Related papers: Can quantum fluctuations differentiate between sta…
Unimodular gravity is characterized by an extra condition with respect to General Relativity: the determinant of the metric is constant. This extra condition leads to a more restricted class of invariance by coordinate transformation. Even…
In this paper we consider the quantization of a scalar field coupled to gravity at one loop order. We investigate the divergences appearing in the mass (i.e. phi^2) term in the effective action. We use the Vilkovisky-DeWitt effective action…
Canonical quantization of gravity requires knowledge about the representation theory of its constraint algebra, which is physically equivalent to the algebra of arbitrary 4-diffeomorphisms. All interesting lowest-energy representations are…
The aim of the present article is to give physical meaning to the ingredients of standard gauge field theory in the framework of the scale relativity theory. Owing to the principle of the relativity of scales, the scale-space is not…
We study the cosmological implications of gravity models which break diffeomorphisms (Diff) invariance down to transverse diffeomorphisms (TDiff). We start from the most general gravitational action involving up to quadratic terms in…
An obvious criterion to classify theories of modified gravity is to identify their gravitational degrees of freedom and their coupling to the metric and the matter sector. Using this simple idea, we show that any theory which depends on the…
We review some recent results concerning the Hartle--Hawking wavefunction of the universe. We focus on pure Einstein theory of gravity in the presence of a positive cosmological constant. We carefully implement the gauge-fixing procedure…
The path integral of 4D Einstein-Hilbert gravity for the de Sitter-like Universe with fluctuations is investigated, and the transition amplitude from one boundary configuration to another is computed. The gravitational system is described…
We find the conditions under which scale-invariant Einstein-Cartan gravity with scalar matter fields leads to an approximate conformal invariance of the flat space particle theory up to energies of the order of the Planck mass. In the…
We evaluate the phase diagram of quantum gravity within a fully diffeomorphism-invariant renormalisation group approach. The construction is based on the geometrical or Vilkovisky-DeWitt effective action. We also resolve the difference…
The problem of the cosmological constant appears in a new light in Unimodular Gravity. In particular, the zero momentum piece of the potential (that is, the constant piece independent of the matter fields) does not automatically produce a…
We extend the idea of unimodular gravity to the modified $f(R,T)$ theories. A new class of cosmological solutions, that the unimodular constraint on the metric imposes on the $f(R,T)$ theories, are studied. This extension is done in both…
A fundamental length is introduced into physics in a way which respects the principles of relativity and quantum field theory. This improves the properties of quantum field theory: divergences are removed. How to quantize gravity is also…
Diffeomorphism invariance is often considered to be a hallmark of the theory of general relativity (GR). But closer analysis reveals that this cannot be what makes GR distinctive. The concept of diffeomorphism invariance can be defined in…
A unified theory of four-dimensional gravity together with the standard model is presented, with supersymmetry breaking of M-theory at a TeV. Masses of the the known particles are derived. The cosmological constant is quantum generated to…
The structure of the divergences for transverse theories of gravity is studied to one-loop order. These theories are invariant only under those diffeomorphisms that enjoy unit Jacobian determinant (TDiff), so that the determinant of the…
A key problem in the attempt to quantize the gravitational field is the choice of boundary conditions. These are mixed, in that spatial and normal components of metric perturbations obey different sets of boundary conditions. In the…
For a field theory that is invariant under diffeomorphisms there is a subtle interplay between symmetries, conservation laws and the phase space of the theory. The natural language for describing these ideas is that of differential forms…
The general relativistic perturbations of scalar-tensor theories (STT) of gravity are studied in a manifestly gauge invariant Hamiltonian formalism. After the derivation of the Hamiltonian equations of motion in this framework, the gauge…
In this paper we work out in detail a new proposal to define rigorously a sector of loop quantum gravity at the diffeomorphism invariant level corresponding to homogeneous and isotropic cosmologies, and propose how to compare in detail the…