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We drastically simplify the problem of linearizing a general higher-order theory of gravity. We reduce it to the evaluation of its Lagrangian on a particular Riemann tensor depending on two parameters, and the computation of two derivatives…
The modification to four--dimensional Einstein gravity at low energy in two brane models is investigated within supergravity in singular spaces. Using perturbation theory around a static BPS background, we study the effective…
(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…
We explain how quantum gravity can be defined by quantizing spacetime itself. A pinpoint is that the gravitational constant G = L_P^2 whose physical dimension is of (length)^2 in natural unit introduces a symplectic structure of spacetime…
We study the quantum dynamics of N=1 supergravity in four dimensions with a compact spatial circle. Supersymmetry ensures that the perturbative contributions to the Casimir energy on the circle cancel. However, instanton contributions…
Recent criticism of higher-dimensional extensions of Einstein's theory is considered. This may have some justification as regards string theory, but is misguided as applied to five-dimensional theories with a large extra dimension. Such…
A new principle in quantum gravity, dubbed spacetime complexity, states that gravitational physics emerges from spacetime seeking to optimize the computational cost of its quantum dynamics. Thus far, this principle has been realized at the…
Quantum gravity is studied in a semiclassical approximation and it is found that to first order in the Planck length the effect of quantum gravity is to make the low energy effective spacetime metric energy dependent. The diffeomorphism…
We find the conditions under which scale-invariant Einstein-Cartan gravity with scalar matter fields leads to an approximate conformal invariance of the flat space particle theory up to energies of the order of the Planck mass. In the…
The Planck scale is usually believed to be an unpassable wall. Putting a cutoff there and thinking of it as a quantized spacetime entity shows that. However, this is exactly the cause of many problems in quantum gravity. The cosmological…
We set up a covariant renormalisation group equation on a foliated spacetime which preserves background diffeomorphism symmetry. As a first application of the new formalism, we study the effect of quantum fluctuations in Lorentz symmetry…
The claim that at the so-called Planck scale our current physics breaks down and a new theory of quantum gravity is required is ubiquitous, but the evidence is shakier than the confidence of those assertions warrants. In this paper, I…
We consider cosmological and black hole solutions in the Einstein and higher-derivative gravity in two dimensions where the theory is formulated first in $D$ dimensions. In the limit that $D$ tends to $2$ with simultaneous singular…
The phenomenologically observed flatness - or near flatness - of spacetime cannot be understood as emerging from continuum Planck (or sub-Planck) scales using known physics. Using dimensional arguments it is demonstrated that any…
A `novel' pure theory of Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity in four-spacetime dimensions can be constructed by rescaling the Gauss-Bonnet coupling constant, seemingly eluding Lovelock's theorem. Recently, however, the well-posedness of this…
We present an effective four-dimensional formulation of the laws of gravity that respects the main features of a higher (five)-dimensional scenario of Randall-Sundrum type. The geometrical structure of the theory is that of a…
We adopt a framework where quantum-gravity's dynamical dimensional reduction of spacetime at short distances is described in terms of modified dispersion relations. We observe that by subjecting such models to a momentum-space…
So far, none of attempts to quantize gravity has led to a satisfactory model that not only describe gravity in the realm of a quantum world, but also its relation to elementary particles and other fundamental forces. Here, we outline the…
We study some two-dimensional dilaton gravity models using the formal theory of partial differential equations. This allows us to prove that the reduced phase space is two-dimensional without an explicit construction. By using a convenient…
A constraint of vanishing energy-momentum tensor is motivated by a variety of perspectives on quantum gravity. We demonstrate in a concrete example how this constraint leads to a metric-independent theory in which quantum gravity emerges as…