Related papers: $Q$-curvature and gravity
A theory of gravity with a generic action functional and minimally coupled to N matter fields has a nontrivial fixed point in the leading large N approximation. At this fixed point, the cosmological constant and Newton's constant are…
Higher order curvature gravity has recently received a lot of attention due to the fact that it gives rise to cosmological models which seem capable of solving dark energy and quintessence issues without using "ad hoc" scalar fields. Such…
It is shown that a new quantum-foam in-flow theory of gravity is mathematically equivalent to the General Relativity theory of gravity for the operation of the Global Positioning System (GPS). The differences between the two theories become…
We naturally extend the theory of gravity with a conformally coupled scalar field by only requiring conformal invariance of the scalar field equation of motion and not of the action. The classically extended theory incorporates a…
The first part of this work deals with the development of a natural differential calculus on non-commutative manifolds. The second part extends the covariance and equivalence principle as well studies its kinematical consequences such as…
In this work, we review a plethora of modified theories of gravity with generalized curvature-matter couplings. The explicit nonminimal couplings, for instance, between an arbitrary function of the scalar curvature $R$ and the Lagrangian…
We look at several problems in even dimensional conformal geometry based around the de Rham complex. A leading and motivating problem is to find a conformally invariant replacement for the usual de Rham harmonics. An obviously related…
We discuss effective interactions among brane matter induced by modifications of higher dimensional Einstein gravity through the replacement of Einstein-Hilbert term with a generic function f(R, R_AB R^AB, R_ABCD R^ABCD) of the curvature…
In String Theory there often appears a rather interesting class of higher derivative theories containing an infinite set of derivatives in the form of an exponential. These theories may provide a way to tame ultraviolet divergences without…
The gauge approach to gravity based on the local Lorentz group with a general independent affine connection A_{\mu cd} is developed. We consider SO(1,3) gauge theory with a Lagrangian quadratic in curvature as a simple model of quantum…
Quantum General Relativity (QGR), sometimes called Loop Quantum Gravity, has matured over the past fifteen years to a mathematically rigorous candidate quantum field theory of the gravitational field. The features that distinguish it from…
We perform a non-perturbative sum over geometries in a (2+1)-dimensional quantum gravity model given in terms of Causal Dynamical Triangulations. Inspired by the concept of triangulations of product type introduced previously, we impose an…
We analyze the R + R2 model of quantum gravity where terms quadratic in the curvature tensor are added to the General Relativity action. This model was recently proved to be a self-consistent quantum theory of gravitation, being both…
We define and compute the energy of higher curvature gravity theories in arbitrary dimensions. Generically, these theories admit constant curvature vacua (even in the absence of an explicit cosmological constant), and asymptotically…
Loop quantum gravity is a physical theory which aims at unifying general relativity and quantum mechanics. It takes general relativity very seriously and modifies it via a quantisation. General relativity describes gravity in terms of…
We investigate the cosmological background evolution and perturbations in a general class of spatially covariant theories of gravity, which propagates two tensor modes and one scalar mode. We show that the structure of the theory is…
The gauge variance of wave functionals for a gauge theory quantized in the momentum (curvature) representation is described. It is shown that a gauge transformation gives rise to a cocycle, which for theories in two space-time dimensions is…
I briefly review the current status of quantum gravity. After giving some general motivations for the need of such a theory, I discuss the main approaches in quantizing general relativity: Covariant approaches (perturbation theory,…
A well known question in differential geometry is to control the constant in isoperimetric inequality by intrinsic curvature conditions. In dimension 2, the constant can be controlled by the integral of the positive part of the Gaussian…
The scalar-tensor theories of gravity in spacetime dimensions $D+1>2$ are studied. By doing Hamiltonian analysis, we obtain the geometrical dynamics of the theories from their Lagrangian. The Hamiltonian formalism indicates that the…