Related papers: The Space-Time Manifold as a Critical Solid
There exists in General Relativity an unambiguous notion of Mass associated to asymptotically flat spacetimes known as the ADM mass. The standard expression for the same is a surface integral over spatial infinity of a linear combination of…
Asymptotic Safety provides a mechanism for constructing a consistent and predictive quantum theory of gravity valid on all length scales. Its key ingredient is a non-Gaussian fixed point of the gravitational renormalization group flow which…
The problems encountered in trying to quantize the various cosmological models, are brought forward by means of a concrete example. The Automorphism groups are revealed as the key element through which G.C.T.'s can be used for a general…
We have critically compared different approaches to the cosmological constant problem, which is at the edge of elementary particle physics and cosmology. This problem is deeply connected with the difficulties formulating a theory of quantum…
The cosmological constant problem is one of the long-standing issues of modern physics. While we can measure the value of the cosmological constant with great accuracy, we are not able to calculate it in a coherent theoretical framework. On…
The renormalized energy density of a massless scalar field defined in a D-dimensional flat spacetime is computed in the presence of "soft" and "semihard" boundaries, modeled by some smoothly increasing potential functions. The sign of the…
An $O(d,d)$ symmetry of the manifold of string vacua that do not depend on $d$ (out of $D$) space-time coordinates has been recently identified. Here we write down, for $d=D-1$, the low energy equations of motion and their general solution…
I describe an approach which relates classical gravity to the quantum microstructure of spacetime. In this approach, the field equations arise from maximizing the density of states of the matter plus geometry. The former is identified using…
In the model of quantum gravity proposed in JHEP 2020, 70 (2020), dynamical spacetime arises as a collective phenomenon of underlying quantum matter. Without a preferred decomposition of the Hilbert space, the signature, topology and…
In stark contrast with the three-dimensional case, higher-dimensional Chern-Simons theories can have non-topological, propagating degrees of freedom. Finding those vacua that allow for the propagation of linear perturbations, however,…
Quantum gravity has matured over the last decade to a theory which can tell in a precise and explicit way how cosmological singularities of general relativity are removed. A branch of the universe "before" the classical big bang is obtained…
The degree of freedom of the scalar field in scalar-tensor gravity is employed as "time" to deparametrize the Hamiltonian constraint of the theory. The deparametrized system is then nonperturbatively quantized by the approach of loop…
It is well known that gravity in 2+1 dimensions can be recast as Chern-Simons theory, with the gauge group given by the local isometry group, depending on the metric signature and the cosmological constant. Point particles are added into…
The rigidity statement of the positive mass theorem asserts that an asymptotically flat initial data set for the Einstein equations with zero ADM mass, and satisfying the dominant energy condition, must arise from an embedding into…
All differences between the role of space and time in nature are explained by proposing the principles in which none of the spacetime coordinates has an {\it a priori} special role. Spacetime is treated as a non-dynamical manifold, with a…
There ought to exist a reformulation of quantum theory which does not depend on classical time. To achieve such a reformulation, we introduce the concept of an atom of space-time-matter (STM). An STM atom is a classical non-commutative…
We review certain emergent notions on the nature of spacetime from noncommutative geometry and their radical implications. These ideas of spacetime are suggested from developments in fuzzy physics, string theory, and deformation…
We consider a recent proposal to solve the cosmological constant problem within the context of brane world scenarios with infinite volume extra dimensions. In such theories bulk can be supersymmetric even if brane supersymmetry is…
The cosmological constant $\Lambda$ used to be a freedom in Einstein's theory of general relativity, where one had a proclivity to set it to zero purely for convenience. The signs of $\Lambda$ or $\Lambda$ being zero would describe…
We introduce a cosmological model in the framework of Generalised Massive Gravity. This theory is an extension of non-linear massive gravity with a broken translation symmetry in the St\"uckelberg space. In a recent work, we showed the…