Related papers: The GHY boundary term from the string worldsheet t…
The Weiss variational principle in mechanics and classical field theory is a variational principle which allows displacements of the boundary. We review the Weiss variation in mechanics and classical field theory, and present a novel…
In the decoupling limit of DGP, Pi describes the brane-bending degree of freedom. It obeys second order equations of motion, yet it is governed by a higher derivative Lagrangian. We show that, analogously to the Einstein-Hilbert action for…
Constructing a well-posed variational principle is a non-trivial issue in general relativity. For spacelike and timelike boundaries, one knows that the addition of the Gibbons-Hawking-York (GHY) counter-term will make the variational…
We show that for an eikonal limit of gravity in a space-time of any dimension with a non-vanishing cosmological constant, the Einstein -- Hilbert action reduces to a boundary action. This boundary action describes the interaction of…
Motivated by establishing holographic renormalization for gravitational theories with non-metricity and torsion, we present a new and efficient general method for calculating Gibbons-Hawking-York (GHY) terms. Our method consists of…
We provide a well-defined variational principle for 3-dimensional flat space Einstein gravity by adding one half of the Gibbons-Hawking-York boundary term to the bulk action. We check the 0-point function, recovering consistency with…
The Einstein-Hilbert action has a bulk term and a surface term (which arises from integrating a four divergence). I show that one can obtain Einstein's equations from the surface term alone. This leads to: (i) a novel, completely self…
Starting from the original Einstein action, sometimes called the Gamma squared action, we propose a new setup to formulate modified theories of gravity. This can yield a theory with second order field equations similar to those found in…
The least action principle indicates that for the open spacetime manifolds, there are data on the boundary. Recently, it has been proposed that the data for the effective actions at order $\alpha'$ are the values of the massless fields and…
Gibbons-Hawking-York (GHY) terms are typically neglected when performing dimensional reductions of gravitational theories. We consider the reduction of such terms for both two-derivative and four-derivative theories in general dimensions.…
General relativity (GR) as described in terms of curvature by the Einstein-Hilbert action is dynamically equivalent to theories of gravity formulated in terms of spacetime torsion or non-metricity. This forms what is called the geometrical…
In this review we consider first order gravity in four dimensions. In particular, we focus our attention in formulations where the fundamental variables are a tetrad $e_a^I$ and a SO(3,1) connection ${\omega_{aI}}^J$. We study the most…
The main goal of this thesis is to study the gravitational action for the Schwarzschild black hole and its subsequent regularisation from the perspective of general relativity and teleparallel gravity. The standard approach of general…
We present a new application of Boundary String Field Theory: calculating the induced-gravity action on a D-brane. Using a simple quadratic tachyon potential to model a D-brane fluctuating in the flat target space we derive the effective…
Certain peculiar features of Einstein-Hilbert (EH) action provide clues towards a holographic approach to gravity which is independent of the detailed microstructure of spacetime. These features of the EH action include: (a) the existence…
It was recently noted that the on-shell Einstein-Hilbert action with York-Gibbons-Hawking boundary term has an imaginary part, proportional to the area of the codimension-2 surfaces on which the boundary normal becomes null. We discuss the…
We discuss the criteria that must be satisfied by a well-posed variational principle. We clarify the role of Gibbons-Hawking-York type boundary terms in the actions of higher derivative models of gravity, such as F(R) gravity, and argue…
After reformulating $F($Riemann$)$ gravity theory as a second derivative theory by introducing two auxiliary fields to the bulk action, we derive the surface term as well as the corner term supplemented to the bulk action for a generic…
We consider how the energy can be stored in the boundary of spacetime, in particular in a spherical bubble that can be made by a quantum gravitational process. Our calculation is performed within the framework of classical Einstein gravity…
Using a holographic prescription for the Schwinger-Keldysh closed time path, we derive the effective action for a dissipative neutral fluid holographically described by the Einstein gravity in an asymptotic AdS spacetime. In the saddle…