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We examine implications of the weak gravity conjecture for the mechanisms for discharging cosmological constant via membrane nucleations. Once screening fluxes and membranes which source them enter, and weak gravity bounds are enforced, a…
We show that ${\cal N}=1$ supergravity with a cosmological constant can be expressed as constrained topological field theory based on the supergroup $Osp(1|4)$. The theory is then extended to include timelike boundaries with finite spatial…
In this thesis the cosmological constant is investigated from two points of view. First, we study the influence of a time-dependent cosmological constant on the late-time expansion of the universe. Thereby, we consider several combinations…
Under the assumption that the cosmological constant vanishes in the true ground state with lowest possible energy density, we argue that the observed small but finite vacuum-like energy density can be explained if we consider a theory with…
With the basic cosmological relations that agree with the recent observations, simple expressions are suggested concerning the value of cosmological constant($\Lambda$). A large contribution of quantum vacuum to the energy momentum tensor…
In the saddle point approximation, the Euclidean path integral for quantum gravity closely resembles a thermodynamic partition function, with the cosmological constant $\Lambda$ playing the role of temperature and the ``density of…
Within the framework of loop quantum cosmology, there exists a semi-classical regime where spacetime may be approximated in terms of a continuous manifold, but where the standard Friedmann equations of classical Einstein gravity receive…
The loop quantum gravitational collapse of the dust ball in presence of positive cosmological constant is investigated within the Oppenheimer-Snyder collapse scenario. The dust ball interior is described within the framework of loop quantum…
Using a D = 1 supergravity framework I construct a super-Friedmann equation for an isotropic and homogenous universe including dynamical scalar fields. In the context of quantum theory this becomes an equation for a wave-function of the…
Following Kachru, Kumar and Silverstein, we construct a set of non-supersymmetric Type II string models which have equal numbers of bosons and fermions at each mass level. The models are asymmetric {\bf Z}_2 \otimes {\bf Z}_2^{\prime}…
A nonlocal quantum gravity theory is presented which is finite and unitary to all orders of perturbation theory. Vertex form factors in Feynman diagrams involving gravitons suppress graviton and matter vacuum fluctuation loops by…
After a short history of the $\Lambda$-term it is explained why the (effective) cosmological constant is expected to obtain contributions from short-distance physics, corresponding to an energy at least as large as the Fermi scale. The…
A cosmological constant in the regime of low space-time curvature is calculated in the recently proposed version of F(R) supergravity with a generic cubic function F. The F(R) supergravity is the N=1 supersymmetric extension of f(R)…
The quantization of Einstein-Maxwell theory with a cosmological constant is considered. We obtain all logarithmically divergent terms in the one-loop effective action that involve only the background electromagnetic field. This includes…
We show how the scalar field, a candidate of quintessence, in a proposed model of the scalar-tensor theories of gravity provides a way to understand a small but nonzero cosmological constant as indicated by recent observations. A particular…
We consider two-dimensional quantum gravity endowed with a positive cosmological constant and coupled to a conformal field theory of large and positive central charge. We study cosmological properties at the classical and quantum level. We…
Deformations of the heterotic superpotential give rise to a topological holomorphic theory with similarities to both Kodaira-Spencer gravity and holomorphic Chern-Simons theory. Although the action is cubic, it is only quadratic in the…
We explore perturbations about a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background in Chern-Simons gravity. At large momenta one of the two circularly polarized tensor modes becomes ghostlike. We argue that nevertheless the theory does not exhibit…
We calculate deviations in cosmological observables as a function of parameters in a class of connection-based models of quantum gravity. In this theory non-trivial modifications to the background cosmology can occur due to a distortion of…
A dynamical aspect of quantum gravity on de Sitter spacetime is investigated by holography or the dS/CFT correspondence. We show that de Sitter spacetime emerges from a free Sp(N) vector model by complexifying the ghost fields and flowing…