Related papers: Six Dimensional Topological Gravity and the Cosmol…
In this essay we offer a comprehensible overview of the gravitational aether scenario. This is a possible extension of Einstein's theory of relativity to the quantum regime via an effective approach. Quantization of gravity usually faces…
The canonical structure of supergravity with a cosmological constant is analyzed in 2 + 1 dimensions using the Dirac constraint formalism. The first class constraints are used to find two Bosonic and one Fermionic gauge symmetries that…
An ensemble of cosmological models based on generalized BF-theory is constructed where the role of vacuum (zero-level) coupling constants is played by topologically invariant rational intersection forms (cosmological-constant matrices) of…
Assuming spherical symmetry and weak field, it is shown that if one solves the Poisson equation or the Einstein field equations sourced by a topological defect, \ie~a singularity of a very specific form, the result is a localised…
We reconsider the virial theorem in the presence of a positive cosmological constant Lambda. Assuming steady state, we derive an inequality of the form rho >= A (Lambda / 4 pi GN) for the mean density rho of the astrophysical object. With a…
We investigate consequences of an ultraviolet fixed point in quantum gravity for the cosmological constant. For this purpose we perform dimensional reduction of a general dilatation symmetric effective action $\Gamma$ in dimension $d>4$ to…
We present a new mechanism for addressing the cosmological constant problem based on global constraints arising from a lapse function in a higher-dimensional gravitational theory. Inspired by Horava-Lifshitz gravity, we consider a 5d…
A two dimensional matter coupled model of quantum gravity is studied in the Dirac approach to constrained dynamics in the presence of a cosmological constant. It is shown that after partial fixing to the conformal gauge the requirement of a…
A new gauge theory of gravity is presented. The theory is constructed in a flat background spacetime and employs gauge fields to ensure that all relations between physical quantities are independent of the positions and orientations of the…
It is known that if gauge conditions have Gribov zero modes, then topological symmetry is broken. In this paper we apply it to topological gravity in dimension $n \geq 3$. Our choice of the gauge condition for conformal invariance is…
The cosmological constant problem and the compatibility of gravity with quantum mechanics are the two most pressing problems in all of gravitational theory. While string theory nicely addresses the latter, it has so far failed to provide…
We derive the general $\Sigma_2\times S$ solution of topologically massive gravity in vacuum and in presence of a cosmological constant. The field equations reduce to three-dimensional Einstein equations and the solution has constant Ricci…
We implement the method developed in [1] to construct the most general parametrised action for linear cosmological perturbations of bimetric theories of gravity. Specifically, we consider perturbations around a homogeneous and isotropic…
We propose several covariant models which may solve one of the problems in the cosmological constant. One of the model can be regarded as an extension of sequestering model. Other models could be regarded as extensions of the covariant…
In this article, we review gauge-Higgs unification models based on gauge theories defined on six-dimensional spacetime with $S^2/Z_2$ topology in the extra spatial dimensions. On the extra $S^2/Z_2$ space, non-trivial boundary conditions…
A theory of topological gravity is a homotopy-theoretic representation of the Segal-Tillmann topologification of a two-category with cobordisms as morphisms. This note describes a relatively accessible example of such a thing, suggested by…
We consider a certain theory of 3-forms in 7 dimensions, and study its dimensional reduction to 4D, compactifying the 7-dimensional manifold on the 3-sphere of a fixed radius. We show that the resulting 4D theory is General Relativity (GR)…
We show that various dynamical gauge theories in two, three and four dimensions, obtained as Manin deformations of topological Alexandrov-Kontsevich-Schwarz-Zaboronsky (AKSZ) theories, are equivalent to gravitational theories. Since gravity…
Warped compactification of the six-dimensional bulk with a negative cosmological constant is realized with a 4-brane along with an abelian gauge theory. No fine tuning of couplings are needed to obtain the vanishing cosmological constant in…
It is shown that topological changes in space-time are necessary to make General Relativity compatible with the Newtonian limit and to solve the hierarchy of the fundamental interactions. We detail how topology and topological changes…