Related papers: Discrete Gravity
Inspired by previous work in 2+1 dimensional quantum gravity, which found evidence for a discretization of time in the quantum theory, we reexamine the issue for the case of pure Lorentzian gravity with vanishing cosmological constant and…
We obtain sharp volume bounds on the boundaries of Alexandrov spaces with given lower curvature bound, dimension, and radius. We also completely classify the rigidity case and analyze almost rigidity. Our results are new even for smooth…
A crucial step in the history of General Relativity was Einstein's adoption of the principle of general covariance which demands a coordinate independent formulation for our spacetime theories. General covariance helps us to disentangle a…
We argue that the model of a quantum computer with N qubits on a quantum space background, which is a fuzzy sphere with n=2^N elementary cells, can be viewed as the minimal model for Quantum Gravity. In fact, it is discrete, has no free…
A finite set of unlabelled points in Euclidean space is the simplest representation of many real objects from mineral rocks to sculptures. Since most solid objects are rigid, their natural equivalence is rigid motion or isometry maintaining…
A discrete theory of gravity locally invariant under the Poincar\'e group is considered as in a companion paper. We define a first order theory, in the sense of Palatini, on the metric-dual Voronoi complex of a simplicial complex. We follow…
Dynamical vacuum energy or quintessence, a slowly varying and spatially inhomogeneous component of the energy density with negative pressure, is currently consistent with the observational data. One potential difficulty with the idea of…
According to some authors, gravity might be an emergent phenomenon in a fundamentally flat space-time. In this case the speed of light in the vacuum would not coincide exactly with the basic parameter "c" entering Lorentz transformations…
We introduce the linear connection in the noncommutative geometry model of the product of continuous manifold and the discrete space of two points. We discuss its metric properties, define the metric connection and calculate the curvature.…
We consider the formulation of entropic gravity in two spacetime dimensions. The usual gravitational force law is derived even in the absence of area, as normally required by the holographic principle. A special feature of this perspective…
Some first results are presented regarding the behavior of invariant correlations in simplicial gravity, with an action containing both a bare cosmological term and a lattice higher derivative term. The determination of invariant…
The dynamics of physical theories is usually described by differential equations. Difference equations then appear mainly as an approximation which can be used for a numerical analysis. As such, they have to fulfill certain conditions to…
It is generally believed that any quantum theory of gravity should have a generic feature --- a quantum of length. We provide a physical ansatz to obtain an effective non-local metric tensor starting from the standard metric tensor such…
Torsional degrees of freedom play an important role in modern gravity theories as well as in condensed matter systems where they can be modeled by defects in solids. Here we isolate a class of torsion models that support torsion…
The phenomenologically observed flatness - or near flatness - of spacetime cannot be understood as emerging from continuum Planck (or sub-Planck) scales using known physics. Using dimensional arguments it is demonstrated that any…
Models with extra dimensions have changed our understanding of the hierarchy problem. In general, these models explain the weakness of gravity by diluting gravity in a large bulk volume, or by localizing the graviton away from the standard…
We propose a new notion of singularity in General Relativity which complements the usual notions of geodesic incompleteness and curvature singularities. Concretely, we say that a spacetime has a volume singularity if there exist points…
We consider a model of an elementary particle as a 2 + 1 dimensional brane evolving in a 3 + 1 dimensional space. Introducing gauge fields that live in the brane as well as normal surface tension can lead to a stable "elementary particle"…
In perturbative gravity, it is straight-forward to characterize the two local degrees of freedom of the gravitational field in terms of a mode expansion of the linearized perturbation. In the non-perturbative regime, we are in a more…
A line field on a manifold is a smooth map which assigns a tangent line to all but a finite number of points of the manifold. As such, it can be seen as a generalization of vector fields. They model a number of geometric and physical…