Related papers: General relativity as a biconformal gauge theory
We review (non-supersymmetric) gauge theories of four-dimensional space-time symmetries and their quadratic action. The only true gauge theory of such a symmetry (with a physical gauge boson) that has an exact geometric interpretation,…
We study simple space-time symmetry groups G which act on a space-time manifold M=G/H which admits a G-invariant global causal structure. We classify pairs (G,M) which share the following additional properties of conformal field theory: 1)…
One of the most appealing results of metric-affine gauge theory of gravity is a close parallel between the Riemann curvature two-form and the Cartan torsion two-form: While the former is the field strength of the Lorentz-group connection…
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…
We make a case for the unique relevance of Cartan geometry for gauge theories of gravity and supergravity. We introduce our discussion by recapitulating historical threads, providing motivations. In a first part we review the geometry of…
We present a scale-invariant theory, conformal gravity, which closely resembles the geometrodynamical formulation of general relativity (GR). While previous attempts to create scale-invariant theories of gravity have been based on Weyl's…
2T-gravity in d+2 dimensions predicts 1T General Relativity (GR) in d dimensions, augmented with a local scale symmetry known as the Weyl symmetry in 1T field theory. The emerging GR comes with a number of constraints, particularly on…
A direct relation between two types of topological field theories, Chern-Simons theory and BF theory, is presented by using ``Generalized Differential Calculus'', which extends an ordinary p-form to an ordered pair of p and (p+1)-form. We…
We study a deSitter/Anti-deSitter/Poincare Yang-Mills theory of gravity in d-space-time dimensions in an attempt to retain the best features of both general relativity and Yang-Mills theory: quadratic curvature, dimensionless coupling and…
General relativity can be presented in terms of other geometries besides Riemannian. In particular, teleparallel geometry (i.e., curvature vanishes) has some advantages, especially concerning energy-momentum localization and its…
We analyze gravitational theories with quadratic curvature terms, including the case of conformally invariant Weyl gravity, motivated by the intention to find a renormalizable theory of gravity in the ultraviolet region, yet yielding…
Generalised geometry studies structures on a d-dimensional manifold with a metric and 2-form gauge field on which there is a natural action of the group SO(d,d). This is generalised to d-dimensional manifolds with a metric and 3-form gauge…
In this paper we revisit the motivation and construction of a unified theory of gravity and electromagnetism, following Weyl's insights regarding the appealing potential connection between the gauge invariance of electromagnetism and the…
This talk introduces a Cartan-geometric framework for generalised geometries governed by a differential graded Lie algebra. In contrast to ordinary Cartan geometry, the tangent bundle is extended and qu both a global duality group and a…
A gauge theory of the Lorentz group with a mass-dimension one gauge field coupling to matter of any spin is developed. As a completely new feature the "Vierbein" assuring local gauge invariance enters not as an independent dynamical field,…
A geometrical study of supergravity defined on (1|1) complex superspace is presented. This approach is based on the introduction of generalized superprojective structures extending the notions of super Riemann geometry to a kind of super…
The gauged sigma-model argument that string backgrounds related by T-dual give equivalent quantum theories is revisited, taking careful account of global considerations. The topological obstructions to gauging sigma-models give rise to…
In this thesis the recently developed duality covariant approach to string and M-theory is investigated. In this formalism the U-duality symmetry of M-theory or T-duality symmetry of Type II string theory becomes manifest upon extending…
We review double field theory (DFT) with emphasis on the doubled spacetime and its generalized coordinate transformations, which unify diffeomorphisms and b-field gauge transformations. We illustrate how the composition of generalized…
In this article I first give an abbreviated history of string theory and then describe the recently-conjectured field-string duality. This suggests a class of nonsupersymmetric gauge theories which are conformal (CGT) to leading order of…