Related papers: BF Description of Higher-Dimensional Gravity Theor…
Loop quantum gravity has provided us with a canonical framework especially devised for background independent and diffeomorphism invariant gauge field theories. In this quantization the fundamental excitations are called spin network…
In this thesis we take Einstein theory in dimension four seriously, and explore the special aspects of gravity in this number of dimension. Among the many surprising features in dimension four, one of them is the possibility of `Chiral…
The linearized massive gravity in three dimensions, over any maximally symmetric background, is known to be presented in a self-dual form as a first order equation which encodes not only the massive Klein-Gordon type field equation but also…
In this Letter we present a general covariant modified theory of gravity in $D\!=\!4$ space-time dimensions which propagates only the massless graviton and bypasses the Lovelock's theorem. The theory we present is formulated in $D\!>\!4$…
This is a PhD thesis on a categorical generalization of the $BF$ model called the $BFCG$ theory. The new theory is equivalent to General Relativity at the classical level but, at the quantum level, seeks to address the problem of the…
We hereby present a class of multidimensional higher derivative theories of gravity that realizes an ultraviolet completion of Einstein general relativity. This class is marked by a "non-polynomal" entire function (form factor), which…
The tree-level scattering amplitudes of general relativity encode the full non-linearity of the Einstein field equations. Yet remarkably compact expressions for these amplitudes have been found which seem unrelated to a perturbative…
We discuss the possibility of a class of gauge theories, in four Euclidean dimensions, to describe gravity at quantum level. The requirement is that, at low energies, these theories can be identified with gravity as a geometrodynamical…
We review the current status and prospects for the conformal invariant fourth order theory of gravity which has recently been advanced by Mannheim and Kazanas as a candidate alternative to the standard second order Einstein theory. We…
We present a general formalism for describing singular hypersurfaces in the Einstein theory of gravitation with a Gauss--Bonnet term. The junction conditions are given in a form which is valid for the most general embedding and matter…
We construct a new vacuum for loop quantum gravity, which is dual to the Ashtekar-Lewandowski vacuum. Because it is based on BF theory, this new vacuum is physical for $(2+1)$-dimensional gravity, and much closer to the spirit of spin foam…
In this paper we discuss topological BF theories in 3 and 4 dimensions. Observables are associated to ordinary knots and links (in 3 dimensions) and to 2-knots (in 4 dimensions). The vacuum expectation values of such observables give a wide…
By rescaling the Gauss-Bonnet (GB) coupling constant $\alpha \rightarrow \alpha/(D-4)$ and considering the $D \rightarrow 4$ limit, the GB gravity gives rise to nontrivial modification of general relativity in four dimensions. In this work,…
Conformally-invariant and pure, scale-invariant theories of gravity are particularly interesting in four or higher dimensions. Yet, in contrast to their four-dimensional counterparts, theories in higher dimensions are significantly more…
We quantise the new connection formulation of D+1 dimensional General Relativity developed in our companion papers by Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) methods. It turns out that all the tools prepared for LQG straightforwardly generalise to the…
General Relativity is not the definitive theory of Gravitation due to several shortcomings which are coming out both from theoretical and experimental viewpoints. At large scales (astrophysical and cosmological scales) the attempts to match…
General relativity can be formulated as a SU(2) BF-theory with constraints, as has been shown, by Pleba\'nski. The cosmological constant term can be obtained from the constraint term, following from the consistency of the equations of…
Following recent works on corner charges we investigate the boundary structure in the case of the theory of gravity formulated as a constrained BF theory. This allows us not only to introduce the cosmological constant, but also explore the…
We describe a class of unified theories of electromagnetism and gravity. The Lagrangian is of the BF type, with a potential for the B-field, the gauge group is U(2) (complexified). Given a choice of the potential function the theory is a…
We study the induced 4-dimensional linearized Einstein field equations in an m-dimensional bulk space by means of a confining potential. It is shown that in this approach the mass of graviton is quantized. The cosmological constant problem…