Narrow Results

Unifying the massive spin-1 field with gravity requires the implementation of a regular vector field that satisfies the spin-1 Proca equation and is a fundamental part of the space–time metric. That vector field is one of the pair of vectors in the line element field $(X,-X)$, which is paramount to the existence of all Lorentzian metrics and Modified General Relativity (MGR). Symmetrization of the spin-1 Klein–Gordon equation in a curved Lorentzian space–time introduces the Lie derivative of the metric along the flow of one of the regular vectors in the line element field. The Proca equation in curved space–time can then be described geometrically in terms of the line element vector, the Lie derivative of the Lorentzian metric and the Ricci tensor, which unifies gravity and the spin-1 field. Related issues concerning charge conservation and the Lorenz constraint, singularities in a spherically symmetric curved space–time and geometrical implications of MGR to quantum theory are discussed. A geometrical unification of gravity with quantum field theory is presented.

The origin of the highest energy cosmic ray showers is a long standing puzzle. In models where the neutrino–proton cross-section rises to typical hadronic values at energies above 10²⁰ eV, the neutrino becomes a candidate for the primary that initiates these showers. Large extra dimension, low scale gravity models suggest just such a strong neutrino interaction possibility. This raises a further question: are the characteristics of observed showers consistent with a neutrino origin? We simulate neutrino induced showers and compare them to proton-induced showers and to data. The comparison includes the study of starting depth, profile with depth, lateral particle distribution at ground and muon lateral distribution at ground level. Our comparison applies to any model of a strongly interacting, neutral particle with an energy transfer per collision of order 10% similar to the neutrino model studied here. We find that for cross-sections above 20 mb there are regions of parameter space where the two types of showers are nearly indistinguishable. We conclude that the neutrino candidate hypothesis cannot presently be ruled out on the basis of shower characteristics.

I review the main aspects of the simulated gravity that arises in brane world models in which the reflection symmetry is broken.

The effective action for the low energy scattering of two gravitons with a D-brane in the presence of a constant antisymmetric B field in bosonic string theory is calculated and the modification to the standard D-brane action to first order in α′ is obtained.

We discuss the cosmological constant problem in the context of higher codimension brane world scenarios with infinite-volume extra dimensions. In particular, by adding higher curvature terms in the bulk action we are able to find smooth solutions with the property that the four-dimensional part of the brane world-volume is flat for a range of positive values of the brane tension.

We review in a pedagogical manner some of the efforts aimed at extending the gauge/gravity correspondence to nonconformal supersymmetric gauge theories in four dimensions. After giving a general overview, we discuss in detail two specific examples: fractional D-branes on orbifolds and D-branes wrapped on supersymmetric cycles of Calabi–Yau spaces. We explore in particular which gauge theory information can be extracted from the corresponding supergravity solutions, and what the remaining open problems are. We also briefly explain the connection between these and other approaches, such as fractional branes on conifolds, branes suspended between branes, M5-branes on Riemann surfaces and M-theory on G2-holonomy manifolds, and discuss the role played by geometric transitions in all that.

We introduce a matrix model for noncommutative gravity, based on the gauge group U(2)⊗U(2). The vierbein is encoded in a matrix Y_μ, having values in the coset space U(4)/(U(2)⊗U(2)), while the spin connection is encoded in a matrix X_μ, having values in U(2)⊗U(2). We show how to recover the Einstein equations from the θ→0 limit of the matrix model equations of motion. We stress the necessity of a metric tensor, which is a covariant representation of the gauge group in order to set up a consistent second order formalism. We finally define noncommutative gravitational instantons as generated by U(2)⊗U(2) valued quasi-unitary operators acting on the background of the matrix model. Some of these solutions have naturally self-dual or anti-self-dual spin connections.

We propose an action for gravity on a fuzzy sphere, based on a matrix model. We find striking similarities with an analogous model of two-dimensional gravity on a noncommutative plane, i.e. the solution space of both models is spanned by pure U(2) gauge transformations acting on the background solution of the matrix model, and there exist deformations of the classical diffeomorphisms which preserve the two-dimensional noncommutative gravity actions.

We propose a novel infinite-volume brane world scenario where we live on a noninflating spherical 3-brane, whose radius is somewhat larger than the present Hubble size, embedded in higher dimensional bulk. Once we include higher curvature terms in the bulk, we find completely smooth solutions with the property that the 3-brane world-volume is noninflating for a continuous range of positive values of the brane tension, that is, without fine-tuning. In particular, our solution, which is a near-BPS background with supersymmetry broken on the brane around TeV, is controlled by a single integration constant.

Using the language of differential forms, the Kaluza–Klein theory in 4+1 dimensions is derived. This theory unifies electromagnetic and gravitational interactions in four dimensions when the extra space dimension is compactified. Without any ad hoc assumptions about the five-dimensional metric, the theory also contains a scalar field coupled to the other fields. By a conformal transformation the theory is transformed from the Jordan frame to the Einstein frame where the physical content is more manifest. Including a cosmological constant in the five-dimensional formulation, it is seen to result in an exponential potential for the scalar field in four dimensions. A similar potential is also found from the Casimir energy in the compact dimension. The resulting scalar field dynamics mimics realistic models recently proposed for cosmological quintessence.

A deformation of the dimensional-regularization technique that is useful for theories where the common dimensional regularization does not apply is formulated. The Dirac algebra is not dimensionally continued, to avoid inconsistencies with the trace of an odd product of gamma matrices in odd dimensions. The regularization is completed with an evanescent higher-derivative deformation, which proves to be efficient in practical computations. This technique is particularly convenient in three dimensions for Chern–Simons gauge fields, two-component fermions and four-fermion models in the large N limit, eventually coupled with quantum gravity. Differently from even dimensions, in odd dimensions it is not always possible to have propagators with fully Lorentz invariant denominators. The main features of the deformed technique are illustrated in a set of sample calculations. The regularization is universal, local, manifestly gauge-invariant and Lorentz invariant in the physical sector of space–time. In flat space power-like divergences are set to zero by default. Infinitely many evanescent operators are automatically dropped.

Using the Dirac constraint formalism, we examine the canonical structure of the Einstein–Hilbert action , treating the metric g_αβ and the symmetric affine connection as independent variables. For d>2 tertiary constraints naturally arise; if these are all first class, there are d(d-3) independent variables in phase space, the same number that a symmetric tensor gauge field ϕ_μν possesses. If d = 2, the Hamiltonian becomes a linear combination of first class constraints obeying an SO(2, 1) algebra. These constraints ensure that there are no independent degrees of freedom. The transformation associated with the first class constraints is not a diffeomorphism when d = 2; it is characterized by a symmetric matrix ξ_μν. We also show that the canonical analysis is different if is used in place of g^αβ as a dynamical variable when d = 2, as in d dimensions, . A comparison with the formalism used in the ADM analysis of the Einstein–Hilbert action in first order form is made by applying this approach in the two-dimensional case with h^αβ and taken to be independent variables.

We formulate and explore the physical implications of a new translation gauge theory of gravity in flat space–time with a new Yang–Mills action, which involves quadratic gauge curvature and fermions. The theory shows that the presence of an "effective Riemann metric tensor" for the motions of classical particles and light rays is probably the manifestation of the translation gauge symmetry in flat physical space–time. In the post-Newtonian approximation of the tensor gauge field produced by the energy–momentum tensor, the results are shown to be consistent with classical tests of gravity and with the quadrupole radiations of binary pulsars.

I discuss fundamental limits placed on information and information processing by gravity. Such limits arise because both information and its processing require energy, while gravitational collapse (formation of a horizon or black hole) restricts the amount of energy allowed in a finite region. Specifically, I use a criterion for gravitational collapse called the hoop conjecture. Once the hoop conjecture is assumed a number of results can be obtained directly: the existence of a fundamental uncertainty in spatial distance of order the Planck length, bounds on information (entropy) in a finite region, and a bound on the rate of information processing in a finite region. In the final section I discuss some cosmological issues, related to the total amount of information in the universe, and note that almost all detailed aspects of the late universe are determined by the randomness of quantum outcomes. This paper is based on a talk presented at a 2007 Bellairs Research Institute (McGill University) workshop on black holes and quantum information.

Non-Abelian higher gauge theory has recently emerged as a generalization of standard gauge theory to higher-dimensional (two-dimensional in the present context) connection forms, and as such, it has been successfully applied to the non-Abelian generalizations of the Yang–Mills theory and 2-form electrodynamics. (2+1)-dimensional gravity, on the other hand, has been a fertile testing ground for many concepts related to classical and quantum gravity, and it is therefore only natural to investigate whether we can find an application of higher gauge theory in this latter context. In the present paper we investigate the possibility of applying the formalism of higher gauge theory to gravity in 2+1 dimensions, and we show that a nontrivial model of (2+1)-dimensional gravity coupled to scalar and tensorial matter fields — the ΣΦEA model — can be formulated as a higher gauge theory (as well as a standard gauge theory). Since the model has a very rich structure — it admits as solutions black-hole BTZ-like geometries, particle-like geometries as well as Robertson–Friedman–Walker cosmological-like expanding geometries — this opens a wide perspective for higher gauge theory to be tested and understood in a relevant gravitational context. Additionally, it offers the possibility of studying gravity in 2+1 dimensions coupled to matter in an entirely new framework.

Curvature and torsion are the two tensors characterizing a general Riemannian space–time. In Einstein's general theory of gravitation, with torsion postulated to vanish and the affine connection identified to the Christoffel symbol, only the curvature tensor plays the central role. For such a purely metric geometry, two well-known topological invariants, namely the Euler class and the Pontryagin class, are useful in characterizing the topological properties of the space–time. From a gauge theory point of view, and especially in the presence of spin, torsion naturally comes into play, and the underlying space–time is no longer purely metric. We describe a torsional topological invariant, discovered in 1982, that has now found increasing usefulness in recent developments.

We consider the purely gravitational fourth-order (in the spacetime curvature) quantum corrections to the Einstein-Hilbert gravity action, coming from superstrings in the leading order with respect to the Regge slope parameter, and study their impact on the evolution of the Hubble scale in the context of the FRW cosmology, in four spacetime dimensions. We propose the generalized Friedmann equations, and rule out the most naive (Bel-Robinson tensor squared) gravity. Our new cosmological equations have exact inflationary solutions without a spacetime singularity.

We describe a theory of gravitation on canonical noncommutative space–times. The construction is based on θ-twisted general coordinate transformations and local Lorentz invariance.

We discuss black hole solutions with a Gauss-Bonnet term in the bulk and an induced gravity term on a thin brane of codimension-2. We show that these black holes can be localized on the brane, and they can be extended further into the bulk by a warp function. These solutions have regular horizons and no other curvature singularities appear apart from the string-like ones. The projection of the Gauss-Bonnet term on the brane imposes a constraint relation which dictates the form of matter on the brane and in the bulk.

Born-Infeld deformation strategy to smooth theories having divergent solutions is applied to the teleparallel equivalent of General Relativity. The equivalence between teleparallelism and General Relativity is exploited to obtain a deformed theory of gravity based on second order differential equations, since teleparallel Lagrangian is built just from first derivatives of the vierbein. We show that Born-Infeld teleparallelism cures the initial singularity in a spatially flat FRW universe; moreover, it provides a natural inflationary stage without resorting to an inflaton field. The Born-Infeld parameter λ bounds the dynamics of Hubble parameter H(t) and establishes a maximum attainable spacetime curvature.