Related papers: Higher order terms in an improved heterotic M theo…
We discuss some consequences of the fact that symmetry groups appearing in compactified (super-)gravity may be non-simply connected. The possibility to add fermions to a theory results in a simple criterion to decide whether a 3-dimensional…
Gibbons-Hawking-York (GHY) terms are typically neglected when performing dimensional reductions of gravitational theories. We consider the reduction of such terms for both two-derivative and four-derivative theories in general dimensions.…
We consider counterterms for odd dimensional holographic CFTs. These counterterms are derived by demanding cut-off independence of the CFT partition function on $S^d$ and $S^1 \times S^{d-1}$. The same choice of counterterms leads to a…
We study the cosmological effects of adding terms of higher-order in the usual energy-momentum tensor to the matter lagrangian of general relativity. This is in contrast to most studies of higher-order gravity which focus on generalising…
This is a broad-brush review of how string theory addresses several important questions of gravitational physics. The problem of non-renormalizability is first reviewed, followed by introduction of string theory as an ultraviolet-finite…
A simple technique for the construction of gravity theories in Born-Infeld style is presented, and the properties of some of these novel theories are investigated. They regularize the positive energy Schwarzschild singularity, and a large…
We present general relativistic correction terms appearing in Newton's gravity to the second-order perturbations of cosmological fluids. In our previous work we have shown that to the second-order perturbations, the density and velocity…
Supersymmetric higher derivative gravities define superconformal field theories via the AdS/CFT correspondence. From the boundary theory viewpoint, supersymmetry implies a relation between the coefficients which determine the three point…
I discuss the role of quantum effects in the phenomenology of effective supergravity theories from compactification of the weakly coupled heterotic string. An accurate incorporation of these effects requires a regularization procedure that…
In a recent paper Townsend suggested to associate to the D=11 solitonic membrane of N=1 supergravity a certain thickness, and then to identify this membrane with the fundamental supermembrane. By integrating out the 8 transverse dimensions…
Although there is general agreement that a removal of classical gravitational singularities is not only a crucial conceptual test of any approach to quantum gravity but also a prerequisite for any fundamental theory, the precise criteria…
It is well-known that owing to the restricted character of the area additional surface terms emerge in the traditional form of hypervirial and/or Ehrenfest theorems. Especially, when one considers spherically symmetric potentials and…
These lectures present a general critical assessment of various frameworks for quantum gravity, with particular emphasis on string theory. The topics discussed cover field-theoretical approaches to quantum gravity, anomalies, bosonic and…
A large number of particle species allows to formulate quantum gravity in a special double-scaling limit, the species limit. In this regime, quantum gravitational amplitudes simplify substantially. An infinite set of perturbative…
In a previous paper we had proposed a specific route to relating the entropy of two charge black holes to the degeneracy of elementary string states in N=4 supersymmetric heterotic string theory in four dimensions. For toroidal…
The string corrections to the Riemann Curvature tensor are found to first order in the string slope parameter, here proportional to $\g$. This is done for D=10 supergravity, the presumed low energy limit of string theory. We follow the…
The field equations associated to Born-Infeld type brane theories are studied by using an auxiliary variables method. This approach hinges on the fact that the expressions defining the physical and geometrical quantities describing the…
Quantum cosmology implies corrections to the classical equations of motion which may lead to significant departures from the classical trajectory, especially at high curvature near the big-bang singularity. Corrections could in principle be…
We consider possible resolutions of singularities in a contracting anisotropic universe for a class of higher derivative gravity theories. We give evidence that for our models the big crunch singularity may be replaced by a nearly flat…
We discuss spacetime instability for effective field theories of quantum gravity. The effective action of gravity introduces infinite higher derivative curvature terms $R^{2}, { R }_{ \mu \nu }{ R }^{ \mu \nu }, R_{\mu\nu\kappa\lambda}…