Related papers: A spool for every quotient: One-loop partition fun…
We develop a basis--covariant one--loop renormalization framework for two interacting real scalars in $D=4-\epsilon$ with the most general two--derivative Lorentz--violating quadratic form, allowing anisotropic spatial gradients and…
The AdS/CFT correspondence relates Wilson loops in N=4 SYM theory to minimal area surfaces in AdS5xS5 space. If the Wilson loop is Euclidean and confined to a plane (t,x) then the dual surface is Euclidean and lives in Minkowski AdS3. In…
It is shown that application of dynamic flows concept in 4-dimensional Euclidean space makes possible to form Minkowski space and to formulate the generalized variational problem of electrodynamics and gravi- dynamics. It is shown that…
The gauge redundancy of quantum gravity makes the definition of local operators ambiguous, as they depend on the choice of gauge or on a `gravitational dressing' analogous to a choice of Wilson line attachments. Recent work identified exact…
We construct cosmological solutions of higher spin gravity in 2+1 dimensional de Sitter space. We show that a consistent thermodynamics can be obtained for their horizons by demanding appropriate holonomy conditions. This is equivalent to…
Previously, two of the present authors obtained the decoupling limit and the corresponding throat geometry of non-supersymmetric D3 brane solution of type IIB string theory. In analogy with the supersymmetric case, it describes the gravity…
The derivation of the explicit formula for the vacuum expectation value of the Wilson loop functional for an arbitrary gauge group on an arbitrary orientable two-dimensional manifold is considered both in the continuum case and on the…
Loop quantum gravity in its Hamiltonian form relies on a connection formulation of the gravitational phase space with three key properties: 1.) a compact gauge group, 2.) real variables, and 3.) canonical Poisson brackets. In conjunction,…
We present several new space-periodic solutions of the static vacuum Einstein equations in higher dimensions, both with and without black holes, having Kasner asymptotics. These latter solutions are referred to as gravitational solitons.…
We compute the exact vacuum expectation value of 1/2 BPS circular Wilson loops of ${\cal N}$=4 U(N) super Yang-Mills in arbitrary irreducible representations. By localization arguments, the computation reduces to evaluating certain…
Loop quantum gravity is based on a classical formulation of 3+1 gravity in terms of a real SU(2) connection. Linearization of this classical formulation about a flat background yields a description of linearised gravity in terms of a {\em…
We work out the map between null polygonal hexagonal Wilson loops and spinning three point functions in large $N$ conformal gauge theories by mapping the variables describing the two different physical quantities and by working out the…
Wilson observables for 2+1 quantum gravity with negative cosmological constant, when the spatial manifold is a torus, exhibit several novel features: signed area phases relate the observables assigned to homotopic loops, and their…
One of the challenges when simulating astrophysical flows with self-gravity is to compute the gravitational forces. In contrast to the hyperbolic hydrodynamic equations, the gravity field is described by an elliptic Poisson equation. We…
The problem of gravitational fluctuations confined inside a finite cutoff at radius $r=r_c$ outside the horizon in a general class of black hole geometries is considered. Consistent boundary conditions at both the cutoff surface and the…
We study supersymmetric Wilson loops from a geometrical perspective. To this end, we propose a new formulation of these operators in terms of an integral form associated to the immersion of the loop into a supermanifold. This approach…
In this talk I study the topology of mathematically idealised center vortices, defined in a gauge invariant way as closed (infinitely thin) flux surfaces (in D=4 dimensions) which contribute the $n^{th}$ power of a non-trivial center…
This paper is mainly concerned with the construction of new off-shell higher spin N=1 supermultiplets in three spacetime dimensions. We elaborate on the gauge prepotentials and linearised super-Cotton tensors for higher spin N=1…
In loop quantum cosmology, one has to make a choice of SU(2) irreducible representation in which to compute holonomies and regularize the curvature of the connection. The systematic choice made in the literature is to work in the…
We generalize parts of a special non-Euclidean calculus of pseudodifferential operators, which was invented by S. Zelditch for hyperbolic surfaces, to symmetric spaces $X=G/K$ of the noncompact type and their compact quotients…