Related papers: Consistent and non-consistent deformations of grav…
We review some recent attempts to extract information about the nature of quantum gravity, with and without matter, by quantum field theoretical methods. More specifically, we work within a covariant lattice approach where the individual…
For nonlinear models of an Abelian vector supermultiplet coupled to N = 2 supergravity in four dimensions, we formulate the self-duality equation which expresses invariance under U(1) duality rotations. In the flat space limit, this…
Recently, the possibility of evading Lovelock's theorem at $d=4$, via a singular redefinition of the dimensionless coupling of the Gauss-Bonnet term, has been very extensively discussed in the cosmological context. The term is added as a…
The focus of this PhD thesis is on applications, new developments and extensions of the noncommutative gravity theory proposed by Julius Wess and his group. In part one we propose an extension of the usual symmetry reduction procedure to…
A modified Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity in four dimensions where the quadratic Gauss-Bonnet term is coupled to a scalar field is considered. The field equations of the model are obtained by variational methods by making use of the…
Warped configurations admitting pairs of gravitating defects are analyzed. After devising a general method for the construction of multidefects, specific examples are presented in the case of higher-dimensional Einstein-Hilbert gravity. The…
In the Palatini action of general relativity the connection and the metric are treated as independent dynamical variables. Instead of assuming a relation between these quantities, the desired relation between them is derived through the…
The curvature-squared model of gravity, in the affine form proposed by Weyl and Yang, is deduced from a topological action in 4D. More specifically, we start from the Pontrjagin (or Euler) invariant. Using the BRST antifield formalism with…
Recently, gravitational gauge theories with torsion have been discussed by an increasing number of authors from a classical as well as from a quantum field theoretical point of view. The Einstein-Cartan(-Sciama-Kibble) Lagrangian has been…
We study nonanticommutative deformations of N=2 two-dimensional Euclidean sigma models. We find that these theories are described by simple deformations of Zumino's Lagrangian and the holomorphic superpotential. Geometrically, this…
We propose a new discrete approximation to the Einstein equations, based on the Capovilla-Dell-Jacobson form of the action for the Ashtekar variables. This formulation is analogous to the Regge calculus in that the curvature has support on…
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…
We develop a semiclassical theory of modified gravity with nontrivial spacetime torsion. In particular, we show that the semiclassical treatment can be axiomatized in the case of Einstein--Cartan theory with a nonminimally coupled, free…
The scattering is studied using moduli space metric for well-separated vortices of non-Abelian vortices in (2+1)-dimensional U(N) gauge theories with N Higgs fields in the fundamental representation. Unlike vortices in the Abelian-Higgs…
We present a new regularisation of Euclidean Einstein gravity in terms of (sequences of) graphs. In particular, we define a discrete Einstein-Hilbert action that converges to its manifold counterpart on sufficiently dense random geometric…
We consider a modification of the standard Einstein theory in four dimensions, alternative to R. Jackiw and S.-Y. Pi, Phys. Rev. D 68, 104012 (2003), since it is based on the first-order (Einstein-Cartan) approach to General Relativity,…
We study the renormalization of theories of gravity with an arbitrary (torsionful and non-metric) connection. The class of actions we consider is of the Palatini type, including the most general terms with up to two derivatives of the…
The Ostrogradsky instability of higher derivative Lagrangians is derived from first principles using Control theory and Lyapunov Stability Analysis. This result is then used to argue that Born-Infeld Lagrangians are viable modifications of…
We explore the possibility of realizing a non-singular bounce in the early universe within the framework of modified gravity with spacetime torsion. In Einstein Cartan theory, torsion is embedded in the spacetime by adding an antisymmetric…
We develop a non-relativistic twistor theory, in which Newton--Cartan structures of Newtonian gravity correspond to complex three-manifolds with a four-parameter family of rational curves with normal bundle ${\mathcal O}\oplus{\mathcal…