Related papers: On the measure of spacetime and gravity
Had Einstein followed the Bianchi differential identity for the derivation of his equation of motion for gravitation, $\Lambda$ would have emerged as a true new constant of spacetime on the same footing as the velocity of light? It is then…
It is very likely that the quantum description of spacetime is quite different from what we perceive at large scales, $l\gg (G\hbar/c^3)^{1/2}$. The long wave length description of spacetime, based on Einstein's equations, is similar to the…
The equations of motion describing all physical systems, except gravity, remain invariant if a constant is added to the Lagrangian. In the conventional approach, gravitational theories break this symmetry exhibited by all other physical…
In his monumental discoveries, the driving force for Einstein was, I believe, consistency of concept and principle rather than conflict with experiment. Following this Einsteinian dictum, we would first argue that homogeneity (universal…
We give a simple example of spacetime metric, illustrating that homogeneity and isotropy of space slices at all moments of time is not obligatory lifted to a full system of six Killing vector fields in spacetime, thus it cannot be…
The existence of a non-zero cosmological constant $\Lambda$ gives rise to controversial interpretations. Is $\Lambda$ a universal constant fixing the geometry of an empty universe, as fundamental as the Planck constant or the speed of light…
The cosmological constant $\Lambda$ used to be a freedom in Einstein's theory of general relativity, where one had a proclivity to set it to zero purely for convenience. The signs of $\Lambda$ or $\Lambda$ being zero would describe…
I describe an approach which connects classical gravity with the quantum microstructure of spacetime. The field equations arise from maximizing the density of states of matter plus geometry. The former is identified using the thermodynamics…
There are not many tools to quantitatively monitor the emergence of classical geometric features from a quantum spacetime, whose microscopic structure may be a highly quantum-fluctuating "spacetime foam". To improve this situation, we…
The general thermodynamic analysis of the quantum vacuum, which is based on our knowledge of the vacua in condensed-matter systems, is consistent with the Einstein earlier view on the cosmological constant. In the equilibrium Universes the…
Within the $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model, the absolute value of Einstein's cosmological constant $\Lambda$, sometimes expressed as the gravitating mass-energy density $\rho_\Lambda$ of the physical vacuum, is a fundamental constant of…
We make the cosmological constant, {\Lambda}, into a field and restrict the variations of the action with respect to it by causality. This creates an additional Einstein constraint equation. It restricts the solutions of the standard…
We find five fundamental reasons demanding that any gravitational mass m, and the speed of light c, vary with cosmological time such that mc remains constant. This is required by the universal condition of conservation of momentum in a…
The cosmological constant $\Lambda$ is a free parameter in Einstein's equations of gravity. We propose to fix its value with a boundary condition: test particles should be free when outside causal contact, e.g. at infinity. Under this…
The Einstein equations for a perfect fluid spatially homogeneous spacetime are studied in a unified manner by retaining the generality of certain parameters whose discrete values correspond to the various Bianchi types of spatial…
I describe an approach which relates classical gravity to the quantum microstructure of spacetime. In this approach, the field equations arise from maximizing the density of states of the matter plus geometry. The former is identified using…
The model of the homogenous and isotropic universe with two spaces is considered. The background space is a coordinate system of reference and defines the behaviour of the universe. The other space characterizes the gravity of the matter of…
We hereby show that the Kasner spacetime turns out to be singularity-free in Einstein's conformal gravity in vacuum or in presence of matter. Such a statement is based on the regularity of the curvature invariants and on the geodesic…
We present a novel derivation of the spacetime metric generated by matter, without invoking Einstein's field equations. For static sources, the metric arises from a relativistic formulation of D'Alembert's principle, where the inertial…
Trace-free Einstein gravity, in the absence of matter fields and using the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) metric, is solvable both classically and quantum mechanically. This is achieved by using the conformal time as the time variable and…