Related papers: The Cosmological Constant Problem and Nonlocal Qua…
Quantum effects are expected to modify the cosmological dynamics of the early universe while maintaining some (potentially discrete) notion of space-time structure. In one approach, loop quantum cosmology, current models are shown here to…
We consider general relativity with a cosmological constant as a perturbative expansion around a completely solvable diffeomorphism invariant field theory. This theory is the $\Lambda\to\infty$ limit of general relativity. This allows an…
We derive the effects of a non-zero cosmological constant $\Lambda$ on gravitational wave propagation in the linearized approximation of general relativity. In this approximation we consider the situation where the metric can be written as…
This paper continues the development of a discrete space-time concept that is recently used in the explanation of the cosmological constant. Instead of order estimation, a more theoretical treatment of the theory is introduced. Based on the…
A new model of oscillators was suggested, in which an oscillating particle in the minimum energy state has a nonzero velocity. A system consisting of a point material particle and a scalar field described by the nonlinear Klein-Gordon…
Form factors constitute the key building block when organising the gravitational dynamics in terms of a curvature expansion. They generalise the concept of momentum-dependent couplings to curved spacetime. Moreover, they may capture…
It is argued that quantum states of geometry, like those of particles, should be coherent on light cones of any size. An exact classical solution, the gravitational shock wave of a relativistic point particle, is used to estimate…
We show that scale invariance provides a solution to the fine tuning problem of the cosmological constant. We construct a generalization of the standard model of particle physics which displays exact quantum scale invariance. The matter…
A unified theory of four-dimensional gravity together with the standard model is presented, with supersymmetry breaking of M-theory at a TeV. Masses of the the known particles are derived. The cosmological constant is quantum generated to…
Non-Abelian Gauss law is interpreted in terms of area bits described in a local frame which fit together into closed surfaces and the Non-Abelian Stokes law in terms of length bits described in a local frame which fit together into closed…
We investigate the cosmological perturbations in f(T) gravity. Examining the pure gravitational perturbations in the scalar sector using a diagonal vierbien, we extract the corresponding dispersion relation, which provides a constraint on…
We describe gauge theories which allow to retrieve a large class of gravitational theories, including, MacDowell-Mansouri gravity and its topological extension to Loop Quantum Gravity via the Pontrjagin characteristic class involving the…
Loop quantum cosmology is a symmetry reduced quantization of cosmological spacetimes based on loop quantum gravity. While it has been successful in resolution of various cosmological singularities and connecting Planck scale physics to…
The infinite dimensional generalization of the quantum mechanics of extended objects, namely, the quantum field theory of extended objects is employed to address the hitherto nonrenormalizable gravitational interaction following which the…
We propose that gravity be intrinsically quantum-mechanical, so that in the absence of quantum mechanics the geometry of the universe would be Minkowski. We show that in such a situation gravity does not require any independent quantization…
Well-known to specialists but little-known to the wider audience is that Newtonian gravity can be understood as geodesic motion in space-time, where time is absolute and space is Euclidean. Newtonian cosmology formulated by Heckmann agrees…
We study cosmological perturbations of self-accelerating universe solutions in the recently proposed nonlinear theory of massive gravity, with general matter content. While the broken diffeomorphism invariance implies that there generically…
It is first argued that radiation by a uniformly accelerated charge in flat space-time indicates the need for a unified geometric theory of gravity and electromagnetism. Such a theory, based on a metric-affine $U_4$ manifold, is constructed…
We argue that quantum gravity is nonlocal, first by recalling well-known arguments that support this idea and then by focusing on a point not usually emphasized: that making a conventional effective field theory (EFT) for quantum gravity is…
The cosmological constant is not an absolute constant. The gravitating part of the vacuum energy is adjusted to the energy density of matter and to other types of the perturbations of the vacuum. We discuss how the vacuum energy responds…