https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-016-4132-7
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Chiral fermions in asymptotically safe quantum gravity
1
Department of Physics, Gothenburg University, 41296, Göteborg, Sweden
2
Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Heidelberg, Philosophenweg 16, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany
3
ExtreMe Matter Institute EMMI, GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung mbH, Planckstr. 1, 64291, Darmstadt, Germany
* e-mail: jan.meibohm@physics.gu.se
Received:
17
February
2016
Accepted:
9
May
2016
Published online:
20
May
2016
We study the consistency of dynamical fermionic matter with the asymptotic safety scenario of quantum gravity using the functional renormalisation group. Since this scenario suggests strongly coupled quantum gravity in the UV, one expects gravity-induced fermion self-interactions at energies of the Planck scale. These could lead to chiral symmetry breaking at very high energies and thus to large fermion masses in the IR. The present analysis which is based on the previous works (Christiansen et al., Phys Rev D 92:121501, 2015; Meibohm et al., Phys Rev D 93:084035, 2016), concludes that gravity-induced chiral symmetry breaking at the Planck scale is avoided for a general class of NJL-type models. We find strong evidence that this feature is independent of the number of fermion fields. This finding suggests that the phase diagram for these models is topologically stable under the influence of gravitational interactions.
© The Author(s), 2016
