Related papers: The Universe as a topological defect
We reconsider a gauge theory of gravity in which the gauge group is the conformal group SO(4,2) and the action is of the Yang-Mills form, quadratic in the curvature. The resulting gravitational theory exhibits local conformal symmetry and…
A coupling between the spacetime geometry and a scalar field involving the Euler four-form can have important consequences in General Relativity. The coupling is a four-dimensional version of the Jackiw-Teitelboim action, in which a scalar…
We consider a universe formed in a black hole in the Einstein--Cartan theory of gravity. The interior of a Schwarzschild black hole can be represented by the Kantowski--Sachs metric that describes a closed anisotropic universe. We use this…
We review (and extend) the analysis of general theories of all interactions (gravity included) where the mass scales are due to dimensional transmutation. Quantum consistency requires the presence of terms in the action with four…
We develop a new model for the Universe based on two key assumptions: first, the inertial energy of the Universe is a constant, and second, the total energy of a particle, the inertial plus the gravitational potential energy produced by the…
The field equations of general relativity are shown to derive from the existence of a limit force or of a limit power in nature. The limits have the value of c^4/4G and c^5/4G. The proof makes use of a result by Jacobson. All known…
It is shown that the action for topological gravity in even dimensions is, except by a multiplicative constant, a gauged Wess-Zumino-Witten Term.
We present a conformal field theory -- obtained from a gauged WZW model -- that describes a closed, inhomogeneous expanding and recollapsing universe in $3+1$ dimensions. A possible violation of cosmic censorship is avoided because the…
The semi-classical approach to the quantum geometrodynamical model is used for the description of the properties of the universe on extremely small spacetime scales. Quantum theory for a homogeneous, isotropic and closed universe is…
We show that the action of Einstein's gravity with a scalar field coupled in a generic way to spacetime curvature is invariant under a particular set of conformal transformations. These transformations relate dual theories for which the…
A gauge theory of quantum gravity is formulated, in which an internal, field dependent metric is introduced which non-linearly realizes the gauge fields on the non-compact group $SL(2,C)$, while linearly realizing them on $SU(2)$.…
The observed matter in the universe accounts for just 5 percent of the observed gravity. A possible explanation is that Newton's and Einstein's theories of gravity fail where gravity is either weak or enhanced. The modified theory of…
The hypothesis that gravitational self-binding energy may be the source for the vacuum energy term of cosmology is studied in a Newtonian Ansatz. For spherical spaces the attractive force of gravitation and the negative pressure of the…
The unique Nature of the Lorentz group in four dimensions is the root cause of the many remarkable properties of the Einstein spacetimes, in particular their operational structure on the 2-forms. We show how this operational structure can…
We naturally extend the theory of gravity with a conformally coupled scalar field by only requiring conformal invariance of the scalar field equation of motion and not of the action. The classically extended theory incorporates a…
The possibility of evading Lovelock's theorem at $d=4$, via a singular redefinition of the dimensionless coupling of the Gauss-Bonnet term, has been extensively discussed in the cosmological context. The term is added as a quadratic…
The unification of the Einstein theory of gravity with a conformal invariant version of the standard model for electroweak interaction without the Higgs potential is considered. In this theory, a module of the Higgs field is absorbed by the…
A thorough study and analysis on the conceptual foundations of unimodular gravity shows that this theory is essentially general relativity disguised as unimodular relativity in the literature. The main reason for this dilemma is accepting…
The Wess-Zumino consistency condition for four-dimensional Einstein gravity is investigated in the space of local forms involving the fields, the ghosts, the antifields and their derivatives. Its general solution is constructed for all…
Recently, a $4$-index generalization of the Einstein theory is proposed by Moulin (Eur. Phys. J. C 77, 878 (2017)). Using this method, we find the most general $2$-index field equations derivable from the Einstein-Hilbert action. The…