Related papers: Spacetime geometry in (2+1)-gravity via measuremen…
In this work we consider perturbations of homogeneous and hypersurface orthogonal cosmological backgrounds with local rotational symmetry (LRS), using a method based on the 1 + 1 + 2 covariant split of spacetime. The backgrounds, of LRS…
Newtonian gravity arises as the nonrelativistic, static, weak-field limit of some Lorentzian spacetime geometry solving the generally covariant Einstein equations for a given matter field configuration. Spacetime geometry has a local…
A general relativistic description of a disk rotating at constant angular velocity is given. It is argued that conceptually this direct approach poses fewer problems than the special relativistic one. For observers on the disk, the geometry…
Motivated by an axiomatic approach to characterize space-time it is investigated a reformulation of Einstein's gravity where the pseudo-riemannian geometry is substituted by a Weyl one. It is presented the main properties of the Weyl…
We use the polygon representation of 2+1--dimensional gravity to explicitly carry out the canonical quantization of a universe with the topology of a torus. The mapping-class-invariant wave function for a quantum ''big bounce'', is…
In recent years several ideas for experimental searches of effects induced by quantum properties of space-time have been discussed. Some of these ideas concern the role in quantum spacetime of the ordinary Lorentz symmetry of classical flat…
Proposals that quantum gravity gives rise to non-commutative spacetime geometry and deformations of Poincare symmetry are examined in the context of (2+1)-dimensional quantum gravity. The results are expressed in five lessons, which…
The covariance of loop quantum gravity studies of spherically symmetric space-times has recently been questioned. This is a reasonable worry, given that they are formulated in terms of slicing-dependent variables. We show explicitly that…
An overview is given on those theoretical gravitational lensing results that can be formulated in a spacetime setting, without assuming that the gravitational fields are weak and that the bending angles are small. The first part is devoted…
Non-metricity provides a natural extension of Riemannian geometry, yet its experimental signatures remain largely unexplored. In this work we investigate how spacetime non-metricity can be probed through high-precision observations,…
Position and momentum enter at the same level of importance in the formulation of classical or quantum mechanics. This is reflected in the invariance of Poisson brackets or quantum commutators under canonical transformations, which I regard…
General N=(1,1) dilaton supergravity in two dimensions allows a background independent exact quantization of the geometric part, if these theories are formulated as specific graded Poisson-sigma models. The strategy developed for the…
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 consider the standard problem of observational astronomy, i.e. the observations of light emission from a distant region of spacetime in general relativity. The goal is to describe the changes between the measurements of the light…
The most fundamental characteristics of a physical system can often be deduced from its behaviour under discrete symmetry transformations such as time reversal, parity and chirality. Here we review basic symmetry properties of the…
I discuss some theoretical ideas concerning the representation of quantum gravity as a Lorentz-symmetry-violating `medium' with non-trivial optical properties, which include a refractive index in `vacuo' and stochastic effects associated…
The starting point of this work is the principle that all movement of particles and photons must follow geodesics of a 4-dimensional space where time intervals are always a measure on geodesic arc lengths. The last 3 coordinates (alpha =…
Spacetime as we know and love it is lost in most approaches to quantum gravity. For many of these approaches, as inchoate and incomplete as they may be, one of the main challenges is to relate what they take to be the fundamental…
(from the talk:) I shall here speak on gravity in (1+1)-dimensional space-time --- lineal gravity. The purpose of studying lower dimensional theories, and specifically lower dimensional gravity, is to gain insight into difficult…
Since the gauge group underlying 2+1-dimensional general relativity is non-compact, certain difficulties arise in the passage from the connection to the loop representations. It is shown that these problems can be handled by appropriately…