New counterterms induced by trans-Planckian physics in semiclassical gravity

TL;DR

This paper investigates how trans-Planckian physics induces new counterterms in semiclassical gravity within Einstein-Aether theory, highlighting the complexities of renormalization in anisotropic spacetimes with self-interacting scalar fields.

Contribution

It demonstrates that self-interactions and anisotropy lead to non-geometric counterterms involving both the metric and aether field, complicating renormalization.

Findings

Self-interaction and anisotropy produce non-geometric counterterms.

Renormalization involves new counterterms with metric and aether field.

Potential fine-tuning issues arise in general spacetimes.

Abstract

We consider free and self-interacting quantum scalar fields satisfying modified dispersion relations in the framework of Einstein-Aether theory. Using adiabatic regularization, we study the renormalization of the equation for the mean value of the field in the self-interacting case, and the renormalization of the semiclassical Einstein-Aether equations for free fields. In both cases we consider Bianchi type I background spacetimes. Contrary to what happens for {\it free} fields in {\it flat} Robertson-Walker spacetimes, the self-interaction and/or the anisotropy produce non-purely geometric terms in the adiabatic expansion, i.e terms that involve both the metric $g_{\mu\nu}$ and the aether field $u_{\mu}$. We argue that, in a general spacetime, the renormalization of the theory would involve new counterterms constructed with $g_{\mu\nu}$ and $u_{\mu}$, generating a fine-tuning problem for the Einstein-Aether theory.