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Limitations to EFT Methods with Gravity: Turning up the Heat

Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery

Effective field theory methods underpin quantum calculations with gravity, and thereby ensure the reliability of predictions for Hawking radiation or inflationary primordial fluctuations. Yet persistent concerns (like the phenomenon of secular growth in primordial fluctuations or information loss for Hawking radiation) appear to indicate a breakdown of these techniques in what ought to be a regime under good control. This talk argues that gravity indeed introduces new boundaries to the domain of validity of EFT methods, particularly at late times (where most of the puzzles seem to lie). Evidence for this picture is provided, together with remedies that come from other, more familiar, areas of physics where similar issues also arise.

Mathematics; Relativity and gravitational theory; Quantum theory; String theory

video/mp4

Author affiliation: McMaster University and Perimeter Institute

2019-10-27

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/72073

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/