Related papers: Diffeomorphism Invariance and Local Lorentz Invari…
The quantum theory of a massless spin two particle is strongly constrained by diffeomorphism invariance, which is in turn implied by unitarity. We explicitly exhibit the space-time diffeomorphism algebra of string theory, realizing it in…
The matrix models are non-perturbative formulations of string theory, from which many believe that spacetime arises. The matrix fluctuations around the spacetime thus created should represent both matter and gravitational fields. In this…
The vanishing phase space generator of the full four-dimensional diffeomorphism-related symmetry group in the context of the Barbero-Immirzi-Holst Lagrangian is derived directly for the first time from Noether's second theorem. Its…
Maxwell's equations are invariant under both duality rotations and conformal transformations. Recently Bandos, Lechner, Sorokin, and Townsend have found a nonlinear generalisation of electrodynamics which possesses both of these symmetries.…
The most studied doubly-special-relativity scenarios, theories with both the speed-of-light scale and a length/inverse-momentum scale as non-trivial relativistic invariants, have concerned the possibility of enforcing relativistically some…
Space-like and time-like invariant space-time intervals are used to analyse measurements of spatial and temporal distances. The former are found to be Lorentz invariant --there is no `relativistic length contraction', whereas the latter…
We describe a class of modified gravity theories that deform general relativity in a way that breaks time reversal invariance and, very mildly, locality. The algebra of constraints, local physical degrees of freedom, and their linearized…
We give an alternative description of the physical content of general relativity that does not require a Lorentz invariant spacetime. Instead, we find that gravity admits a dual description in terms of a theory where local size is…
Time-averaged two-point currents are derived and shown to be spatially invariant within domains of local translation or inversion symmetry for arbitrary time-periodic quantum systems in one dimension. These currents are shown to provide a…
Knots naturally appear in continuous dynamical systems as flow periodic trajectories. However, discrete dynamical systems are also closely connected with the theory of knots and links. For example, for Pixton diffeomorphisms, the…
Diffusion-limited erosion is a distinct universality class of fluctuating interfaces. Although its dynamical exponent $z=1$, none of the known variants of conformal invariance can act as its dynamical symmetry. In $d=1$ spatial dimensions,…
The curvature of a spacetime, either in a topological sense, or averaged over super-horizon-sized patches, is often equated with the global curvature term that appears in Friedmann's equation. In general, however, the Universe is…
It is known that Horndeski theories can be transformed to a sub-class of Gleyzes-Langlois-Piazza-Vernizzi (GLPV) theories under the disformal transformation of the metric $g_{\mu \nu} \to \Omega^2(\phi)g_{\mu \nu}+\Gamma (\phi,X)…
We examine the variational and conformal structures of higher order theories of gravity which are derived from a metric-connection Lagrangian that is an arbitrary function of the curvature invariants. We show that the constrained first…
Some aspects of the theory of fermions living on three dimensional spacetime with a flat co-dimension one boundary are discussed, particularly a case where the boundary condition preserves scale and translation invariance but violates the…
We study a conformally invariant equation involving the Dirac operator and a non-linearity of convolution type. This non-linearity is inspired from the conformal Einstein-Dirac problem in dimension 4. We first investigate the compactness,…
In the present paper, we revisit gravitational theories which are invariant under TDiffs -- transverse (volume preserving) diffeomorphisms and global scale transformations. It is known that these theories can be rewritten in an equivalent…
The problem of observables in classical and quantum gravity is a long-standing one. It is sometimes argued that observable quantities should be diffeomorphsm invariant, following the philosophy of Dirac. We argue that diffeomorphism…
We indicate two short proofs of the Goresky-MacPherson topological invariance of intersection homology. One proof is very short but requires the Goresky-MacPherson support and cosupport axioms; the other is slightly longer but does not…
All quantum gravity approaches lead to small modifications in the standard laws of physics which lead to violations of Lorentz invariance. One particular example is the extended standard model (SME). Here, a general phenomenological…