Related papers: Ghost Equations and Diffeomorphism Invariant Theor…
To describe a massive graviton in 4D Minkowski space-time one introduces a quadratic term in the Lagrangian. This term, however, can lead to a readjustment or instability of the background instead of describing a massive graviton on flat…
In the present paper, we revisit gravitational theories which are invariant under TDiffs -- transverse (volume preserving) diffeomorphisms and global scale transformations. It is known that these theories can be rewritten in an equivalent…
The recently introduced manifestly covariant canonical quantization scheme is applied to gravity. New diffeomorphism anomalies generating a multi-dimensional generalization of the Virasoro algebra arise. This does not contradict theorems…
It is shown that the Hamiltonian of the Einstein affine-metric (first order) formulation of General Relativity (GR) leads to a constraint structure that allows the restoration of its unique gauge invariance, four-diffeomorphism, without the…
The unique ghost-free mass and nonlinear potential terms for general relativity are presented in a diffeomorphism and local Lorentz invariant vierbein formalism. This construction requires an additional two-index Stuckelberg field, beyond…
Field-theoretic pure gravitational anomalies only exist in $4k+2$ dimensions. However, canonical quantization of non-field-theoretic systems may give rise to diffeomorphism anomalies in any number of dimensions. I present a simple example,…
When 4-dimensional general relativity is extended by a 3-dimensional gravitational Chern-Simons term an apparent violation of diffeormorphism invariance is extinguished by the dynamical equations of motion for the modified theory. The…
The main obstacle in attempts to construct a consistent quantum gravity is the absence of independent flat time. This can in principle be cured by going out to higher dimensions. The modern paradigm assumes that the fundamental theory of…
We consider the first order form of the Einstein-Hilbert action and quantize it using the path integral. Two gauge fixing conditions are imposed so that the graviton propagator is both traceless and transverse. It is shown that these two…
The BRST algebra of supergravity is characterized by two different bilinears of the commuting supersymmetry ghosts: a vector $\gamma^\mu$ and a scalar $\phi$, the latter valued in the Yang-Mills Lie algebra. We observe that under BRST…
A manifestly diffeomorphism invariant extension of Einstein gravity is constructed, which includes singular metrics, and whose ADM formulation is Ashtekar's gravity. The latter is shown to be locally equivalent to the covariant theory. It…
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. To prove this statement, exact and approximate solutions are…
Scale invariant (transverse) gravitational theories are introduced. They are invariant under pure metric rescalings (i.e. the matter fields are inert under those). This symmetry forbids the presence of a cosmological constant. Those…
Theories of gravity invariant under those diffeomorphisms generated by transverse vectors, $\pd_\m\xi^\m=0$ are considered. Such theories are dubbed transverse, and differ from General Relativity in that the determinant of the metric, $g$,…
We perform the Hamiltonian analysis of general bimetric gravity. We determine four first class constraints that are generators of the diagonal diffeomorphism. We further analyze the remaining constraints and we present an evidence that…
The Eddington-inspired-Born-Infeld (EiBI) gravity, which is formulated within the Palatini formalism, is characterized by its ability to cure the big bang singularity in the very beginning of the Universe. We further analyze the EiBI…
It is shown that a disformally coupled theory in which the gravitational sector has the Einstein-Hilbert form is equivalent to a quartic DBI Galileon Lagrangian, possessing non-linear higher derivative interactions, and hence allowing for…
We study the dynamics of a modified-gravity theory, which is supplemented by an extended Gibbons-Hawking-York boundary term and incorporates diffeomorphism violation through nondynamical background fields denoted as $u$ and $s^{\mu\nu}$ in…
We construct a topological theory for euclidean gravity in four dimensions, by enforcing self-duality conditions on the spin connection. The corresponding topological symmetry is associated to the SU(2) X diffeomorphism X U(1) invariance.…
We present a formulation of gravity in terms of a theory based on complex SU(2) gauge fields with a general coordinate invariant action functional quadratic in the field strength. Self-duality or anti-self-duality of the field strength…