Search results for "GRAVITY"
showing 10 items of 537 documents
Transplanckian masses in inflation
2016
AbstractWe explore the possibility that the transplanckian field values needed to accommodate the experimental results in minimally coupled single-field inflation models are only due to our insistence of imposing a minimal coupling of the inflaton field to gravity. A simple conformal transformation can bring the field values below the Planck mass without changing the physics at the expense of having a richer gravitational sector. Transplanckian field values may be the signal that we are (miss)interpreting phenomena due to gravity as being originated exclusively in the scalar sector.
Equivariance in topological gravity
1992
Abstract We present models of topological gravity for a variety of moduli space conditions. In four dimensions, we construct a model for self-dual gravity characterized by the moduli condition R + μν =0, and in two dimensions we treat the case of constant scalar curvature. Details are also given for both flat and Yang-Mills type moduli conditions in arbitrary dimensions. All models are based on the same fundamental multiplet which conveniently affords the construction of a complete hierarchy of observables. This approach is founded on a symmetry algebra which includes a local vector supersymmetry, in addition to a global BRST-like symmetry which is equivariant with respect to Lorentz transf…
Cosmology: Synchrotron radiation and quantum gravity
2004
Photons may evade a synchrotron radiation constraint on quantum gravity by violating the equivalence principle.
Planck-scale physics: facts and beliefs
2006
The relevance of the Planck scale to a theory of quantum gravity has become a worryingly little examined assumption that goes unchallenged in the majority of research in this area. However, in all scientific honesty, the significance of Planck's natural units in a future physical theory of spacetime is only a plausible, yet by no means certain, assumption. The purpose of this article is to clearly separate fact from belief in this connection.
Black hole state degeneracy in Loop Quantum Gravity
2008
The combinatorial problem of counting the black hole quantum states within the Isolated Horizon framework in Loop Quantum Gravity is analyzed. A qualitative understanding of the origin of the band structure shown by the degeneracy spectrum, which is responsible for the black hole entropy quantization, is reached. Even when motivated by simple considerations, this picture allows to obtain analytical expressions for the most relevant quantities associated to this effect.
Dynamical Aspects of Generalized Palatini Theories of Gravity
2009
We study the field equations of modified theories of gravity in which the Lagrangian is a general function of the Ricci scalar and Ricci-squared terms in Palatini formalism. We show that the independent connection can be expressed as the Levi-Civitagrave connection of an auxiliary metric which, in particular cases of interest, is related with the physical metric by means of a disformal transformation. This relation between physical and auxiliary metric boils down to a conformal transformation in the case of f(R) theories. We also show with explicit models that the inclusion of Ricci-squared terms in the action can impose upper bounds on the accessible values of pressure and density, which m…
Canonical equivalence of a generic 2-D dilaton gravity model and a free field
1997
We show that a canonical transformation converts, up to a boundary term, a generic 2-D dilaton gravity model into a free field theory with a Minkowskian target space.
Combinatorics of theSU(2)black hole entropy in loop quantum gravity
2009
We use the combinatorial and number-theoretical methods developed in previous works by the authors to study black hole entropy in the new proposal put forth by Engle, Noui, and Perez. Specifically, we give the generating functions relevant for the computation of the entropy and use them to derive its asymptotic behavior, including the value of the Immirzi parameter and the coefficient of the logarithmic correction.
Gravitational waves from first order phase transitions as a probe of an early matter domination era and its inverse problem
2016
We investigate the gravitational wave background from a first order phase transition in a matter-dominated universe, and show that it has a unique feature from which important information about the properties of the phase transition and thermal history of the universe can be easily extracted. Also, we discuss the inverse problem of such a gravitational wave background in view of the degeneracy among macroscopic parameters governing the signal.
Interior spacetimes of stars in Palatinif(R)gravity
2006
We study the interior spacetimes of stars in the Palatini formalism of f(R) gravity and derive a generalized Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff and mass equation for a static, spherically symmetric star. We show that matching the interior solution with the exterior Schwarzschild-De Sitter solution in general gives a relation between the gravitational mass and the density profile of a star, which is different from the one in General Relativity. These modifications become neglible in models for which $\delta F(R) \equiv \partial f/\partial R - 1$ is a decreasing function of R however. As a result, both Solar System constraints and stellar dynamics are perfectly consistent with $f(R) = R - \mu^4/R$.