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We analyze carefully the problem of gauge symmetries for Bianchi models, from both the geometrical and dynamical points of view. Some of the geometrical definitions of gauge symmetries (=``homogeneity preserving diffeomorphisms'') given in…
A careful study of the induced transformations on spatial quantities due to 4-dimensional spacetime diffeomorphisms in the canonical formulation of general relativity is undertaken. Use of a general formalism, which indicates the role of…
The Problem of Time in Quantum Gravity is analyzed from a classical presymplectic perspective. In the first part of the paper the Three Space Approach to General Relativity is introduced via the Barbour-Foster-\'O Murchadha action and the…
Loop quantum gravity is an approach to quantum gravity that starts from the Hamiltonian formulation in terms of a connection and its canonical conjugate. Quantization proceeds in the spirit of Dirac: First one defines an algebra of basic…
Explicit breaking of diffeomorphism symmetry with nondynamical background fields in gravitational theories can lead to inconsistencies between the equations of motion and the underlying pseudo-Riemannian geometry. These theories produce a…
This paper considers the problem of consistently defining subsystems in gravitational theories. It is argued that a subsystem is a spacetime subregion in which the observables form a closed Poisson algebra. In a generally covariant theory,…
We study the low energy effective theory describing gravity with broken spatial diffeomorphism invariance. In the unitary gauge, the Goldstone bosons associated with broken diffeomorphisms are eaten and the graviton becomes a massive spin-2…
We study the gravitational collapse of a homogeneous scalar field, minimally coupled to gravity, in the presence of a particular type of dynamical deformation between the canonical momenta of the scale factor and of the scalar field. In the…
We provide a systematic and updated discussion of a research line carried out by our group over the last few years, in which gravity is modified at cosmological distances by the introduction of nonlocal terms, assumed to emerge at an…
Length scales probed by large scale structure surveys are becoming closer to the horizon scale. Further, it has been recently understood that non-Gaussianity in the initial conditions could show up in a scale dependence of the bias of…
We study a deformation of infinitesimal diffeomorphisms of a smooth manifold. The deformation is based on a general twist. This leads to a differential geometry on a noncommutative algebra of functions whose product is a star-product. The…
At a fixed point in spacetime (say, x_0), gravitational phase space consists of the space of symmetric matrices F^{ab} [corresponding to the canonical momentum pi^{ab}(x_0) and of symmetric matrices {G_{ab}}[corresponding to the canonical…
We study cosmological perturbations of self-accelerating universe solutions in the recently proposed nonlinear theory of massive gravity, with general matter content. While the broken diffeomorphism invariance implies that there generically…
The theory of cosmological perturbations is a well elaborated field. To deal with the diffeomorphism invariance of general relativity one generally introduces combinations of the metric and matter perturbations which are gauge invariant up…
The late-time cosmological dynamics of disformal gravity are investigated using dynamical systems methods. It is shown that in the general case there are no stable attractors that screen fifth-forces locally and simultaneously describe a…
We address questions regarding construction and implications of gauge-invariant "dressed" observables in nontrivial background geometries such as that of a black hole. Formally, such observables can be constructed, e.g. by locating points…
Treating reference frames fundamentally as quantum systems is inevitable in quantum gravity and also in quantum foundations once considering laboratories as physical systems. Both fields thereby face the question of how to describe physics…
We revisit the question of frame equivalence in Quantum Field Theory in the presence of gravity, a situation of relevance for theories aiming to describe the early Universe dynamics and Inflation in particular. We show that in those cases,…
We investigate the scalar sector of linear cosmological perturbations in quadratic gravity. Working in the Einstein frame, we derive the equations of motion in a gauge-independent manner and express them in terms of three sets of…
We describe the definition and the role background independence and the closely related notion of diffeomorphism invariance play in modern string theory. These important concepts are transformed by a new understanding of gauge redundancies…