Related papers: Gravity action on the rapidly varying metrics
No experiment can measure an absolute scale: every dimensionfull quantity has to be compared to some fixed unit scale in order to be measured, and thus only dimensionless quantities are really physical. The Einstein and Jordan frame are…
We review the approach to quantum gravity which is based on the assumption that the short-distance structure of the spacetime is given by a piecewise flat manifold corresponding to a triangulation of a smooth manifold. We then describe the…
The Einstein-Hilbert action has a bulk term and a surface term (which arises from integrating a four divergence). I show that one can obtain Einstein's equations from the surface term alone. This leads to: (i) a novel, completely self…
The metric-affine variational principle is applied to generate teleparallel and symmetric teleparallel theories of gravity. From the latter is discovered an exceptional class which is consistent with a vanishing affine connection. Based on…
A modified theory of gravity with the function $F(R) = R\exp(\alpha R)$ instead of Ricci scalar $R$ in the Einstein$-$Hilbert action is considered and analyzed. The action of the model is converted into Einstein$-$Hilbert action at small…
The path integral of four dimensional quantum gravity is restricted to conformally self-dual metrics. It reduces to integrals over the conformal factor and over the moduli space of conformally self--dual metrics and can be studied with the…
We revisit the question of frame equivalence in Quantum Field Theory in the presence of gravity, a situation of relevance for theories aiming to describe the early Universe dynamics and Inflation in particular. We show that in those cases,…
The two surprising features of gravity are (a) the principle of equivalence and (b) the connection between gravity and thermodynamics. Using principle of equivalence and special relativity in the {\it local inertial frame}, one could obtain…
We study the generally covariant theory governing an isotropic spacetime region with uniform energy density. Gibbons, Hawking and York showed that fixing the induced boundary metric yields a well-posed variational problem. However, as we…
Scale invariance is considered in the context of a gravitational theory where the action, in the first order formalism, is of the form S = \int L_{1} \Phi d^4x + \int L_{2}\sqrt{-g}d^4x where \Phi is a density built out of degrees of…
Considering the Einstein-Hilbert truncation for the running action in (euclidean) quantum gravity, we derive the renormalization group equations for the cosmological and Newton constant. We find that these equations admit only the Gaussian…
We give a derivation of general relativity and the gauge principle that is novel in presupposing neither spacetime nor the relativity principle. We consider a class of actions defined on superspace with two key properties. The first is…
Like the Lovelock Lagrangian which is a specific homogeneous polynomial in Riemann curvature, for an alternative derivation of the gravitational equation of motion, it is possible to define a specific homogeneous polynomial analogue of the…
Our conventional system of physical units is based on local or microscopic {\it dimensional} quantities which are {\it defined}, for convenience or otherwise aesthetic reasons, to be spacetime-independent. A more general choice of units may…
The macroscopic dimensions of space should not be input but rather output of a general model for physics. Here, dimensionality arises from a recently discovered mathematical bifurcation: positive versus indefinite manifold pairings. It is…
The field equations of general relativity can be derived from the Einstein action, which is quadratic in connection coefficients, rather than the standard action involving the Gibbons-Hawking-York term and counterterm. We show that it is…
We consider the most general action for gravity which is quadratic in curvature. In this case first order and second order formalisms are not equivalent. This framework is a good candidate for a unitary and renormalizable theory of the…
Using the background-metric independence for the traceless mode as well as the conformal mode, 4D quantum gravity is described as a quantum field theory defined on a non-dynamical background-metric. The measure then induces an action with 4…
A model of two--dimensional gravity with an action depending only on a linear connection is considered. This model is a topological one, in the sense that the classical action does not contain a metric or zweibein at all. A metric and an…
This thesis studies modified theories of gravity from a geometric viewpoint. We review the motivations for considering alternatives to General Relativity and cover the mathematical foundations of gravitational theories in Riemannian and…