Related papers: \"Uber-Gravity and the Cosmological Constant Probl…
In this thesis, the implications of a new cosmological model are studied, which has features similar to that of decaying vacuum cosmologies. Decaying vacuum (or cosmological constant \Lambda) models are the results of attempts to resolve…
We present a modification to General Relativity by making a redefinition of the coupling constant in front of the Ricci curvature scalar along with the Generalized Quasi-topological Gravity theories added to the action, that we named…
In Loop Quantum Gravity mathematically rigorous models of full quantum gravity were proposed. In this paper we study a cosmological sector of one of the models describing quantum gravity with positive cosmological constant coupled to…
In order to resolve the cosmological constant problem, the notion of reference frame is re-examined at the quantum level. By using a quantum non-linear sigma model (Q-NLSM), a theory of quantum spacetime reference frame (QSRF) is proposed.…
We construct a Lagrangian of Weyl spinors and gauge fields, which is invariant under the action of equivalent local transformations on the spinor algebra representations. A model of vacuum with a nontrivial gauge strength-tensor setting a…
We study the classical and quantum models of a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmology in the framework of the gravity theory proposed by Ho\v{r}ava, the so-called Ho\v{r}ava-Lifshitz theory of gravity. Beginning with the ADM…
We study the Wheeler-DeWitt equation for a class of induced gravity models in the minisuperspace approximation. In such models a scalar field nonminimally coupled to gravity determines the effective Newton's constant. For simplicity our…
Three-dimensional Lorentzian quantum gravity, expressed as the continuum limit of a nonperturbative sum over spacetimes, is tantalizingly close to being amenable to analytical methods, and some of its properties have been described in terms…
A nonlocal form of the effective gravitational action could cure the unboundedness of euclidean gravity with Einstein action. On sub-horizon length scales the modified gravitational field equations seem compatible with all present tests of…
Motivated by conventional gauge theories, we consider a theory of gravity in which the Einstein-Hilbert action is replaced by a term that is quadratic in the Riemann tensor. We focus on cosmological solutions to the field equations in flat,…
It is commonly accepted that general relativity is the only solution to the consistency problem that appears when trying to build a theory of interacting gravitons (massless spin-2 particles). Padmanabhan's 2008 thought-provoking analysis…
The curvature of a spacetime, either in a topological sense, or averaged over super-horizon-sized patches, is often equated with the global curvature term that appears in Friedmann's equation. In general, however, the Universe is…
$SU(\infty)$-QGR is a quantum approach to Universe and gravity. Its main assumption is infinite mutually commuting observables in the Universe, leading to representation of $SU(\infty)$ by its Hilbert spaces and those of its subsystems. The…
f(R)-theories of gravity are reviewed in the framework of the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe. The asymmetry is generated by the gravitational coupling of heavy (Majorana) neutrinos with the Ricci scalar curvature. In order that…
We investigate brane world models in higher-derivative gravity theories where the gravitational Lagrangian is an arbitrary function of the Ricci scalar. Making use of the conformal equivalence of such gravity models and Einstein-Hilbert…
I propose a quantum gravity model in which geometric space emerges from random bits in a quantum phase transition driven by the combinatorial Ollivier-Ricci curvature and corresponding to the condensation of short cycles in random graphs.…
We construct two classes of higher-derivative supergravity theories generalizing Einstein supergravity. We explore their dynamical content as well as their vacuum structure. The first class is found to be equivalent to Einstein supergravity…
In this paper the quantum cosmological consequences of introducing a term cubic in the Ricci curvature scalar $R$ into the Einstein--Hilbert action are investigated. It is argued that this term represents a more generic perturbation to the…
We propose a model describing Einstein gravity coupled to a scalar field with an exponential potential. We show that the weak-field limit of the model has static solutions given by a gravitational potential behaving for large distances as…
Quasi-topological terms in gravity can be viewed as those that give no contribution to the equations of motion for a special subclass of metric ans\"atze. They therefore play no r\^ole in constructing these solutions, but can affect the…