Related papers: Coordinates are messy -- not only in General Relat…
Maxwellian approximations to linear general relativity are revisited in light of relatively recent results on the degrees of freedom in the linear gravitational field. The well-known Maxwellian formalism obtained in harmonic coordinates is…
Some authors have defended the claim that one needs to be able to define 'physical coordinate systems' and 'observables' in order to make sense of general relativity. Moreover, in Rovelli (Physical Review D, 65(4), 044017 2002), Rovelli…
General relativity describes the gravitational field geometrically and in a self-interacting way because it couples to all forms of energy, including its own. Both features make finding a quantum theory difficult, yet it is important in the…
We first review the cosmological constant problem, and then mention a conjecture of Feynman according to which the general relativistic theory of gravity should be reformulated in such a way that energy does not couple to gravity. We point…
The gravitational interaction is scale-free in both Newtonian gravity and general theory of relativity. The concept of self-similarity arises from this nature. Self-similar solutions reproduce themselves as the scale changes. This property…
Efforts to place limits on deviations from canonical formulations of electromagnetism and gravity have probed length scales increasing dramatically over time.Historically, these studies have passed through three stages: (1) Testing the…
We describe gauge theories which allow to retrieve a large class of gravitational theories, including, MacDowell-Mansouri gravity and its topological extension to Loop Quantum Gravity via the Pontrjagin characteristic class involving the…
In non-relativistic mechanics the center of mass of an isolated system is easily separated out from the relative variables. For a N-body system these latter are usually described by a set of Jacobi normal coordinates, based on 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…
The issue of implementing the principle of general relativity in Einstein equations has been widely discussed, since Kretschmann's well-known criticism stated that general covariance of the Einstein equations is not suffice to express the…
In the spherically symmetric case the requirements of regularity of density and pressures and finiteness of the ADM mass $m$, together with the weak energy condition, define the family of asymptotically flat globally regular solutions to…
A Newtonian approach to quantum gravity is studied. At least for weak gravitational fields it should be a valid approximation. Such an approach could be used to point out problems and prospects inherent in a more exact theory of quantum…
We study the symmetries enjoyed by the Newtonian equations of motion of the non-relativistic dark matter fluid coupled to gravity which give rise to the phenomenon of gravitational instability. We also discuss some consistency relations…
The gravitational interaction, as described by the Einstein-Cartan theory, is shown to emerge as the by-product of the spontaneous symmetry breaking of a gauge symmetry in a pre-geometric four-dimensional spacetime. Starting from a…
Based on the Generalized Principle of Inertia, which states that: \emph{An inanimate object moves freely, that is, with zero acceleration, in its own spacetime, whose geometry is determined by all of the forces affecting it,} we geometrize…
The Galilean symmetry and the Poincare symmetry are usually taken as the fundamental (relativity) symmetries for `nonrelativistic' and `relativistic' physics, respectively, quantum or classical. Our fully group theoretical formulation…
The general theory of relativity is currently established as the most precise theory of gravity supported by observations, and its application is diverse ranging from astronomy to cosmology, while its application to astrophysics has been…
In Newtonian gravity, mass is an intrinsic property of matter while in general relativity (GR), mass is a contextual property of matter, i.e., matter can simultaneously possess two different values of mass when it is responsible for two…
One way the ultraviolet problem may be solved is explicit physical regularization. In this scenario, QFT is only the long distance limit of some unknown non-Poincare-invariant microscopic theory. One can ask how complex and contrived such…
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…