Related papers: Virtual dipoles and large fluctuations in quantum …
A form of infinite derivative gravity is free from ghost-like instabilities with improved small scale behavior. In this theory, we calculate the tree-level scattering amplitude and the corresponding weak field potential energy between two…
At the mesoscopic scales --- which interpolate between the macroscopic, classical, geometry and the microscopic, quantum, structure of spacetime --- one can identify the density of states of the geometry which arises from the existence of a…
We consider asymptotically anti de Sitter gravity coupled to a scalar field with mass slightly above the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound. This theory admits a large class of consistent boundary conditions characterized by an arbitrary function…
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…
We investigate asymptotic safety of a toy model of a singlet-scalar extension of the Higgs sector including two real scalar fields under the impact of quantum-gravity fluctuations. Employing functional renormalization group techniques, we…
I show that a quantized Klein-Gordon field in Minkowski space obeys an `operational' weak energy condition: the energy of an isolated device constructed to measure or trap the energy in a region, plus the energy it measures or traps, cannot…
We show that, for any local, causal quantum field theory which couples covariantly to gravity, and which admits Minkowski spacetime vacuum(a) invariant under the inhomogeneous proper orthochronous Lorentz group, plane gravitational waves…
It is shown that Einstein's field equations for \emph{all} perfect-fluid $k=0$ FLRW cosmologies have the same form as the topological normal form of a fold bifurcation. In particular, we assume that the cosmological constant is a…
We point out a new phenomenon which seems to be generic in 4d effective theories of scalar fields coupled to Einstein gravity, when applied to cosmology. A lift of such theories to a Weyl-invariant extension allows one to define classical…
We show that, due to the nonlinear nature of gravity, fluctuations in spacetime curvature generate additional gravitational attraction. This fluctuation-induced extra attraction was overlooked in the conventional understanding of the…
Nondifferentiable fluctuations in space-time on a Planck scale introduce stochastic terms into the equations for quantum states, resulting in a proposed new foundation for an existing alternative quantum theory, primary state diffusion…
In this paper we argue that classical, asymptotically AdS spacetimes that arise as states in consistent ultraviolet completions of Einstein gravity coupled to matter must satisfy an infinite family of positive energy conditions. To each…
Certain off-diagonal vacuum and nonvacuum configurations in Einstein gravity can mimic physical effects of modified gravitational theories of $ f(R,T,R_{\mu\nu}T^{\mu\nu})$ type. We prove this statement by constructing exact and approximate…
The energy conditions of classical Einstein gravity fail once quantum effects are introduced. These quantum violations of the energy conditions are not subtle high-energy Planck scale effects. Rather the quantum violations of the energy…
We propose a phenomenological approach to the cosmological constant problem based on generally covariant non-local and acausal modifications of four-dimensional gravity at enormous distances. The effective Newton constant becomes very small…
We start with a summary of the theory of the gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum, which makes it possible to consider the quantum vacuum as a source of gravity in the Universe. Next, because virtual gravitational dipoles are…
We discuss the possibility of verifying the equivalence principle for the zero-point energy of quantum electrodynamics, by evaluating the force, produced by vacuum fluctuations, acting on a rigid Casimir cavity in a weak gravitational…
Massive gravity is a modified theory of general relativity. In this paper, we study, using a method in which the scale factor changes as a particle in a "potential", all possible cosmic evolutions in a ghost-free massive gravity. We find…
Using a quantum field theoretic setting, we present evidence for dimensional reduction of any sub-volume of Minkowksi space. First, we show that correlation functions of a class of operators restricted to a sub-volume of D-dimensional…
A near-Milne Universe produces a very red spectrum of vacuum quantum fluctuations, but has the potential to produce near-scale invariant {\it thermal} fluctuations. This happens if the energy and entropy are mildly sub-extensive, for…