Related papers: The Invisibility of Diffeomorphisms
In a companion paper we studied field theory in the presence of a physical observer with quantum dynamics. Here we describe the most striking consequence of this assumption: new gauge and diff anomalies arise. The relevant cocycles depend…
In asymptotically anti-de Sitter gravity, diffeomorphisms that change the conformal boundary data can be promoted to genuine physical degrees of freedom. I show that in 2+1 dimensions, the dynamics of these degrees of freedom is described…
This PhD dissertation covers a range of topics in Finsler geometry and Finsler gravity, most notably: (i) the characterization of Berwald spaces, (ii) pseudo-Riemann (non-)metrizability of Berwald spaces, (iii) $(\alpha,\beta)$-metrics,…
The configuration space of general relativity is superspace - the space of all Riemannian 3-metrics modulo diffeomorphisms. However, it has been argued that the configuration space for gravity should be conformal superspace - the space of…
The diffeomorphism covariance is a fundamental property of General Relativity which leads to the fact that the same solution of Einstein equation can be given in completely distinct forms in different coordinate systems. Distinguishing or…
Models of black holes in (1+1)-dimensions provide a theoretical laboratory for the study of semi-classical effects of realistic black holes in Einstein's theory. Important examples of two-dimensional models are given by string theory…
We explore the possibility that part of what we call dark matter may be the mark of a preferred frame, revealing a breakdown of diffeomorphism invariance. In the non-relativistic limit this appears as a deviant matter source capable of…
In this thesis, a non-standard geometric framework, the "quasi-metric" framework (QMF), is used to define relativistic space-time. The QMF consists of a 4-dimensional space-time manifold equipped with two one-parameter families of…
A Weyl invariant extension of Einstein gravity is studied. It simply consists in the group averaging of Einstein's action under Weyl transformations. Contradicting cherished beliefs, a conformal anomaly is found in the trace of the…
The general equivalence principle and the associated diffeomorphism gauge symmetry are regarded as a founding principles of nature. But, one may wonder, can diffeomorphism gauge symmetry emerge as a low energy property of certain…
Deformations of spacelike hypersurfaces in space-time play an important role in discussions of general covariance and slicing independence in gravitational theories. In a canonical formulation, they provide the geometrical meaning of gauge…
An important tool in the study of conformal geometry, and the AdS/CFT correspondence in physics, is the Fefferman-Graham expansion of conformally compact Einstein metrics. We show that conformally compact metrics satisfying a generalization…
We consider two concepts often discussed as significant features of general relativity (particularly when contrasted with the other forces of the Standard Model): background independence and diffeomorphism invariance. We remind the reader…
We investigate the f(R) theory of gravity with broken diffeomorphism due to the change of the coefficient in front of the total divergence term in the (3+1)-decomposition of the scalar curvature. We perform the canonical analysis of this…
This is the second in a series of papers where we prove a conjecture of Deser and Schwimmer regarding the algebraic structure of ``global conformal invariants''; these are defined to be conformally invariant integrals of geometric scalars.…
We investigate a quantum geometric space in the context of what could be considered an emerging effective theory from Quantum Gravity. Specifically we consider a two-parameter class of twisted Poincar\'e algebras, from which Lie-algebraic…
A gauge-invariant field is found which describes physical configurations, i.e. gauge orbits, of non-Abelian gauge theories. This is accomplished with non-Abelian generalizations of the Poincare'-Hodge formula for one-forms. In a particular…
A careful study of the induced transformations on spatial quantities due to 4-dimensional spacetime diffeomorphisms in the canonical formulation of general relativity is undertaken. Use of a general formalism, which indicates the role of…
A manifestly diffeomorphism invariant extension of Einstein gravity is constructed, which includes singular metrics, and whose ADM formulation is Ashtekar's gravity. The latter is shown to be locally equivalent to the covariant theory. It…
Given any symmetry acting on a $d$-dimensional quantum field theory, there is an associated $(d+1)$-dimensional topological field theory known as the Symmetry TFT (SymTFT). The SymTFT is useful for decoupling the universal quantities of…