Related papers: Cosmological Singularities and a Conjectured Gravi…
The Belinski-Khalatnikov-Lifshitz scenario concerns the existence of generic singularity of general relativity. At the singularity, there is a breakdown of all known laws of physics. Quantization of this scenario leads, however, to regular…
The big bang and the Schwarzschild singularities are space-like. They are generally regarded as the "final frontiers" at which space-time ends and general relativity breaks down. We review the status of such space-like singularities from…
We characterise the (fake) supersymmetric solutions of Wick-rotated N=2 d=4 gauged supergravity coupled to non-Abelian vector multiplets. In the time-like case we obtain generalisations of Kastor & Traschen's cosmological black holes: they…
We show that (massive) D=10 type IIA supergravity possesses a hidden rigid SO(9,9) symmetry and a hidden local SO(9) x SO(9) symmetry upon dimensional reduction to one (time-like) dimension. We explicitly construct the associated locally…
We consider different aspects of the problem of cosmological singularity such as the BKL oscillatory approach to singularity, the new features of the cosmological dynamics in the neighbourhood of the singularity in multidimensional and…
Although there is general agreement that a removal of classical gravitational singularities is not only a crucial conceptual test of any approach to quantum gravity but also a prerequisite for any fundamental theory, the precise criteria…
We investigate some of the motivations and consequences of the conjecture that the Kac-Moody algebra E11 is the symmetry algebra of M-theory, and we develop methods to aid the further investigation of this idea. The definitions required to…
In a preceding report (hep-th/0112261), Pierre Ramond outlined a programme we have followed recently. An important ingredient in a future unique theory for basic physics must be a unique mathematical structure. It is then interesting to…
We find new, simple cosmological solutions with flat, open, and closed spatial geometries, contrary to the previous wisdom that only the open model is allowed. The metric and the St\"{u}ckelberg fields are given explicitly, showing…
In analyzing maximally symmetric Lovelock black holes with non-planar horizon topologies, many novel features have been observed. The existence of finite radius singularities, a mass gap in the black hole spectrum and solutions displaying…
A unique description of the Big Crunch-Big Bang transition is given at the classical gravity level, along with a complete set of homogeneous, isotropic, analytic solutions in scalar-tensor cosmology, with radiation and curvature. All…
We determine the gauge symmetries of all p-forms in maximal three-dimensional gauged supergravity by requiring invariance of the Lagrangian. It is shown that in a particular ungauged limit these symmetries are in precise correspondence to…
Several lines of evidence hint that quantum gravity at very small distances may be effectively two-dimensional. I summarize the evidence for such ``spontaneous dimensional reduction,'' and suggest an additional argument coming from the…
This paper deals with two aspects of relativistic cosmologies with closed (compact and boundless) spatial sections. These spacetimes are based on the theory of General Relativity, and admit a foliation into space sections S(t), which are…
The paper concerns the fictitious entanglement of the so-called ``singularities'' in problems, pertaining to quantum gravity, due, in point of fact, to the way we try to employ, in that context, differential geometry, the latter being…
We construct the N=1 three-dimensional supergravity theory with cosmological, Einstein-Hilbert, Lorentz Chern-Simons, and general curvature squared terms. We determine the general supersymmetric configuration, and find a family of…
It is well known that the toroidal dimensional reduction of supergravities gives rise in three dimensions to theories whose bosonic sectors are described purely in terms of scalar degrees of freedom, which parameterise sigma-model coset…
We define a level for a large class of Lorentzian Kac-Moody algebras. Using this we find the representation content of very extended $A_{D-3}$ and $E_8$ (i.e. $E_{11}$) at low levels in terms of $A_{D-1}$ and $A_{10}$ representations…
A discussion of inhomogeneity is indispensable to understand quantum cosmology, even if one uses the dynamics of homogeneous geometries as a first approximation. While a full quantization of inhomogeneous gravity is not available, a broad…
Quantum M-theory is formulated using the current algebra technique. The current algebra is based on a Kac-Moody algebra rather than usual finite dimensional Lie algebra. Specifically, I study the $E_{11}$ Kac-Moody algebra that was shown…