Related papers: A Brief Comment on Instanton-like Singularities an…
We present here an overview of our basic understanding and recent developments on spacetime singularities in the Einstein theory of gravity. Several issues related to physical significance and implications of singularities are discussed.…
We perform a thorough analysis of de Sitter vacua in O(d,d) invariant cosmologies. Starting with a homogeneous and isotropic framework we examine conditions for the existence of such vacua, non-perturbative in \alpha' in both the string…
We study the linearized gravity theory in the Newman-Unti gauge in the near horizon region of the de Sitter spacetime. The linearized Einstein equation involves the cosmological constant. The near horizon symmetry consists of near horizon…
We study the finite time singularity correspondence between the Jordan and Einstein frames for various $F(R)$ gravity theories. Particularly we investigate the ordinary pure $F(R)$ gravity case and the unimodular $F(R)$ gravity cases, in…
We study the gravitational collapse of a massless scalar field within the effective scenario of loop quantum gravity. Classical singularity is avoided and replaced by a quantum bounce in this model. It is shown that, quantum gravity effects…
We analyze some relevant features of the primordial Universe as viewed in the Jordan frame formulation of the f(R)-gravity, especially when the potential term of the non-minimally coupled scalar field is negligible. We start formulating the…
Making use of the T-duality symmetry of superstring theory, and of the double geometry from Double Field Theory, we argue that cosmological singularities of a homogeneous and isotropic universe disappear. In fact, an apparent big bang…
To ask a question about a black hole in quantum gravity, one must restrict initial or boundary data to ensure that a black hole is actually present. For two-dimensional dilaton gravity, and probably a much wider class of theories, I show…
Special theory of relativity has been formulated in a vacuum momentum-energy representation which is equivalent to Einstein special relativity and predicts just the same results as it. Although in this sense such a formulation would be at…
It is known that certain types of particle motion near black hole horizons are chaotic while it has been proposed the existence of a universal bound for their Lyapunov exponent. We discuss the relation between chaos and inaffinity in…
We present a new class of near-horizon geometries which solve Einstein's vacuum equations, including a negative cosmological constant, in all even dimensions greater than four. Spatial sections of the horizon are inhomogeneous S^2-bundles…
We make a number of remarks on linearized gravity with cosmological constant in any dimension, which, we argue, can be useful in a quantum gravity framework. For this purpose we assume that the background space-time metric corresponds to…
We tudy flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmology in Brans-Dicke-type theories of gravitation with minimal coupling between the scalar field and the matter fields in the Einstein frame (general relativity with an extra scalar field) for…
Black hole event horizons and cosmological event horizons share many properties, making it natural to ask whether our recent advances in understanding black holes generalize to cosmology. To this end, we discuss a paradox that occurs if…
Scalar-tensor theories of gravity can be formulated in the Jordan or in the Einstein frame, which are conformally related. The issue of which conformal frame is physical is a contentious one; we provide a straightforward example based on…
From higher dimensional theories, e.g. string theory, one expects the presence of non-minimally coupled scalar fields. We review the notion of conformal frames in cosmology and emphasize their physical equivalence, which holds at least at a…
We revisit the question of frame equivalence in Quantum Field Theory in the presence of gravity, a situation of relevance for theories aiming to describe the early Universe dynamics and Inflation in particular. We show that in those cases,…
In Einstein's gravity, the entropy of horizons is proportional to their area. Several arguments given in the literature suggest that, in this context, both area and entropy should be quantized with an equally spaced spectrum for large…
The existence of future horizons in spacetime geometries poses serious problems for string theory and quantum field theories. The observation that the expansion of the universe is accelerating has recently been shown to lead to a crisis for…
This thesis explores the thermodynamics of the cosmological horizon, aiming to make progress towards a better understanding of the microscopic nature of its entropy. We utilise the constrained nature of low-dimensional gravity to do so and…