Related papers: Topological Field Theories and Space-Time Singular…
In three spacetime dimensions, general relativity becomes a topological field theory, whose dynamics can be largely described holographically by a two-dimensional conformal field theory at the ``boundary'' of spacetime. I review what is…
We present the case for a fundamentally discrete quantum spacetime and for Group Field Theories as a candidate consistent description of it, briefly reviewing the key properties of the GFT formalism. We then argue that the outstanding…
We review uniqueness theorems as well as other general results about higher dimensional black hole spacetimes. This includes in particular theorems about the topology of higher dimensional spacetimes, theorems about their symmetries…
I argue that there are no physical singularities in space-time. Singular space-time models do not belong to the ontology of the world, because of a simple reason: they are concepts, defective solutions of Einstein's field equations. I…
I discuss the ontological assumptions and implications of General Relativity. I maintain that General Relativity is a theory about gravitational fields, not about space-time. The latter is a more basic ontological category, that emerges…
The lattice definition of a two-dimensional topological field theory (TFT) is given generically, and the exact solution is obtained explicitly. In particular, the set of all lattice topological field theories is shown to be in one-to-one…
In this paper, we study black hole solutions in double field theory. In the first part, we introduce a solution-generating method and classify black hole solutions into three categories in standard double field theory. To solve the problem…
We construct a topological field theory which, on the one hand, generalizes BF theories in that there is non-trivial coupling to `topological matter fields'; and, on the other, generalizes the three-dimensional model of Carlip and Gegenberg…
We review double field theory (DFT) with emphasis on the doubled spacetime and its generalized coordinate transformations, which unify diffeomorphisms and b-field gauge transformations. We illustrate how the composition of generalized…
We propose a new notion of singularity in General Relativity which complements the usual notions of geodesic incompleteness and curvature singularities. Concretely, we say that a spacetime has a volume singularity if there exist points…
The decomposition of an arbitrary axiomatic topological quantum field theory or TQFT into indecomposable theories is given. In particular, unitary TQFT's in arbitrary dimensions are shown to decompose into a sum of theories in which the…
We propose a Symmetry Topological Field Theory (SymTFT) for continuous spacetime symmetries. For a $d$-dimensional theory, it is given by a $(d+1)$-dimensional BF-theory for the spacetime symmetry group, and whenever $d$ is even, it can…
An introduction to extended theories of gravity formulated in metric-affine (or Palatini) spaces is presented. Focusing on spherically symmetric configurations with electric fields, we will see that in these theories the central singularity…
We study generalized symmetries in a simplified arena in which the usual quantum field theories of physics are replaced with topological field theories and the smooth structure with which the symmetry groups of physics are usually endowed…
The aim of these notes is to elucidate some aspects of quantum field theory in curved spacetime, especially those relating to the notion of particles. A selection of issues relevant to wave-particle duality is given. The case of a generic…
We study conformal field theories (CFTs) and their classifications from a modern perspective based on the abstract algebraic formalism of symmetries or conserved charges, known as symmetry topological field theories (SymTFTs). By studying…
It has been recently pointed out that black holes of constant curvature with a "chronological singularity" can be constructed in any spacetime dimension. These black holes share many common properties with the 2+1 black hole. In this…
Exceptional field theories are the manifestly duality covariant formulations of the target space theories of string/M-theory in the low-energy limit (supergravity) or for certain truncations. These theories feature a rich system of…
This PhD Thesis is devoted to the study of Hodge structures on a special type of complex algebraic varieties, the so-called character varieties. For this purpose, we propose to use a powerful algebro-geometric tool coming from theoretical…
This lecture surveys a few loosely related topics, ranging from the scarcity of quantum field theories -- and the role that this has played, and still plays, in physics -- to paradoxes involving black holes in soluble two dimensional string…