Related papers: Topological variations in General Relativity: a ri…
A derivation of the equations of motion of general relativity is presented that does not invoke the Axiom of Choice, but requires the explicit construction of a choice function q for continuous three-space regions. The motivation for this…
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…
The Einstein-Hilbert worldspace action is used to investigate the dynamics of extended object. In the Robertson-Walker worldspace, this is seen to introduce a pressureless density which could contribute to dark matter. Such pressureless…
Quasi-topological terms in gravity can be viewed as those that give no contribution to the equations of motion for a special subclass of metric ans\"atze. They therefore play no r\^ole in constructing these solutions, but can affect the…
Since its introduction by J. Karamata, regular variation has evolved from a purely mathematical concept into a cornerstone of theoretical probability and data analysis. It is extensively studied and applied in different areas. Its…
We consider a modification of the standard Einstein theory in four dimensions, alternative to R. Jackiw and S.-Y. Pi, Phys. Rev. D 68, 104012 (2003), since it is based on the first-order (Einstein-Cartan) approach to General Relativity,…
Higher-order curvature corrections involving the conformally-invariant Weyl-squared action have played a role in two recent investigations of four-dimensional gravity; in critical gravity, where it is added to the standard cosmological…
General relativity is a covariant theory of two transverse, traceless graviton degrees of freedom. According to a theorem of Hojman, Kuchar, and Teitelboim, modifications of general relativity must either introduce new degrees of freedom or…
Four-dimensional gravity admits many equivalent formulations - metric, Einstein-Cartan, teleparallel, McDowell-Mansouri, among others - each offering distinct advantages, particularly, in view of quantization. We propose a new formulation…
Modified gravity provides a possible explanation for the currently observed cosmic accelaration. In this paper, we study general classes of modified gravity models. The Einstein-Hilbert action is modified by using general functions of the…
We investigate the covariant Hamiltonian symplectic structure of General Relativity for spatially bounded regions of spacetime with a fixed time-flow vector. For existence of a well-defined Hamiltonian variational principle taking into…
The conformal transformation in the Einstein - Hilbert action leads to a new frame where an extra scalar degree of freedom is compensated by the local conformal-like symmetry. We write down a most general action resulting from such…
After a brief review of topological gravity, we present a superspace approach to this theory. This formulation allows us to recover in a natural manner various known results and to gain some insight into the precise relationship between…
The possibility of evading Lovelock's theorem at $d=4$, via a singular redefinition of the dimensionless coupling of the Gauss-Bonnet term, has been extensively discussed in the cosmological context. The term is added as a quadratic…
The bimetric variational principle is a subtle reinterpretation of general relativity that assumes the spacetime connection to be generated by an independent metric. Unlike the so called Palatini formalism that promotes the connection into…
The introduction of General Relativity (GR) in 1915 revolutionized our understanding of gravity, but over time, its limitations in explaining phenomena like dark energy, dark matter, and quantum gravity have motivated alternative theories.…
Standard general relativity fails to take into account the changes in coordinates induced by the variation of metric in the Hilbert action principle. We propose to include such changes by introducing a fundamental compensating tensor field…
Using the Steiner-Weyl expansion formula for parallel manifolds and the so called gonihedric principle we find a large class of discrete integral invariants which are defined on simplicial manifolds of various dimensions. These integral…
In the spirit of Sakharov's `metric elasticity' proposal, we draw a loose analogy between general relativity and the hydrodynamic state of a quantum gas. In the `top-down' approach, we examine the various conditions which underlie the…
We provide a new extension of general relativity (GR) which has the remarkable property of being more constrained than GR plus a cosmological constant, having one less free parameter. This is implemented by allowing the cosmological…