Related papers: Barriers in Quantum Gravity
General relativity becomes vastly simpler in three spacetime dimensions: all vacuum solutions have constant curvature, and the moduli space of solutions can be almost completely characterized. As a result, this lower dimensional setting…
We briefly overview the development of Euclidean quantum gravity in four dimensions regarded as a branch of statistical mechanics of discretized random manifolds.
We consider cosmological and black hole solutions in the Einstein and higher-derivative gravity in two dimensions where the theory is formulated first in $D$ dimensions. In the limit that $D$ tends to $2$ with simultaneous singular…
In this paper we consider 2+1-dimensional gravity coupled to N point-particles. We introduce a gauge in which the $z$- and $\bar{z}$-components of the dreibein field become holomorphic and anti-holomorphic respectively. As a result we can…
On the path towards quantum gravity, we find friction between temporal relations in quantum mechanics (QM) (where they are fixed and field-independent), and in general relativity (where they are field-dependent and dynamic). This paper aims…
Three of the four forces of Nature are described by quantum Yang-Mills theories with remarkable precision. The fourth force, gravity, is described classically by the Einstein-Hilbert theory. There appears to be an inherent incompatibility…
Although general relativity is a predictively successful theory, it treats matter as classical rather than as quantum. For this reason, it will have to be replaced by a more fundamental quantum theory of gravity. Attempts to formulate a…
I review the present theoretical attempts to understand the quantum properties of spacetime. In particular, I illustrate the main achievements and the main difficulties in: string theory, loop quantum gravity, discrete quantum gravity…
Two dimensional induced quantum gravity with matter central charge $c>1$ is studied taking a careful consideration of both diffeomorphism and Weyl symmetries . It is shown that, for the gauge fixing condition $R(g)$ (scalar…
One of the leading issues in quantum field theory and cosmology is the mismatch between the observed and calculated values for the cosmological constant in Einstein's field equations of up to 120 orders of magnitude. In this paper, we…
We show how it is possible to formulate Euclidean two-dimensional quantum gravity as the scaling limit of an ordinary statistical system by means of dynamical triangulations, which can be viewed as a discretization in the space of…
Some recent studies of the properties of D-particles suggest that in string theory a rather conventional description of spacetime might be available up to scales that are significantly smaller than the Planck length. We test this…
We consider a low energy effective theory of $p$-branes in a $D$-dimensional spacetime, and impose two conditions: 1) the theory is scale invariant, and 2) the electric-magnetic dual $(D-p-4)$-branes exist and they obey the same type of…
We investigate rotation and rotating structures in (2+1)-dimensional Einstein gravity. We show that rotation generally leads to pathological physical situations.
Einstein gravity at $D\rightarrow 2$ limit can be obtained from the Kaluza-Klein procedure by taking the dimensions of the internal space to zero while keeping only the breathing mode. The resulting scalar-tensor theory can be further…
Any acceptable quantum gravity theory must allow us to recover the classical spacetime in the appropriate limit. Moreover, the spacetime geometrical notions should be intrinsically tied to the behavior of the matter that probes them. We…
We treat space and time as bona fide quantum degrees of freedom on an equal footing in Hilbert space. Motivated by considerations in quantum gravity, we focus on a paradigm dealing with linear, first-order Hamiltonian and momentum…
(from the talk:) I shall here speak on gravity in (1+1)-dimensional space-time --- lineal gravity. The purpose of studying lower dimensional theories, and specifically lower dimensional gravity, is to gain insight into difficult…
In the covariant-gauge two-dimensional quantum gravity, various derivations of the critical dimension D=26 of the bosonic string are critically reviewed, and their interrelations are clarified. It is shown that the string theory is not…
We briefly review some results in the theory of quantum $W_3$ gravity in the chiral gauge. We compare them with similar results in the analogous but simpler cases of $d=2$ induced gauge theories and $d=2$ induced gravity.