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In these two lectures I describe the difficulties one encounters when trying to construct a framework in which to describe topology change in classical general relativity where one sticks to the assumption of an everywhere non-singular…
A gravitational field can be defined in terms of a moving frame, which when made noncommutative yields a preferred basis for a differential calculus. It is conjectured that to a linear perturbation of the commutation relations which define…
The geometric foundations of General Relativity are revisited, with particular attention to its gauge invariance, as a key to understanding the true nature of spacetime. Beyond the common image of spacetime as a deformable 'fabric' filling…
Hamiltonian gravity, relying on arbitrary choices of "space," can obscure spacetime symmetries. We present an alternative, manifestly spacetime covariant formulation that nonetheless distinguishes between "spatial" and "temporal" variables.…
We construct a quantization of the moduli space $\mathcal{GH}_\Lambda(S\times\mathbb{R})$ of maximal globally hyperbolic Lorentzian metrics on $S\times \mathbb{R}$ with constant sectional curvature $\Lambda$, for a punctured surface $S$.…
Viewing gravitational energy momentum $p_G^\mu$ as equal by observation, but different in essence from inertial energy-momentum $p_I^\mu$ requires two different symmetries to account for their independent conservations - spacetime and inner…
We generalize the Hamiltonian picture of General Relativity coupled to classical matter, known as geometrodynamics, to the case where such matter is described by a Quantum Field Theory in Curved Spacetime, but gravity is still described by…
A set of observables is described for the topological quantum field theory which describes quantum gravity in three space-time dimensions with positive signature and positive cosmological constant. The simplest examples measure the…
Two new observational windows have been opened to strong gravitational physics: gravitational waves, and very long baseline interferometry. This suggests observational searches for new phenomena in this regime, and in particular for those…
We consider noncommutative geometries obtained from a triangular Drinfeld twist. This allows to construct and study a wide class of noncommutative manifolds and their deformed Lie algebras of infinitesimal diffeomorphisms. This way symmetry…
The theories of strings and $D$-branes have motivated the development of non Abelian cohomology techniques in differential geometry, on the purpose to find a geometric interpretation of characteristic classes. The spaces studied here, like…
This dissertation investigates three main topics, all of which dealing with alternative, higher-order gravity theories in four dimensions. Firstly, we study the variational and conformal structure of those theories. Next, we analyse their…
We discuss the distinction between the notion of partial observable and the notion of complete observable. Mixing up the two is frequently a source of confusion. The distinction bears on several issues related to observability, such as (i)…
In a class of generalized gravity theories with general couplings between the scalar field and the scalar curvature in the Lagrangian, we describe the quantum generation and the classical evolution processes of both the scalar and tensor…
With approaching quantum/noncommutative models for the deep microscopic spacetime in mind, and inspired by our recent picture of the (projective) Hilbert space as the model of physical space behind basic quantum mechanics, we reformulate…
The covariant canonical transformation theory applied to the relativistic Hamiltonian theory of classical matter fields in dynamical space-time yields a novel (first order) gauge field theory of gravitation. The emerging field equations…
A model of topological field theory is presented in which the vacuum coupling constants are topological invariants of the four-dimensional spacetime. Thus the coupling constants are theoretically computable, and they indicate the…
Let a differential 4D-manifold with a smooth coframe field be given. Consider the operators on it that are linear in the second order derivatives or quadratic in the first order derivatives of the coframe, both with coefficients that depend…
Wormholes are intriguing classical solutions in General Relativity, that have fascinated theoretical physicists for decades. In recent years, especially in Holography, gravitationalWormhole geometries have found a new life in many…
We review and relate two recent complementary constructions of linear local gauge-invariant observables for cosmological perturbations in generic spatially flat single-field inflationary cosmologies. After briefly discussing their physical…