Related papers: Complex Geometry of Nature and General Relativity
This work is originally a Cambridge Part III essay. Throughout the paper, some aspects of General Relativity in higher dimensions are reviewed. The work presented draws a path within the wide landscape of higher dimensional black holes…
In general relativity (GR), spacetime geometry is no longer just a background arena but a physical and dynamical entity with its own degrees of freedom. We present an overview of approaches to quantum gravity in which this central feature…
The configuration space of general relativity is superspace - the space of all Riemannian 3-metrics modulo diffeomorphisms. However, it has been argued that the configuration space for gravity should be conformal superspace - the space of…
We summarize the main ideas of General Relativity and Lorentzian geometry, leading to a proof of the simplest of the celebrated Hawking-Penrose singularity theorems. The reader is assumed to be familiar with Riemannian geometry and point…
The purpose of this article is to draw attention to some fundamental issues in General Relativity. It is argued that these deep issues cannot be resolved within the standard approach to general relativity that considers {\em every} solution…
General Relativity (GR) revolutionized the way we thought about gravity. After briefly describing the key successes of GR and its impact, I will discuss the major conceptual challenges it faces today. I conclude by outlining the prospective…
These lecture notes are intended for starting PhD students in theoretical physics who have a working knowledge of General Relativity. The 4 topics covered are (1) Surface charges as conserved quantities in theories of gravity; (2) Classical…
Generalized complex geometry, introduced by Hitchin, encompasses complex and symplectic geometry as its extremal special cases. We explore the basic properties of this geometry, including its enhanced symmetry group, elliptic deformation…
This is an introductory set of lecture notes on quantum cosmology, given in 1995 to an audience with interests ranging from astronomy to particle physics. Topics covered: 1. Introduction: 1.1 Quantum cosmology and quantum gravity; 1.2 A…
In this article we study multisymplectic geometry, i.e., the geometry of manifolds with a non-degenerate, closed differential form. First we describe the transition from Lagrangian to Hamiltonian classical field theories, and then we…
These notes give a concise introduction to General Relativity at the advanced undergraduate level, starting from the weak field limit and gravitational waves, then introducing curved manifolds and Riemannian geometry. The nonlinear…
A review of selected topics in mathematical general relativity
Geometric (Clifford) algebra provides an efficient mathematical language for describing physical problems. We formulate general relativity in this language. The resulting formalism combines the efficiency of differential forms with the…
This is the first paper in a series of eight where in the first three we develop a systematic approach to the geometric algebras of multivectors and extensors, followed by five papers where those algebraic concepts are used in a novel…
In this talk work done by our group on cosmic topology is reviewed. It ranges from early attempts to solve a famous controversy about quasars through the multiplicity of images, to quantum cosmology in this context and an application to QED…
This dissertation investigates three main topics, all of which dealing with alternative, higher-order gravity theories in four dimensions. Firstly, we study the variational and conformal structure of those theories. Next, we analyse their…
We introduce spinors, at a level appropriate for an undergraduate or first year graduate course on relativity, astrophysics or particle physics. The treatment assumes very little mathematical knowledge (mainly just vector analysis and some…
A covariant hamiltonian formalism for the dynamics of compact spinning bodies in curved space-time in the test-particle limit is described. The construction allows a large class of hamiltonians accounting for specific properties and…
The confrontation between general relativity (and its theoretically most plausible deviations) and experimental or observational results is summarized. Some discussion is devoted to the various methodologies used in confronting theory and…
In this lecture, we review some of the concepts of generalized geometry, as introduced by Hitchin and developed in the speaker's thesis. We also prove a Hodge decomposition for the twisted cohomology of a compact generalized K\"ahler…