Related papers: Classical GR as a topological theory with linear c…
This is a PhD thesis on a categorical generalization of the $BF$ model called the $BFCG$ theory. The new theory is equivalent to General Relativity at the classical level but, at the quantum level, seeks to address the problem of the…
The different roles and natures of spacetime appearing in a quantum field theory and in classical physics are analyzed implying that a quantum theory of gravitation is not necessarily a quantum theory of curved spacetime. Developing an…
Topological solutions in the (2+1)-dimensional Einstein theory of gravity are studied within the ADM canonical formalism. It is found that a conical singularity appears in the closed de Sitter universe solution as a topological defect in…
In the last 20 years, loop quantum gravity, a background independent approach to unify general relativity and quantum mechanics, has been widely investigated. The aim of loop quantum gravity is to construct a mathematically rigorous,…
A recently introduced approach for the dynamical analysis and quantization of field theoretical models with second class constraints is ilustrated applied to linearized gravity in 3-D. The canonical structure of two different models of…
Dynamical generation of 4d gauge theories and gravity at low energy from the 3d ones at high energy is studied, based on the fermion condensation mechanism recently proposed by Arkani-Hamed, Cohen and Georgi. For gravity, 4d Einstein…
We construct a new vacuum for loop quantum gravity, which is dual to the Ashtekar-Lewandowski vacuum. Because it is based on BF theory, this new vacuum is physical for $(2+1)$-dimensional gravity, and much closer to the spirit of spin foam…
We present the canonical analysis of different versions of unimodular gravity defined in the Pleba\'nski formalism, based on a (generally complex) SO(3) spin connection and set of (self-dual) two-forms. As in the metric formulation of…
An idea of reality conditions in the context of spin foams (Barrett-Crane models) is developed. The square of areas are the most elementary observables in the case of spin foams. This observation implies that simplest reality conditions in…
We discuss a new extended gravity model in ordinary $D=4$ spacetime dimensions, where an additional term in the action involving Gauss-Bonnet topological density is included without the need to couple it to matter fields unlike the case of…
We provide a generating functional for the gravitational field, associated to the relaxation of the primary constraints as extended to the quantum sector. This requirement of the theory, relies on the assumption that a suitable time…
We study the implications of the simplicity constraint in the spincube model of quantum gravity. By relating the edge-lengths to the integer areas of triangles, the simplicity constraint imposes very strong restrictions between them,…
We present a theory of four-dimensional quantum gravity with massive gravitons which may be essentially renormalizable. In the Plebanski formulation of General Relativity (GR), in which the tetrads, the connection and the curvature are all…
We propose a spin foam model for pure gauge fields coupled to Riemannian quantum gravity in four dimensions. The model is formulated for the triangulation of a four-manifold which is given merely combinatorially. The Riemannian…
The perturbative finiteness of various topological models (e.g. BF models) has its origin in an extra symmetry of the gauge-fixed action, the so-called vector supersymmetry. Since an invariance of this type also exists for gravity and since…
In this article we apply background-independent renormalization group methods to spin foam quantum gravity. It is aimed at extending and elucidating the analysis of a companion letter, in which the existence of a fixed point in the…
In this work we consider gravitational theories in which the effect of coupling characteristic classes, appropriately introduced as operators in the Einstein-Hilbert action, has been taken into account. As it is well known, this approach…
We find the membrane equations which describe the leading order in $1/D$ dynamics of black holes in the $D\rightarrow\infty$ limit for the most general four-derivative theory of gravity in the presence of a cosmological constant. We work up…
The description of the $T\bar{T}$ deformation in terms of two-dimensional gravity is analyzed from the Hamiltonian point of view, in a manner analogous to the ADM description of general relativity. We find that the Hamiltonian constraints…
We analyze the presumptions which lead to instabilities in theories of order higher than second. That type of fourth order gravity which leads to an inflationary (quasi de Sitter) period of cosmic evolution by inclusion of one curvature…