Related papers: Cosmic Tests for a More Explicit Equivalence Princ…
A range of cosmological observations demonstrate an accelerated expansion of the Universe, and the most likely explanation of this phenomenon is a cosmological constant. Given the importance of understanding the underlying physics, it is…
The assumed universality of the equivalence principle suggests that a particle in a gravitational field has identical physics to one in an accelerated frame. Yet, energy considerations prohibit radiation from a static particle in a…
The Universe has a gravitational horizon with a radius R_h=c/H coincident with that of the Hubble sphere. This surface separates null geodesics approaching us from those receding, and as free-falling observers within the…
If Mach's Principle explains the Newtonian inertial reaction to acceleration then the role of the 'fixed stars' should also be manifest through Hamilton's formulation of mechanics. This consistency may be achieved if the expression for…
Although general relativity (GR) passes all present experimental tests with flying colors, it remains important to study alternative theories of gravity for several theoretical and phenomenological reasons that we recall in these lecture…
Black holes are more than just odd-looking curiosities in gravity theory. They uniquely intertwine the basic principles of General Relativity with those of Quantum Theory. Just by demanding that they nevertheless obey acceptable laws of…
When gas molecules collide, they accelerate, and therefore encounter the Fulling-Davies-Unruh and Moore-DeWitt effects. The size of these effects is sufficient to randomize the motion of the gas molecules after about 1 nanosecond at…
Gravitation as a fundamental interaction that governs all phenomena at large and very small scales, but still not well understood at a quantum level, is a cardinal missing link in unification of all physical interactions. Discovery of the…
We present exact kinematic consistency relations for cosmological structures that do not vanish at equal times and can thus be measured in surveys. These rely on cross-correlations between the density and velocity, or momentum, fields.…
We study the equivalence principle, regarded as the cornerstone of general relativity, by analyzing the deformation observable of black hole shadows. Such deformation can arise from new physics and may be expressed as a phenomenological…
In this communication, we consider a wide class of extensions to General Relativity that break explicitly the Einstein Equivalence Principle by introducing a multiplicative coupling between a scalar field and the electromagnetic Lagrangian.…
One of the cornerstones of general relativity is the equivalence principle. However, the validity of the equivalence principle has only been established on solar system scales for standard matter fields; this result cannot be assumed to…
Although the Universe is far from understood, we are fairly confident about some key features: Special Relativity (SR) describes the kinematics of inertial frames; General Relativity (GR) explains gravitation; the Universe had a beginning…
The analysis of axisymmetric spacetimes, dynamical or stationary, is usually made in the reduced space. We prove here a stability property of the quo- tient space and use it together with minimal surface techniques to constraint the shape…
The traditional "explanation" for the observed acceleration of the universe is the existence of a positive cosmological constant. However, this can hardly be a truly convincing explanation, as an expanding universe is not expected to have a…
We find five fundamental reasons demanding that any gravitational mass m, and the speed of light c, vary with cosmological time such that mc remains constant. This is required by the universal condition of conservation of momentum in a…
Cosmic backreaction refers to the general question of whether a homogeneous and isotropic cosmological model is able to predict the correct expansion dynamics of our inhomogeneous Universe. One aspect of this issue concerns the validity of…
Newton's gravitational constant $G$ has been measured to high accuracy in a number of independent experiments. For currently unresolved reasons, indicated values from different well-designed and thoroughly analyzed experiments differ by…
Our Universe has multiple examples of unexplained gravitational losses in black holes and neutron stars. As all of the space is squeezed out, nucleons are not easily compressible further. Gravitational loss will allow galactic black holes…
A simple general relativity theory for objects moving in gravitational fields is developed based on studying the behavior of an atom in a gravitational field. The theory is applied to calculate the satellite time dilation, light deflection…