Related papers: A Definition of Background Independence
Linear cosmological perturbation theory is pivotal to a theoretical understanding of current cosmological experimental data provided e.g. by cosmic microwave anisotropy probes. A key issue in that theory is to extract the gauge invariant…
The gauge connections corresponding to electromagnetism, Yang-Mills theory and Einstein gravity can be derived by assuming specific commutation relations between the phase-space variables of a first quantized theory. Extending the procedure…
We describe a completely general and fully non-perturbative framework for constructing dynamical reference frames in generally covariant theories, and for understanding the gauge-invariant observables that they yield. Our approach makes use…
A cosmological time variable is emerged from the hamiltonian formulation of unimodular theory of gravity to measure the evolution of dynamical observables in the theory. A set of constants of motion has been identified for the theory on the…
A number of positive and null results on the time variation of fundamental constants have been reported. It is difficult to judge whether or not these claims are mutually consistent, since the observable quantities depend on several…
Nonabelian gauge theories with a generic background field A_mu in nonlinear gauges due to Delbourgo and Jarvis are investigated. The A_mu-dependence is completely determined by the help of a linear differential equation which obtaines from…
The late-time behavior of our universe is one of accelerated expansion, or that of a de Sitter space, and therefore motivates us to look for time-dependent backgrounds. Finding such backgrounds in string theory has always been a challenging…
The application of quantum theory to gravity is beset with many technical and conceptual problems. After a short tour d'horizon of recent attempts to master those problems by the introduction of new approaches, we show that the aim, a…
Gauge-invariant treatments of general-relativistic higher-order perturbations on generic background spacetime is proposed. After reviewing the general framework of the second-order gauge-invariant perturbation theory, we show the fact that…
We present a parameter-free gauge formulation of general relativity in terms of a new set of real spin connection variables. The theory is constructed by extending the phase space of the recently formulated conformal geometrodynamics for…
The conventional role of spacetime geometry in the description of gravity is pointed out. Global Poincar$\acute{\mbox{e}}$ symmetry as an inner symmetry of field theories defined on a fixed Minkowski spacetime is discussed. Its extension to…
We investigate a quantum mechanical system on a noncommutative space for which the structure constant is explicitly time-dependent. Any autonomous Hamiltonian on such a space acquires a time-dependent form in terms of the conventional…
A theory of massive gravity depends on a non-dynamical 'reference metric' f_{\mu\nu} which is often taken to be the flat Minkowski metric. In this paper we examine the theory of perturbations on a background with metric g_{\mu\nu} which…
Cosmology in extended theories of gravity is considered assuming the Palatini variational principle, for which the metric and connection are independent variables. The field equations are derived to linear order in perturbations about the…
In the first part of the thesis we focus on local symmetries. We review a self-consistent framework that we employed in order to discuss the dynamics of the theories of interest. Its merit lies in that we can make the symmetry group act…
In a recent paper (hep-th/0103228) a new initial value formulation of fermionic QFT was presented that is applicable to an arbitrary observer in any electromagnetic background. This approach suggests a consistent particle interpretation at…
We obtain a general class of time-dependent, asymptotically de Sitter backgrounds which solve the first order bosonic equations that extremize the action for supergravity with gauged non-compact $R$-symmetry. These backgrounds correspond…
Not only in physical string theories, but also in some highly simplified situations, background independence has been difficult to understand. It is argued that the ``holomorphic anomaly'' of Bershadsky, Cecotti, Ooguri, and Vafa gives a…
We derive the conditions whereby null rays `defocus' within Infinite Derivative Gravity for perturbations around an (A)dS background, and show that it is therefore possible to avoid singularities within this framework. This is in contrast…
Gauge symmetries emerge from a redundant description of the effective action for light degrees of freedom after the decoupling of heavy modes. This redundant description avoids the use of explicit constraints in configuration space. For…