Related papers: Why is the metric invertible?
An obvious criterion to classify theories of modified gravity is to identify their gravitational degrees of freedom and their coupling to the metric and the matter sector. Using this simple idea, we show that any theory which depends on the…
On the basis of the Lie derivative method in a metric-affine space-time it is shown that in the metric-affine gravitational theory the energy-momentum conservation law and therefore the equations of the matter motion are the consequence (as…
There are various ways of defining the Wick rotation in a gravitational context. There are good arguments to view it as an analytic continuation of the metric, instead of the coordinates. We focus on one very general definition and argue…
We develop a geometro-dynamical approach to the cosmological constant problem (CCP) by invoking a geometry induced by the energy-momentum tensor of vacuum, matter and radiation. The construction, which utilizes the dual role of the metric…
General Relativity (GR) exists in different formulations, which are equivalent in pure gravity. Once matter is included, however, observable predictions generically depend on the version of GR. In order to quantify the resulting ambiguity,…
The negative type inequalities of a metric space are closely tied to embeddability. A result by Gupta, Newman, and Rabinovich implies that if a metric graph $G$ does not contain a theta submetric as an embedding, then $G$ has negative type.…
We suggest a new explanation of flatness of galaxies rotation curves without invoking dark matter. For this purpose a new gravitational tensor field is introduced in addition to the metric tensor.
In light of the surge in popularity of electromagnetic cloaking devices, we consider whether it is possible to use gravitational lensing to cloak a volume of spacetime. A metric for such a spacetime geometry is presented, and its geometric…
We show that the intrinsic angular momentum of matter in curved spacetime requires the metric-affine formulation of gravity, in which the antisymmetric part of the affine connection (the torsion tensor) is not constrained to be zero but is…
The equations of motion describing all physical systems, except gravity, remain invariant if a constant is added to the Lagrangian. In the conventional approach, gravitational theories break this symmetry exhibited by all other physical…
Unimodular gravity is characterized by an extra condition with respect to General Relativity: the determinant of the metric is constant. This extra condition leads to a more restricted class of invariance by coordinate transformation. Even…
The physical property of mass has two distinct aspects, gravitational mass and inertial mass. The weight of a particle depends on its gravitational mass. According to the weak form of the equivalence principle, the gravitational and…
The notion that the metric field in general relativity can be understood as a property of space-time rests on a feature of the theory sometimes called universal coupling -- the claim that rods and clocks "measure" the metric in a way that…
I review here some motivations to consider a theory of gravity based on independent metric and connection, and its status as a quantum theory.
There are two strong clues about the quantum structure of spacetime and the gravitational dynamics, which are almost universally ignored in the conventional approaches to quantize gravity. The first clue is that null surfaces exhibit…
A ghost-free theory of gravity with two dynamical metrics both coupled to matter is shown to be consistent and viable. Its cosmological implications are studied, and the models, in particular in the context of partially massless gravity,…
The coupling of the electromagnetic field to gravity is an age-old problem. Presently, there is a resurgence of interest in it, mainly for two reasons: (i) Experimental investigations are under way with ever increasing precision, be it in…
The goal of inversion is to estimate the model which generates the data of observations with a specific modeling equation. One general approach to inversion is to use optimization methods which are algebraic in nature to define an objective…
The usual derivation of Einstein's field equations from the Einstein--Hilbert action is performed by silently assuming the metric tensor's symmetric character. If this symmetry is not assumed, the result is a new theory, such as Einstein's…
The actual value of the quantum vacuum energy density is generally regarded as irrelevant in non-gravitational physics. However, this paper gives a non-gravitational system where this value does have physical significance. The system is a…