures become unbounded at this point. Investigations of the vacuum wave functional further suggest that for weak enough coupling, G