Related papers: Solving the strongly coupled 2D gravity III: Strin…
An ensemble of cosmological models based on generalized BF-theory is constructed where the role of vacuum (zero-level) coupling constants is played by topologically invariant rational intersection forms (cosmological-constant matrices) of…
We consider the scenario where all the couplings in the theory are strong at the cut-off scale, in the context of higher dimensional grand unified field theories where the unified gauge symmetry is broken by an orbifold compactification. In…
A new vector-tensor model of classical gravity, which contains coupling between the field strength of the vector field and the curvature tensors in six dimensions, is proposed. Cosmological solutions of the scale factors in this model with…
In this paper noncommutative gravity is constructed as a gauge theory of the noncommutative SO(2,3) group, while the noncommutativity is canonical (constant). The Seiberg-Witten map is used to express noncommutative fields in terms of the…
Two dimensional Non-Commutative Open String (NCOS) theory, well-defined perturbatively, may also be studied at strong coupling and for large D-string charge by making use of the Holographic duality. We analyze the zero mode dynamics of a…
We study the model space generated by the time-dependent operator coefficients in the effective field theory of the cosmological background evolution and perturbations of modified gravity and dark energy models. We identify three classes of…
We address the issue of the worldsheet and spacetime covariant formulation for matrix strings. The problem is solved in the limit of vanishing string coupling. To go beyond the g_s = 0 limit, we propose a topological quantum field theory as…
Fundamental theories, like strings, supergravity, Kaluza-Klein, lead after dimensional reduction and a suitable choice of field configurations, to an effective action in four dimensions where gravity is coupled non-mininally to one scalar…
Progress along the line of a previous article are reported. One main point is to include chiral operators with fractional quantum group spins (fourth or sixth of integers) which are needed to achieve modular invariance. We extend the study…
The topological susceptibility is an important quantity in QCD, which can be computed using lattice methods. However, at a fine lattice spacing, or when using high quality chirally symmetric quarks, algorithms which proceed in small update…
A novel continuum theory of two-dimensional quantum gravity, based on a version of Causal Dynamical Triangulations which incorporates topology change, has recently been formulated as a genuine string field theory in zero-dimensional target…
We discuss the different bounds on entropy in the context of two-dimensional cosmology. We show that in order to obtain well definite bounds one has to use the scale symmetry of the gravitational theory. We then extend the recently found…
We evaluate three-point correlation functions of single trace operators in N=4 SYM at both weak and strong coupling. We focus on the case where two of the operators belong in a SL(2) sub-sector, and are dual to string solutions in a broad…
We formulate a renormalizable quantum gravity in $2+\epsilon$ dimensions by generalizing the nonlinear sigma model approach to string theory. We find that the theory possesses the ultraviolet stable fixed point if the central charge of the…
We demonstrate a unified resolution to the strong CP, hierarchy, and cosmological constant problems in type IIA flux compactifications, via 4-form fluxes and KL stabilization. We show that the strong CP problem can be effectively "solved"…
We use analytic continuation to extend the gauge/gravity duality nonperturbative description of the strong force coupling into the transition, near-perturbative, regime where perturbative effects become important. By excluding the…
It has been suggested that the observed value of the cosmological constant is related to the supersymmetry breaking scale M_{susy} through the formula Lambda \sim M_p^4 (M_{susy}/M_p)^8. We point out that a similar relation naturally arises…
Topological gravity (in the sense that it is metric-independent) in a $2n$-dimensional spacetime can be formulated as a gauge field theory for the AdS gauge group $SO(2,2n-1)$ by adding a multiplet of scalar fields. These scalars can break…
We consider a string-inspired, gravitational theory of scalar and electromagnetic fields and we investigate the existence of axially-symmetric, G\"{o}del-type cosmological solutions. The neutral case is studied first and an "extreme"…
This thesis discusses the topological aspects of quantum gravity, focusing on the connection between 2D quantum gravity and 2D topological gravity. The mathematical background for the discussion is presented in the first two chapters. The…