Related papers: Gravity on Conformal Superspace
General relativity postulates the Minkowski space-time to be the standard flat geometry against which we compare all curved space-times and the gravitational ground state where particles, quantum fields and their vacuum states are primarily…
The properties of a string-inspired two-dimensional theory of gravity are studied. The post-Newtonian and weak-field approximations, `stellar' structure and cosmological solutions of this theory are developed. Some qualitative similarities…
This thesis is devoted to the study of gravitational theories which can be seen as modifications or generalisations of General Relativity. The motivation for considering such theories, stemming from Cosmology, High Energy Physics and…
General Relativity is usually formulated as a theory with gauge invariance under the diffeomorphism group, but there is a 'dilaton' formulation where it is in addition invariant under Weyl transformations, and a 'unimodular' formulation…
The universal character of the gravitational interaction provided by the equivalence principle motivates a geometrical description of gravity. The standard formulation of General Relativity \`a la Einstein attributes gravity to the…
The geometric foundations of General Relativity are revisited, with particular attention to its gauge invariance, as a key to understanding the true nature of spacetime. Beyond the common image of spacetime as a deformable 'fabric' filling…
We consider conformal gravity as a gauge natural theory. We study its conservation laws and superpotentials. We also consider the Mannheim and Kazanas spherically symmetric vacuum solution and discuss conserved quantities associated to…
We study quantum gravity in $2+\epsilon$ dimensions in such a way to preserve the volume preserving diffeomorphism invariance. In such a formulation, we prove the following trinity: the general covariance, the conformal invariance and the…
In three spacetime dimensions, general relativity becomes a topological field theory, whose dynamics can be largely described holographically by a two-dimensional conformal field theory at the ``boundary'' of spacetime. I review what is…
Subject of this article is the relationship between modern cosmology and fundamental physics, in particular general relativity as a theory of gravity on one side, together with its unique application in cosmology, and the formation of…
The geometrical nature of gravity emerges from the universality dictated by the equivalence principle. In the usual formulation of General Relativity, the geometrisation of the gravitational interaction is performed in terms of the…
In the present paper we give conclusive arguments pointing at physical equivalence among conformally related metrics. Based on the argument that any consistent effective theory of spacetime must be invariant under the one-parameter group of…
Based on a family of indefinite unitary representations of the diffeomorphism group of an oriented smooth $4$-manifold, a manifestly covariant $4$ dimensional and non-perturbative algebraic quantum field theory formulation of gravity is…
General relativity becomes vastly simpler in three spacetime dimensions: all vacuum solutions have constant curvature, and the moduli space of solutions can be almost completely characterized. As a result, this lower dimensional setting…
We consider a model of gravity and matter fields which is invariant only under unimodular general coordinate transformations (GCT). The determinant of the metric is treated as a separate field which transforms as a scalar under unimodular…
The discovery of the accelerated expansion of the universe highlighted General Relativity's inability to naturally account for dark energy without invoking a finely tuned cosmological constant. In response, a wide range of alternative…
We investigate the cosmological behavior in a universe governed by time asymmetric extensions of general relativity, which is a novel modified gravity based on the addition of new, time-asymmetric, terms on the Hamiltonian framework, in a…
This paper deals with two aspects of relativistic cosmologies with closed (compact and boundless) spatial sections. These spacetimes are based on the theory of General Relativity, and admit a foliation into space sections S(t), which are…
We show that there are 2 equivalent first order descriptions of 2+1 gravity with non-zero cosmological constant. One is the well-known spacetime description and the other is in terms of evolving conformal geometry. The key tool that links…
Loop quantum gravity and cosmology are reviewed with an emphasis on evaluating the dynamics, rather than constructing it. The three crucial parts of such an analysis are (i) deriving effective equations, (ii) controlling the theory's…