Related papers: Light ray fluctuations in simplicial quantum gravi…
Understanding the microscopic behavior of spacetime is critical for developing a theory of quantum gravity and perhaps solving the cosmological constant problem. In this context, it has been proposed that the quantity of interest is the…
We study quantum gravity in more than four dimensions by means of an exact functional flow. A non-trivial ultraviolet fixed point is found in the Einstein-Hilbert theory. It is shown that our results for the fixed point and universal…
Real world quantum systems are open to perpetual influence from the wider environment. Quantum gravitational fluctuations provide a most fundamental source of the environmental influence through their universal interactions with all forms…
Using a \emph{gedanken} experiment providing presumably a minimal inaccuracy the uncertainty contributions to the space-time measurement are precisely evaluated for clock and mirror respectively. The resulting expression of minimal…
We describe space--time fluctuations by means of small fluctuations of the metric on a given background metric. From a minimally coupled Klein--Gordon equation we obtain within a weak-field approximation up to second order and an averaging…
Loop quantum cosmology predicts that quantum gravity effects resolve the big-bang singularity and replace it by a cosmic bounce. Furthermore, loop quantum cosmology can also modify the form of primordial cosmological perturbations, for…
We study Lorentzian vacuum transition probabilities between two minima of a scalar field potential within the framework of $f(R)$ gravity. The analysis extends the previously considered WKB expansion of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation to…
We discuss the density fluctuations of a fluid due to zero point motion. These can be regarded as density fluctuations in the phonon vacuum state. We assume a linear dispersion relation with a fixed speed of sound and calculate the density…
We study cosmological perturbations in Ho\v{r}ava-Lifshitz Gravity. We consider scalar metric fluctuations about a homogeneous and isotropic space-time. Starting from the most general metric, we work out the complete second order action for…
We propose a phenomenological approach to the cosmological constant problem based on generally covariant non-local and acausal modifications of four-dimensional gravity at enormous distances. The effective Newton constant becomes very small…
We discuss how the modifications of the standard Einstein's equations needed to support the cosmological bounce can at the same time lead to vanishing of the well known cosmological constant problem, while also studying the effects of…
The Lorentz covariant theory of propagation of light in the (weak) gravitational fields of N-body systems consisting of arbitrarily moving point-like bodies with constant masses is constructed. The theory is based on the Lienard-Wiechert…
The intimate geometry of space-time is expected to suffer stochastic fluctuations as a result of quantum gravitational effects. These fluctuations may induce observable consequences on the propagation of high energy particles over large…
Quantum fluctuations impose fundamental limits on measurement and space-time probing. Although using optimised probe fields can allow to push sensitivity in a position measurement beyond the "standard quantum limit", quantum fluctuations of…
We have recently introduced a discrete model of Lorentzian quantum gravity, given as a regularized non-perturbative state sum over simplicial Lorentzian space-times, each possessing a unique Wick rotation to Euclidean signature. We…
We re-examine results of the Liouville theory and provide arguments that a {\it negative} bare cosmological constant is essential to define two-dimensional quantum gravity. From this we are naturally led to a regularization of quantum…
In this paper we study the Lorentzian path-integral of Gauss-Bonnet gravity in the mini-superspace approximation in four spacetime dimensions and investigate the transition amplitude from one configuration to another. Past studies motivate…
A possibility to describe quantum gravitational fluctuations of the spacetime background is provided by virtual $D$-branes. These effects may induce a tiny violation of the Lorentz invariance (as well as a possible violation of the…
We discuss conditions for the absence of spontaneous breakdown of continuous symmetries in quantum lattice systems at $T=0$. Our analysis is based on Pitaevskii and Stringari's idea that the uncertainty relation can be employed to show…
Three-dimensional Lorentzian quantum gravity, expressed as the continuum limit of a nonperturbative sum over spacetimes, is tantalizingly close to being amenable to analytical methods, and some of its properties have been described in terms…