Related papers: Conformal Gravity Challenges String Theory
This research is an extension of the author's article \cite{zar}, in which conformally invariant generalization of string theory was suggested to higher-dimensional objects. Special cases of the proposed theory are Einstein's theory of…
In this paper, we present a new formulation of topological conformal gravity in four dimensions. Such a theory was first considered by Witten as a possible gravitational counterpart of topological Yang-Mills theory, but several problems…
The quadratic theory of gravity is the unique renormalizable theory of quantum gravity in 4 dimensions, as proved by K. S. Stelle in 1977. Over the decades, the theory has been understood to contain a massive tensor ghost, and several…
A synthetic report of the advances in the study of classical and quantum string dynamics in curved backgrounds is provided, namely: the new feature of multistring solutions; the effect of a cosmological constant and of spacial curvature on…
The cosmological constant problem is principally concerned with trying to understand how the zero-point energy of quantum fields contributes to gravity. Here we take the approach that by addressing a fundamental unresolved issue in quantum…
Unimodular gravity (UG) is an interesting theory that may explain why the cosmological constant is extremely small, in contrast to general relativity (GR). The theory has only the transverse diffeomorphism invariance and this causes lots of…
The properties of a string-inspired two-dimensional theory of gravity are studied. The post-Newtonian and weak-field approximations, `stellar' structure and cosmological solutions of this theory are developed. Some qualitative similarities…
There are many theories of quantum gravity, depending on asymptotic boundary conditions, and the amount of supersymmetry. The cosmological constant is one of the fundamental parameters that characterize different theories. If it is…
The paper deals with a modified theory of gravity and the cosmological consequences. Instead of concerning the field equations directly, we modify a conformally-related and equivalent equation, such that a spontaneous symmetry breaking at…
In applications of Einstein gravity one replaces the quantum-mechanical energy-momentum tensor of sources such as the degenerate electrons in a white dwarf or the black-body photons in the microwave background by c-number matrix elements.…
We propose that gravity be intrinsically quantum-mechanical, so that in the absence of quantum mechanics the geometry of the universe would be Minkowski. We show that in such a situation gravity does not require any independent quantization…
ElectroMagnetic Quantum Gravity (EMQG) is applied to the problem of the Cosmological Constant. EMQG is a quantum gravity theory (ref. 1) in which the virtual particles of the quantum vacuum play a very important role in all gravitational…
According to general relativity, the present analysis shows on geometrical grounds that the cosmological constant problem is an artifact due to the unfounded link of this fundamental constant to vacuum energy density of quantum…
A quantum field theory formalism is reviewed that leads to a self-consistent, finite quantum gravity, Yang-Mills and Higgs theory, which is unitary and gauge invariant to all orders of perturbation theory. The gauge hierarchy problem is…
F-theory in its most general sense should be a theory defined on a worldvolume of higher dimension than the worldsheet, that reproduces string results perturbatively but includes nonperturbative supergravity solutions at the first-quantized…
We recall a classical theory of torsion gravity with an asymmetric metric, sourced by a Nambu-Goto + Kalb-Ramond string . We explain why this is a significant gravitational theory, and in what sense classical general relativity is an…
We study cosmological perturbations for a ghost free massive gravity theory formulated with a dynamical extra metric that is needed to massive deform GR. In this formulation FRW background solutions fall in two branches. In the dynamics of…
We discuss the hypothesis of a fixed point for quantum gravity coupled to a scalar, in the limit where the scalar field goes to infinity, accompanied by a suitable scaling of the metric. We propose that no scalar potential is present for…
A quantization of unimodular gravity is described, which results in a quantum effective action which is also unimodular, ie a function of a metric with fixed determinant. A consequence is that contributions to the energy momentum tensor of…
We present the first steps needed for an analysis of the perturbations that occur in the cosmology associated with the conformal gravity theory. We discuss the implications of conformal invariance for perturbative coordinate gauge choices,…