Related papers: The clouds of physics and Einstein's last query: C…
Our assumption that spacetime is a continuum leads to many challenges in mathematical physics. Singularities, divergent integrals and the like threaten many of our favorite theories, from Newtonian gravity to classical electrodynamics,…
The Standard Model is in good shape, apart possibly from g_\mu - 2 and some niggling doubts about the electroweak data. Something like a Higgs boson is required to provide particle masses, but theorists are actively considering…
One of the most important problems in Physics is how to reconcile Quantum Mechanics with General Relativity. Some authors have suggested that this may be realized at the expense of having to drop the quantum formalism in favor of a more…
In textbooks on statistical mechanics, one finds often arguments based on classical mechanics, phase space and ergodicity in order to justify the second law of thermodynamics. However, the basic equations of motion of classical mechanics…
In 1935 Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR) published an important paper in which they claimed that the whole formalism of quantum mechanics together with what they called "Reality Criterion" imply that quantum mechanics cannot be complete.…
The current standard model of cosmology assumes that the majority of matter in the Universe is made of dark matter, and that the latter is fundamentally different from ordinary matter. Dark matter can in principle explain the rotation of…
More than sixty years ago Zwicky made the case that the great clusters of galaxies are held together by the gravitational force of unseen (dark) matter. Today, the case is stronger and more precise: Dark, nonbaryonic matter accounts for 30%…
In 1998 astronomers discovered that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Somehow, something must have made gravity repulsive on cosmological scales. This something was called dark energy; it is described by Einstein's cosmological…
What, if any, was Einstein's biggest mistake, the one most affecting our physics today? There is a perhaps apocryphal story, recounted by George Gamow, that he counted his cosmological constant as his biggest blunder. We now know his…
This work derives the elements of classical Einstein Cartan theory (EC) from classical general relativity (GR) in two ways. (I) Derive discrete versions of torsion (translational holonomy) and the spin torsion field equation of EC from one…
Einstein established the theory of general relativity and the corresponding field equation in 1915 and its vacuum solutions were obtained by Schwarzschild and Kerr for, respectively, static and rotating black holes, in 1916 and 1963,…
The basic idea that gravity can be a long-wavelength effect {\it induced} by the peculiar ground state of an underlying quantum field theory leads to consider the implications of spontaneous symmetry breaking through an elementary scalar…
To fully understand the present position concerning so-called dark matter, it is necessary to examine the historical background since, only by following this approach, do all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Here an attempt is made…
The discovery of cosmic acceleration has presented a unique challenge for cosmologists. As observational cosmology forges ahead, theorists have struggled to make sense of a standard model that requires extreme fine tuning. This challenge is…
At this beginning of the 21st century, the situation of physics is not without analogy with that which prevailed a hundred years ago, with the outset of the double scientific revolution of relativity and quanta. On the one hand, recent…
In this work the phenomenology of models possessing a non-minimal coupling between matter and geometry is discussed, with a particular focus on the possibility of describing the flattening of the galactic rotation curves as a dynamically…
A very short, non-technical review of the main problems which are presently open in the context of the gravitational theory and of its cosmological applications, and which are currently under investigation and deep discussion. We will talk…
Starting from a new understanding of the vacuum energy problem based on the combination of the phase space regularization and the holographic bound, we argue that quantum gravity should be understood as gravitized quantum theory, that is,…
That gravitation can be understood as purely metric phenomenon depends crucially on the validity of a number of hypotheses which are summarised by the Einstein Equivalence Principle, the least well tested part of which being the…
Today, both particle physics and cosmology are described by few parameter Standard Models, i.e. it is possible to deduce consequence of particle physics in cosmology and vice verse. The former is examined in this lecture, in light of the…