Related papers: Extended matter coupled to BF theory

We consider new cosmological solutions with a collapsing, an intermediate and an expanding phase. The boundary between the expanding (collapsing) phase and the intermediate phase is seen by comoving observers as a cosmological past (future)…

The implications of string theory for understanding the dimension of uncompactified spacetime are investigated. Using recent ideas in string cosmology, a new model is proposed to explain why three spatial dimensions grew large. Unlike the…

It is well known that, in the first-order formalism, pure three-dimensional gravity is just the BF theory. Similarly, four-dimensional general relativity can be formulated as BF theory with an additional constraint term added to the…

An alternative approach to introducing gravitational dynamics on a brane embedded in a higher dimensional spacetime is presented. The brane is treated as a boundary of a higher dimensional manifold in which the bulk action is described by a…

The subject of this thesis is the coupling of quantum fields to a classical gravitational background in a semiclassical fashion. It contains a thorough introduction into quantum field theory on curved spacetime with a focus on the…

By means of a simple model we investigate the possibility that spacetime is a membrane embedded in higher dimensions. We present cosmological solutions of d-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell theory which compactify to two dimensions. These…

In this paper we discuss topological BF theories in 3 and 4 dimensions. Observables are associated to ordinary knots and links (in 3 dimensions) and to 2-knots (in 4 dimensions). The vacuum expectation values of such observables give a wide…

In this article we propose to add stress-energy tensor to the Einstein equations, assuming that the matter-energy and the metric space-time is nothing but a continuous medium with some elastic properties. We first give a general expression…

We consider a spacetime formed by several pieces having common timelike boundary which plays the role of a junction between them. We establish junction conditions for fields of various spin and derive the resulting laws of wave propagation…

Starting from a Lie group G whose Lie algebra is equipped with an invariant nondegenerate symmetric bilinear form, we show that 4-dimensional BF theory with cosmological term gives rise to a TQFT satisfying a generalization of Atiyah's…

The idea of treating general relativistic theories in a perturbative expansion around a topological theory has been recently put forward in the quantum gravity literature. Here we investigate the viability of this idea, by applying it to…

We use a reformulation of topological group field theories in 3 and 4 dimensions in terms of variables associated to vertices, in 3d, and edges, in 4d, to obtain new scaling bounds for their Feynman amplitudes. In both 3 and 4 dimensions,…

Quantum field theory successfully explains the origin of all fundamental forces except gravity due to the renormalizability problem. In this paper, we proposed a topological scenario to understand this puzzle. First, we proposed a $3+1$D…

We start by presenting the general set of structure equations for the 1+3 threading spacetime decomposition in 4 spacetime dimensions, valid for any theory of gravitation based on a metric compatible affine connection. We then apply these…

F-theory is the theory proposed to incorporate superstring theory in a way such that STU dualities are manifest. A useful description uses a current superalgebra on a higher-dimensional worldvolume, following from an action for a selfdual…

A set of algebraic equations for the topological properties of space-time is derived, and used to extend general relativity into the Planck domain. A unique basis set of three-dimensional prime manifolds is constructed which consists of…

Starting from Ooguri's construction for $BF$ theory in three (and four) dimensions, we show how to construct a well defined theory with an infinite number of degrees of freedom. The spin network states that are kept invariant by the…

The possibility of obtaining singularity free cosmological solutions in four dimensional effective actions motivated by string theory is investigated. In these effective actions, in addition to the Einstein-Hilbert term, the dilatonic and…

We elaborate on the proposed general boundary formulation as an extension of standard quantum mechanics to arbitrary (or no) backgrounds. Temporal transition amplitudes are generalized to amplitudes for arbitrary spacetime regions. State…

A theory has been presented previously in which the geometrical structure of a real four-dimensional space time manifold is expressed by a real orthonormal tetrad, and the group of diffeomorphisms is replaced by a larger group. The group…