Related papers: From time to timescape - Einstein's unfinished rev…
We examine the consequences of a universe with a non-constant cosmological term in Einstein's equations and find that the Bianchi identities reduce to the first law of thermodynamics when cosmological term is identified as being…
The major advances in physics have been through counterintuitive breakthroughs-- ideas that seemed to go against prevailing convictions. In the twentieth century the Special and General Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics have…
Einstein's theory of General Relativity is the benchmark example for empirical success and mathematical elegance in theoretical physics. However, in spite of being the most successfully tested theory in physics, there are strong theoretical…
In this paper I argue for a reassessment of special relativity. The fundamental theory of relativity applicable in this Universe has to be consistent with the existence of the massive Universe, and with the effects of its gravitational…
At the mesoscopic scales --- which interpolate between the macroscopic, classical, geometry and the microscopic, quantum, structure of spacetime --- one can identify the density of states of the geometry which arises from the existence of a…
Between 1905 and 1907, Einstein first tried to extend the special theory of relativity in such a way so as to explain gravitational phenomena. This was the most natural and simplest path to be taken. These investigations did not fit in with…
The content of Einstein's theory of gravitation is encoded in the properties of the solutions to his field equations. There has been obtained a wealth of information about these solutions in the ninety years the theory has been around. It…
The so-called Einstein-Aether theory is General Relativity coupled (at second derivative order) to a dynamical unit time-like vector field (the aether). It is a Lorentz-violating theory, and gained much attention in the recent years. In the…
The Einstein's equivalence principle is formulated in terms of the accuracy of measurements and its dependence of the size of the area of measurement. It is shown that different refinements of the statement 'the spacetime is locally flat'…
The Equivalence Principle (EP) is not one of the ``universal'' principles of physics (like the Action Principle). It is a heuristic hypothesis which was introduced by Einstein in 1907, and used by him to construct his theory of General…
The Einstein Equivalence Principle (EEP) can be probed with astrophysical sources emitting simultaneously different types of neutral particles, or particles with varying energies, by testing their time of flight through the same…
It is commonly remarked that contemporary physics faces a challenge in reconciling quantum theory with Relativity, specifically General Relativity as a theory of gravity. But "challenge" is too mild a descriptor. Once one understands both…
The expansion of our universe, when followed backward in time, implies that it emerged from a phase of huge density, the big bang. These stages are so extreme that classical general relativity combined with matter theories is not able to…
We investigate the cosmological behavior in a universe governed by time asymmetric extensions of general relativity, which is a novel modified gravity based on the addition of new, time-asymmetric, terms on the Hamiltonian framework, in a…
We discuss some fundamental issues underlying gravitational physics and point out some of the main shortcomings of Einstein's General Relativity. In particular, after taking into account the role of the two main objects of relativistic…
The idea that the cosmological term, Lambda, should be a time dependent quantity in cosmology is a most natural one. It is difficult to conceive an expanding universe with a strictly constant vacuum energy density, namely one that has…
General relativity predicts a singularity in the beginning of the universe being called big bang. Recent developments in loop quantum cosmology avoid the singularity and the big bang is replaced by a big bounce. A classical theory of…
We study the present, flat isotropic universe in 1/R-modified gravity. We use the Palatini (metric-affine) variational principle and the Einstein (metric-compatible connected) conformal frame. We show that the energy density scaling…
It is a remarkable fact that all processes occurring in the observable Universe are irreversible, whereas the equations through which the fundamental laws of physics are formulated are invariant under time reversal. The emergence of…
In this paper, inspired by quantum field theory, or more specifically QED, we propose a dynamical model for relativity. By adopting the approach provided by this dynamical model, we provide a dynamical explanation for relativistic phenomena…