Related papers: The fate of four dimensions
We discuss how, in a Universe restricted to the causal region connected to the observer, General Relativity implies the quantum nature of physical phenomena and directly leads to a string theory scenario, whose dynamics is ruled by a…
We propose a field theory which lives in fractal spacetime and is argued to be Lorentz invariant, power-counting renormalizable, ultraviolet finite, and causal. The system flows from an ultraviolet fixed point, where spacetime has Hausdorff…
We discuss the obstacles for defining a set of observable quantities analogous to an S-matrix which are needed to formulate string theory in an accelerating universe. We show that the quintessence models with the equations of state $-1 < w…
We explore a classical instability of spacetimes of dimension $D>4$. Firstly, we consider static solutions: generalised black holes and brane world metrics. The dangerous mode is a tensor mode on an Einstein base manifold of dimension…
In light of G\"{o}del's undecidability results (incomplete theorems) for math, quantum indeterminism indicates that physics and the Universe may be indeterministic, incomplete, and open in nature, and therefore demand no single unification…
A string theory in $3$ euclidean spacetime dimensions is found to describe the semiclassical behavior of a certain exact physical state of quantum general relativity in $4$ dimensions. Both the worldsheet and the three dimensional metric…
We review recent attempts to address the cosmological constant problem and the late-time acceleration of the Universe based on braneworld models. In braneworld models, the way in which the vacuum energy gravitates in the 4D spacetime is…
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…
Classical gravity coupled to a CFT$_4$ (matter) is considered. The effect of the quantum dynamics of matter on gravity is studied around maximally symmetric spaces (flat, de Sitter and Anti de Sitter). The structure of the graviton…
Following fresh attempts to resolve the problem of the energy density of the vacuum, we reconsider the case where the cosmological constant is derived from a higher-dimensional version of general relativity, and interpret the…
We study the possibility that the vacuum energy density of scalar and internal-space gauge fields arising from the process of dimensional reduction of higher dimensional gravity theories plays the role of quintessence. We show that, for the…
It has recently been argued that string theory does not admit de Sitter vacua. This would imply that the current accelerated expansion of the universe is not driven by a cosmological constant (or vacuum energy) but by other means such as a…
We investigate compactifications of M-theory from $11\to 5\to 4$ dimensions and discuss geometrical properties of 4-d moduli fields related to the structure of 5-d theory. We study supersymmetry breaking by compactification of the fifth…
It has been proposed that the geometry of an extra dimension could automatically adjust itself to compensate for an arbitrary energy density on the 3-D brane which we are presumed to inhabit, such that a static solution to Einstein's…
The theories of brane world and multidimensional gravity are widely discussed in the literature in connection with problems of evolution of early Universe, including dark matter and energy. A natural physical concept is that a distinguished…
We investigate singular geometries which can be associated with warped branes in arbitrary dimensions. If the brane tension is allowed to be variable, the extremum condition for the action requires additional constraints beyond the solution…
A variety of observations indicate that the universe is dominated by dark energy with negative pressure, one possibility for which is a cosmological constant. If the dark energy is a cosmological constant, a fundamental question is: Why has…
Supercritical string theories in D>10 dimensions with no moduli are described, generalizing the asymmetric orientifold construction of one of the authors. By taking the number of dimensions to be large and turning on fluxes, dilaton…
Negative mass brane-like objects known as orientifolds are crucial in the construction of all presently understood realistic string compactifications and I review in general the link between negative energy objects and the existence of a…
Under the assumption that General Relativity (GR) correctly describes the phenomenology of our Universe, astronomical observations provide compelling evidence that (1) the dynamics of cosmic structure is dominated by dark matter (DM), an…