Related papers: Comments on Microcausality, Chaos, and Gravitation…
We present an overview on relational observables in gravity mainly from a loop quantum gravity perspective. The gauge group of general relativity is the diffeomorphism group of the underlying manifold. Consequently, general relativity is a…
In this comment, I argue that chaotic effects in binary black hole inspiral will not strongly impact the detection of gravitational waves from such systems.
Contrary to what is often stated, a fundamental spacetime discreteness need not contradict Lorentz invariance. A causal set's discreteness is in fact locally Lorentz invariant, and we recall the reasons why. For illustration, we introduce a…
Maxwell's equations are invariant under both duality rotations and conformal transformations. Recently Bandos, Lechner, Sorokin, and Townsend have found a nonlinear generalisation of electrodynamics which possesses both of these symmetries.…
We describe how a certain simple modification of general relativity, in which the local cosmological constant is allowed to depend on the space-time curvature, predicts the existence of halos of modified gravity surrounding…
The recent detections of gravitational waves from binary systems of black holes are in remarkable agreement with the predictions of General Relativity. In this pedagogical mini-review, I will go through the physics of the different phases…
The impact of curvature divergences on physical observers in a black hole space-time which, nonetheless, is geodesically complete is investigated. This space-time is an exact solution of certain extensions of General Relativity coupled to…
We study the algebra of observables in semiclassical quantum gravity for cosmological backgrounds, focusing on two key examples: slow-roll inflation and evaporating Schwarzschild-de Sitter black holes. In both cases, we demonstrate the…
This work aims to explore the gravitational consequences of a recently proposed black hole solution presented in the literature [Phys. Dark Univ. 50 (2025) 102061]. We initiate our analyzes by taking into account the horizon structure,…
Black and white holes play remarkably contrasting roles in general relativity versus observational astrophysics. While there is overwhelming observational evidence for the existence of compact objects that are "cold, dark, and heavy", which…
The quantum fluctuations of horizons in Robertson-Walker universes and in the Schwarzschild spacetime are discussed. The source of the metric fluctuations is taken to be quantum linear perturbations of the gravitational field. Lightcone…
Perturbative dynamics of gravity is investigated for high energy scattering and in black hole backgrounds. In the latter case, a straightforward perturbative analysis fails, in a close parallel to the failure of the former when the impact…
Black holes play a pivotal role in the foundations of physics, but there is an alarming discrepancy between what is considered to be a black hole in observational astronomy and theoretical studies. Despite claims to the contrary, we argue…
Two new observational windows have been opened to strong gravitational physics: gravitational waves, and very long baseline interferometry. This suggests observational searches for new phenomena in this regime, and in particular for those…
Variability in gravitationally lensed quasars can be due to intrinsic fluctuations of the quasar or due to ``microlensing'' by compact objects along the line of sight. If disentangled from each other, microlens-induced variability can be…
The definition of matter states on spacelike hypersurfaces of a 1+1 dimensional black hole spacetime is considered. Because of small quantum fluctuations in the mass of the black hole, the usual approximation of treating the gravitational…
We investigate the black holes in the new massive conformal gravity which is not invariant under conformal transformations because of the presence of the Einstein-Hilbert term. First, we show that the small Schwarzschild black hole is…
General relativity predicts its own demise at singularities, but also appears to conveniently shield itself from the catastrophic consequences of such singularities, making them safe. For instance, if strong cosmic censorship were…
The existence of cosmological compact objects with very strong gravity is a prediction of General Relativity and an exact solution of the Einstein equations. These objects are called black holes and recently we had the first observations of…
We study how the problem of observables is fully resolved for background independent theories defined on finite graphs. We argue the correct analogue of coordinate independence is the invariance under changes of graph labels, a kind of…