Related papers: Topological gravity in Minkowski space
A formalism is presented to construct a non-perturbative Grand Unified Theory when gravitational Planck-scale phenomena are included. The fundamental object on the Planck scale is the three-torus T^3 from which the known properties of…
We construct new seven-dimensional gravity by adding two topological terms to the Einstein-Hilbert action. For certain choice of the coupling constants, these terms may be related to the R^4 correction to the 3-form field equation of…
This thesis start by a review of different approaches to classical and quantum gravity. The main theme is Lorentzian Gromov Hausdorff theory which is an active diffeomorphism invariant theory on the space of Lorentz spaces (think about…
A classification of partially hyperbolic diffeomorphisms on 3-dimensional manifolds with (virtually) solvable fundamental group is obtained. If such a diffeomorphism does not admit a periodic attracting or repelling two-dimensional torus,…
In a 1967 paper, Zeeman proposed a new topology for Minkowski spacetime, physically motivated but much more complicated than the standard one. Here a detailed study is given of some properties of the Zeeman topology which had not been…
We develop a general theory of 3-dimensional ``orbifold completion'', to describe (generalised) orbifolds of topological quantum field theories as well as all their defects. Given a semistrict 3-category $\mathcal{T}$ with adjoints for all…
Theoretical and observational challenges to standard cosmology such as the cosmological constant problem and tensions between cosmological model parameters inferred from different observations motivate the development and search of new…
In the framework of locally covariant quantum field theory, a theory is described as a functor from a category of spacetimes to a category of *-algebras. It is proposed that the global gauge group of such a theory can be identified as the…
In the presence of spacetime boundaries, diffeomorphisms in gravitational theories can become physical and acquire non-vanishing Noether charges. These charges obey an algebra which, within the extended phase-space formalism, faithfully…
We describe the doubled space of Double Field Theory as a group manifold $G$ with an arbitrary generalized metric. Local information from the latter is not relevant to our discussion and so $G$ only captures the topology of the doubled…
In order to include nontrivial spatial topologies in the problem of quantum creation of a universe, it seems to be necessary to generalize the sum over compact, smooth 4-manifolds to a sum over finite-volume, compact 4-orbifolds. We…
We introduce the category of singular 2-dimensional cobordisms and show that it admits a completely algebraic description as the free symmetric monoidal category on a twin Frobenius algebra, by providing a description of this category in…
We study the space of pseudo-holomorphic spheres in compact symplectic manifolds with convex boundary. We show that the theory of Gromov-Witten invariants can be extended to the class of semi-positive manifolds with convex boundary. This…
A general framework for effective theories propagating two tensor and one scalar degrees of freedom is investigated. Geometrically, it describes dynamical foliation of spacelike hypersurfaces coupled to a general background, in which the…
We show that topologically massive gravity can be obtained by the consistent Kaluza-Klein reduction from recently constructed seven-dimensional gravity with topological terms. The internal four-manifold should be Einstein with the…
We consider homogeneous and isotropic cosmological models in the framework of three geometrical theories of gravitation: in the Einstein general relativity they are given in terms of the curvature of the Levi-Civita connection in torsion…
Any two infinite-dimensional (separable) Hilbert spaces are unitarily isomorphic. The sets of all their self-adjoint operators are also therefore unitarily equivalent. Thus if all self-adjoint operators can be observed, and if there is no…
A generalization of the matrix model idea to quantum gravity in three and higher dimensions is known as group field theory (GFT). In this paper we study generalized GFT models that can be used to describe 3D quantum gravity coupled to point…
We propose a new approach to the quasitopological theory of gravity based on a modified classical double--copy construction. Focusing on static, spherically symmetric configurations, we show that all vacuum solutions of $D$--dimensional…
It is shown that spatially flat, isotropic cosmologies derived from the Brans--Dicke gravity action exhibit a scale factor duality invariance. This classical duality is then associated with a hidden $N=2$ supersymmetry at the quantum level…