Related papers: The measure matters
We formally prove the existence of a quantization procedure that makes the path integral of a general diffeomorphism-invariant theory of gravity, with fixed total spacetime volume, equivalent to that of its unimodular version. This is…
Unifying quantum theory and gravity remains a fundamental challenge in physics. While most existing literature focuses on the ultraviolet (UV) modifications of quantum theory due to gravity, this work shows that generic infrared (IR)…
The spectral principle of Connes and Chamseddine is used as a starting point to define a discrete model for Euclidean quantum gravity. Instead of summing over ordinary geometries, we consider the sum over generalized geometries where…
Quantum gravity effects are traditionally tied to short distances and high energies. In this essay we argue that, perhaps surprisingly, quantum gravity may have important consequences for the phenomenology of the infrared. We center our…
Space-time quantum contributions to the classical Einstein equations of General Relativity are determined. The theoretical background is provided by the non-perturbative theory of manifestly-covariant quantum gravity and the…
We examine the scaling of geodesic correlation functions in two-dimensional gravity and in spin systems coupled to gravity. The numerical data support the scaling hypothesis and indicate that the quantum geometry develops a non-perturbative…
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…
We generalize the scale invariant gravity by allowing a negative kinetic energy term for the classical scalar field. This gives birth to a new scalar-tensor theory of gravity, in which the scalar field is in fact an auxiliary field. For a…
The concept of electric-magnetic duality can be extended to linearized gravity. It has indeed been established that in four dimensions, the Pauli-Fierz action (quadratic part of the Einstein-Hilbert action) can be cast in a form that is…
Complexifying space time has many interesting applications, from the construction of higher dimensional unification, to provide a useful framework for quantum gravity and to better define some local symmetries that suffer singularities in…
We propose a simple model of spacetime vacuum fluctuations motivated by AdS/CFT, where the vacuum is described by a thermal density matrix, $\rho = \frac{e^{-K}}{\mbox{Tr}(e^{-K})}$ with $K$ the modular Hamiltonian. In AdS/CFT, both the…
Noncommutative geometry is a mathematical framework that expresses the structure of space-time in terms of operator algebras. By using the tools of quantum mechanics to describe the geometry, noncommutative space-times are expected to give…
We present a gravitational quantum dynamics theory that combines quantum field theory for particle dynamics in space-time with classical Einstein's general relativity in a non-Riemannian Finsler space. This approach is based on the…
We discuss a variation of quadratic gravity in which the gravitational interaction remains weakly coupled at all energies, but is assisted by a Yang-Mills gauge theory which becomes strong at the Planck scale. The Yang-Mills interaction is…
We discuss some effects induced by quantum field fluctuations on mass, inertia and gravitation. Recalling the problem raised by vacuum field fluctuations with respect to inertia and gravitation, we show that vacuum energy differences, such…
Unimodular gravity is classically equivalent to standard Einstein gravity, but differs when it comes to the quantum theory: The conformal factor is non-dynamical, and the gauge symmetry consists of transverse diffeomorphisms only.…
By following the general guiding principle that nothing should be prescribed or imposed on the universal entity, spacetime, we establish that it is the homogeneity (by which we mean homogeneity and isotropy of space and homogeneity of time)…
Some first results are presented regarding the behavior of invariant correlations in simplicial gravity, with an action containing both a bare cosmological term and a lattice higher derivative term. The determination of invariant…
Some of the simplest modifications to general relativity involve the coupling of additional scalar fields to the scalar curvature. By making a Weyl rescaling of the metric, these theories can be mapped to Einstein gravity with the…
Any quantum system interacting with a complex environment undergoes decoherence. Empty space is filled with vacuum energy due to matter fields in their ground state and represents an underlying environment that any quantum particle has to…