Related papers: Causality constraints on corrections to Einstein g…
We investigate Einstein theories of gravity, coupled to a scalar field \vphi and point-like matter, which are characterized by a scalar field-dependent matter coupling function e^{H(\vphi)}. We show that under mild constraints on the form…
First and second order corrections for the scattering of different types of particles by a weak gravitational field, treated as an external field, are calculated. These computations indicate a violation of the Equivalence Principle: to…
In this work we introduce a new theoretical framework for Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theories of gravity, which results to particularly elegant, functionally simple and transparent gravitational equations of motion, slow-roll indices and the…
In this work, we study the magnetic effects of gravity in the framework of special relativity. Imposing covariance of the gravitational force with respect to the Lorentz transformations, we show from a thought experiment that a…
We study bounds arising from the analyticity and unitarity of scattering amplitudes in the context of effective field theories with massless particles. We provide an approach that only uses dispersion relations away from the forward limit.…
We study the linear response in different models of driven granular gases. In some situations, even if the the velocity statistics can be strongly non-Gaussian, we do not observe appreciable violations of the Einstein formula for diffusion…
We examine the causality and degrees of freedom (DoF) problems encountered by charged, gravitating, massive higher spin fields. For spin s=3/2, making the metric dynamical yields improved causality bounds. These involve only the mass, the…
A graviton of a nonzero mass and decay width propagates five physical polarizations. The question of interactions of these polarizations is crucial for viability of models of massive/metastable gravity. This question is addressed in the…
Quantum entanglement and relativistic causality are key concepts in theoretical works seeking to unify quantum mechanics and gravity. In this article, we show that the interplay between relativity theory and quantum entanglement has…
We study 2-to-2 scattering amplitudes of massless spin one particles in $d=4$ space-time dimensions, like real world photons. We define a set of non-perturbative observables (Wilson coefficients) which describe these amplitudes at low…
In the framework of causal perturbation theory we analyze the gauge structure of a massless self-interacting quantum tensor field. We look at this theory from a pure field theoretical point of view without assuming any geometrical aspect…
We investigate limitations of causality arguments from flat-spacetime amplitudes, based on the eikonal limit of gravitational scattering, to place constraints on modified gravity. We show that causality constraints are only valid in the…
The scattering of longitudinally polarized W bosons in extensions of the Standard Model with anomalous Higgs couplings to the gauge sector and higher order $O(p^4)$ operators is considered. The modified couplings should be thought as the…
We study the thermodynamics of Einstein gravity with vanishing cosmological constant subjected to conformal boundary conditions. Our focus is on comparing the series of subextensive terms to predictions from thermal effective field theory,…
We argue that the presence of conformal anomalies in gravitational theories can lead to observable modifications to Einstein's equations via the induced anomalous effective actions, whose non-localities can overwhelm the smallness of the…
We discuss some fundamental issues underlying gravitational physics and point out some of the main shortcomings of Einstein's General Relativity. In particular, after taking into account the role of the two main objects of relativistic…
Motivated by scalar-tensor gravities, we consider a theory which contains massless scalar fields with different sound speeds. We derive unitarity relations for partial wave amplitudes of $2 \to 2$ scattering, with explicit formulas for…
The basic idea that gravity can be a long-wavelength effect {\it induced} by the peculiar ground state of an underlying quantum field theory leads to consider the implications of spontaneous symmetry breaking through an elementary scalar…
Throughout this thesis, we investigate how effective field theories, combined with unitarization techniques, can be used to explore physics beyond the Standard Model, with particular emphasis on the dynamical origin of electroweak symmetry…
We show that that four dimensional conformal gravity plus a simple Neumann boundary condition can be used to get the semiclassical (or tree level) wavefunction of the universe of four dimensional asymptotically de-Sitter or Euclidean…