Related papers: To boost or not to boost, that's the question
In the present paper, we revisit gravitational theories which are invariant under TDiffs -- transverse (volume preserving) diffeomorphisms and global scale transformations. It is known that these theories can be rewritten in an equivalent…
The CPT theorem states that a unitary and Lorentz-invariant theory must also be invariant under a discrete symmetry $\mathbf{CRT}$ which reverses charge, time, and one spatial direction. In this article, we study a $\mathbb{Z}_2 \times…
We explore the possibility of a consistent cosmology based on the gauge-fixing independent running of the gravitational and cosmological constants ($G$ and $\Lambda$) in the framework of effective quantum gravity. In particular, their…
Motivated by the apparent dependence of string $\sigma$--models on the sum of spacetime metric and antisymmetric tensor fields, we reconsider gravity theories constructed from a nonsymmetric metric. We first show that all such "geometrical"…
A complete canonical formulation of general covariance makes it possible to construct new modified theories of gravity that are not of higher-curvature form, as shown here in a spherically symmetric setting. The usual uniqueness theorems…
We study inflationary models that produce a nearly scale-invariant power spectrum while breaking scale invariance significantly in the bispectrum. Under most circumstances, such models are finely-tuned, as radiative corrections generically…
Symmetries play an important role in fundamental physics. In gravity and field theories, particular attention has been paid to Weyl (or conformal) symmetry. However, once the theory contains a scalar field, conformal transformations of the…
In recent years, the use of conformal transformation techniques has become widespread in the literature on gravitational theories alternative to general relativity, on cosmology, and on nonminimally coupled scalar fields. Typically, the…
We construct two distinct actions for scalar fields that are invariant under local Carroll boosts and Weyl transformations. Conformal Carroll field theories were recently argued to be related to the celestial holography description of…
In this paper we study brane-world scenarios with a bulk scalar field, using a covariant formalism to obtain a 4D Einstein equation via projection onto the brane. We discuss, in detail, the effects of the bulk on the brane and how the…
We present a dual 5D braneworld picture of a recently suggested model for a microcanonical description of a 4D cosmology driven by a conformal field theory with a large number of quantum fields. The 5D side of the duality relation is…
Noether symmetry for Gauss-Bonnet-Dilatonic interaction exists for a constant dilatonic scalar potential and a linear functional dependence of the coupling parameter on the scalar field. The symmetry with the same form of the potential and…
A new class of gravity-matter model defined with an independent non-Riemannian volume form is studied, in the second order formalism. The action has a global scale invariance symmetry, which can be broken by the equation of motion of the…
We show that there is a fundamental flaw in the application of modified gravity theories in cosmology, taking $f(R)$ gravity as a paradigmatic example. This theory contains a scalar degree of freedom that couples to the matter stress-energy…
In two dimensional conformal field theories the limit of large central charge plays the role of a semi-classical limit. Certain universal observables, such as conformal blocks involving the exchange of the identity operator, can be expanded…
We consider cosmological consequences of a conformal invariant formulation of Einstein's General Relativity where instead of the scale factor of the spatial metrics in the action functional a massless scalar (dilaton) field occurs which…
It is believed that the recent detection of large tensor perturbations strongly favors the inflation scenario in the early universe. This common sense depends on the assumption that Einstein's general relativity is valid at the early…
We demonstrate that any scale-invariant mechanics of one variable exhibits not only 0+1 conformal symmetry, but also the symmetries of a full Virasoro algebra. We discuss the implications for the adS/CFT correspondence.
We study quantum cosmological models for certain classes of bang/crunch singularities, using the duality between expanding bubbles in AdS with a FRW interior cosmology and perturbed CFTs on de Sitter space-time. It is pointed out that…
We argue that the presence of conformal anomalies in gravitational theories can lead to observable modifications to Einstein's equations via the induced anomalous effective actions, whose non-localities can overwhelm the smallness of the…