Related papers: Scale-dependent gravity and covariant scale-settin…
We consider a Higgs mechanism in scale-invariant theories of gravitation. It is shown that in spontaneous symmetry breakdown of scale invariance, gauge symmetries are also broken spontaneously even without the Higgs potential if the…
The existence of a fundamental scale, a lower bound to any output of a position measurement, seems to be a model-independent feature of quantum gravity. In fact, different approaches to this theory lead to this result. The key ingredients…
The source of the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe is still unknown. We examine some consequences of the possible scale invariance of the empty space at large scales. The central hypothesis of this work is that, at macroscopic…
We consider a theory of gravity with a hidden extra-dimension and metric-dependent torsion. A set of physically motivated constraints are imposed on the geometry so that the torsion stays confined to the extra-dimension and the…
We investigate the scalar perturbations in a class of spatially covariant gravity theory with a dynamical lapse function. Generally, there are two scalar degrees of freedom due to the presence of the velocity of the lapse function. We treat…
The cosmological constant and its phenomenology remain among the greatest puzzles in theoretical physics. We review how modifications of Einstein's general relativity could alleviate the different problems associated with it that result…
We compare the path integral for transition functions in unimodular gravity and in general relativity. In unimodular gravity the cosmological constant is a property of states that are specified at the boundaries whereas in general…
A new scalar-tensor theory of gravity induced by dynamically broken scale invariance is proposed, and its cosmological implications are discussed. It is found that the model admits an inflation via the Hawking-Moss bubbling, but the…
We study the dynamics of gauge-invariant scalar perturbations in cosmological scenarios with a modified Friedmann equation, such as quantum gravity bouncing cosmologies. We work within a separate universe approximation which captures…
The aim of the present article is to give physical meaning to the ingredients of standard gauge field theory in the framework of the scale relativity theory. Owing to the principle of the relativity of scales, the scale-space is not…
The old cosmological-constant (CC) problem indicates an inconsistency of the usual formulation of semiclassical gravity. The usual formulation of semiclassical gravity also seems to be inconsistent with the conventional interpretation of…
Spherically symmetric models of loop quantum gravity have been studied recently by different methods that aim to deal with structure functions in the usual constraint algebra of gravitational systems. As noticed by Gambini and Pullin, a…
We review the gauge hierarchy problem in the standard model. We discuss the meaning of the quadratic divergence in terms of the Wilsonian renormalization group. Classical scale symmetry, which prohibits dimensionful parameters in the bare…
Using cosmological perturbation theory we show that the most relevant defor- mation of gravity is consistent at the linear level. In particular, we prove the absence of uni- tarity violating negative norm states in the weak coupling regime…
We compute the scale-dependence of the Planck mass and of the vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field using two very different renormalization group methods: a "holographic" procedure based on Einstein's equations in five dimensions…
We investigate a class of gravity theories respecting only spatial covariance, termed spatially covariant gravity, in the presence of an auxiliary scalar field. We examine the conditions on the Lagrangian required to eliminate scalar…
A covariant causal set (c-causet) is a causal set that is invariant under labeling. Such causets are well-behaved and have a rigid geometry that is determined by a sequence of positive integers called the shell sequence. We first consider…
The field equations of modified gravity theories, when considering a homogeneous and isotropic cosmological model, always become autonomous differential equations. This relies on the fact that in such models all variables only depend on…
The paper deals with a modified theory of gravity and the cosmological consequences. Instead of concerning the field equations directly, we modify a conformally-related and equivalent equation, such that a spontaneous symmetry breaking at…
The gravitational dynamics and cosmological implications of three classes of recently introduced multi-scale spacetimes (with, respectively, ordinary, weighted and q-derivatives) are discussed. These spacetimes are non-Riemannian: the…