Related papers: Topological gravity in dimensions two and four
We study higher-order theories of gravitation; in particular, we will focus our attention on the second-order theory, in which conformal symmetry can be implemented.
We argue that a certain distribution of matter in higher dimensions can provide the correct behaviour of gravity in four dimensions. Some explicit examples illustrating the idea are considered.
The geometrical nature of gravity emerges from the universality dictated by the equivalence principle. In the usual formulation of General Relativity, the geometrisation of the gravitational interaction is performed in terms of the…
Fefferman and Graham showed some time ago that four dimensional conformal geometries could be analyzed in terms of six dimensional, ambient, Riemannian geometries admitting a closed homothety. Recently it was shown how conformal geometry…
The configuration space of general relativity is superspace - the space of all Riemannian 3-metrics modulo diffeomorphisms. However, it has been argued that the configuration space for gravity should be conformal superspace - the space of…
The properties of a string-inspired two-dimensional theory of gravity are studied. The post-Newtonian and weak-field approximations, `stellar' structure and cosmological solutions of this theory are developed. Some qualitative similarities…
Four-dimensional gravity admits many equivalent formulations - metric, Einstein-Cartan, teleparallel, McDowell-Mansouri, among others - each offering distinct advantages, particularly, in view of quantization. We propose a new formulation…
A set of observables is described for the topological quantum field theory which describes quantum gravity in three space-time dimensions with positive signature and positive cosmological constant. The simplest examples measure the…
The two-dimensional theory of gravity describing a graviton-dilaton system is considered. The graviton-dilaton coupling can be fixed such that the quantum theory remains free of the conformal anomaly for any conformal dimension of the…
We start by briefly reviewing the description of gravity theories as gauge theories in four dimensions. More specifically we recall the procedure leading to the results of General Relativity and Weyl Gravity in a gauge-theoretic manner.…
The actions of the ``$R=T$'' and string-inspired theories of gravity in (1+1) dimensions are generalized into one single action which is characterized by two functions. We discuss differing interpretations of the matter stress-energy…
A model of topological field theory is presented in which the vacuum coupling constants are topological invariants of the four-dimensional spacetime. Thus the coupling constants are theoretically computable, and they indicate the…
The study of general two dimensional models of gravity allows to tackle basic questions of quantum gravity, bypassing important technical complications which make the treatment in higher dimensions difficult. As the physically important…
The four-dimensional gauge group of general relativity corresponds to arbitrary coordinate transformations on a four-manifold. Theories of gravity with a dynamical structure remarkably like Einstein's theory can be obtained on the basis of…
An infinite number of topological conformal algebras with varying central charges are explicitly shown to be present in $2d$ gravity (treated both in the conformal gauge and in the light-cone gauge) coupled to minimal matter. The central…
The dynamics of gravity can be described by two different systems. The first is the familiar spacetime picture of General Relativity, the other is the conformal picture of Shape Dynamics. We argue that the bulk equivalence of General…
Based on a family of indefinite unitary representations of the diffeomorphism group of an oriented smooth $4$-manifold, a manifestly covariant $4$ dimensional and non-perturbative algebraic quantum field theory formulation of gravity is…
The field theoretic action for gravitational interactions in d+2 dimensions is constructed in the formalism of 2T-physics. General Relativity in d dimensions emerges as a shadow of this theory with one less time and one less space…
The construction of dual theories for linearized gravity in four dimensions is considered. Our approach is based on the parent Lagrangian method previously developed for the massive spin-two case, but now considered for the zero mass case.…
It has recently been shown via an equivalence of gravitational radius and Compton wavelength in four dimensions that the trans-Planckian regime of gravity may by semi-classical, and that this point is defined by a minimum horizon radius…