Recent Developments In Gravitation And Mathematical Physics

The theory of General Relativity, after its invention by Albert Einstein, remained for many years a monument of mathemati cal speculation, striking in its ambition and its formal beauty, but quite separated from the main stream of modern Physics, which had centered, after the early twenties, on quantum mechanics and its applications. In the last ten or fifteen years, however, the situation has changed radically. First, a great deal of significant exper~en tal data became available. Then important contributions were made to the incorporation of general relativity into the framework of quantum theory. Finally, in the last three years, exciting devel opments took place which have placed general relativity, and all the concepts behind it, at the center of our understanding of par ticle physics and quantum field theory. Firstly, this is due to the fact that general relativity is really the "original non-abe lian gauge theory," and that our description of quantum field in teractions makes extensive use of the concept of gauge invariance. Secondly, the ideas of supersymmetry have enabled theoreticians to combine gravity with other elementary particle interactions, and to construct what is perhaps the first approach to a more finite quantum theory of gravitation, which is known as super gravity.

The 13th Italian Conference on General Relativity and Gravitational Physics was held in Cala Corvino-Monopoli (Bari) from September 21to September 25, 1998. The Conference, which is held every other year in different Italian locations, has brought together, as in the earlier conferences in this series, those scientists who are interested and actively work in all aspects of general relativity, from both the mathematical and the physical points of view: from classical theories of gravitation to quantum gravity, from relativistic astrophysics and cosmology to experiments in gravitation. About 70 participants came from Departments of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Departments of Mathematics and Departments of Experimental and Theoretical Physics from all over the Country; in addition a few Italian scientists working abroad kindly accepted invitations from the Scientific Committee. The good wishes of the University and of the Politecnico di Bari were conveyed by the director of Diparti mento Interuniversitario di Matematica, Prof. Franco Altomare. These proceedings contain the contributions of the two winners of the SIGRAV prizes, the invited talks presented at the Conference and most of the contributed talks. We thank all of our colleagues, who did their best to prepare their manuscripts. The pleasant atmosphere induced by the beauty of the place was greatlyenhanced not only by the participation of so many colleagues, who had lively discussions about science well beyond Conference hours, but also by the feeling of hospitalityextended to the participants by the staff of the Cala Corvino Hotel, where the Conference was held.

These proceedings contain lecture notes on computer algebra, cosmological models, quantum cosmology, and black hole physics. Several research articles which cover different aspects of classical cosmology, exact solutions to Einstein's equations, and quantum field theory are also included.

This volume provides an overview of the progress in gravitational physics, reporting recent theoretical, experimental and observational results. The book is based on the plenary, invited and contributed papers presented at the biennial conference of the Italian Society of General Relativity and Gravitation (SIGRAV) held in Rome, September 2002. The contributors discuss topics such as general relativity, quantum gravity, relativistic astrophysics, cosmology and experimental gravitation. This book is ideal for researchers and postgraduate students in relativity, gravitation, cosmology, astrophysics and high energy physics.

This volume reviews some recent developments and new perspectives in classical and Quantum Gravity. The topics treated at a graduate level range from some new and old problems in General Relativity, algebraic computing, gravitational wave astronomy to some more speculative subjects as the early Universe, Quantum Gravity and Quantum Cosmology. Contents:Low Energy Effects of Quantum Gravity (E Alvarez)Rigid Motion Invariance of Newtonian and Einstein's Theories of General Relativity (L Bel)General Relativity and the Early Universe (B J Carr)Computer Algebra and Exact Solutions of the Einstein Equations (M A H MacCallum)Gravitational Waves (B F Schutz)and others Readership: Cosmologists, astrophysicists and mathematical physicists.

This book focuses on a critical discussion of the status and prospects of current approaches in quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, in particular concerning gravity. It contains a carefully selected cross-section of lectures and discussions at the seventh conference “Progress and Visions in Quantum Theory in View of Gravity” which took place in fall 2018 at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Leipzig. In contrast to usual proceeding volumes, instead of reporting on the most recent technical results, contributors were asked to discuss visions and new ideas in foundational physics, in particular concerning foundations of quantum field theory. A special focus has been put on the question of which physical principles of quantum (field) theory can be considered fundamental in view of gravity. The book is mainly addressed to mathematicians and physicists who are interested in fundamental questions of mathematical physics. It allows the reader to obtain a broad and up-to-date overview of a fascinating active research area.

One of the most challenging problems of contemporary theoretical physics is the mathematically rigorous construction of a theory which describes gravitation and the other fundamental physical interactions within a common framework. The physical ideas which grew from attempts to develop such a theory require highly advanced mathematical methods and radically new physical concepts. This book presents different approaches to a rigorous unified description of quantum fields and gravity. It contains a carefully selected cross-section of lively discussions which took place in autumn 2010 at the fifth conference "Quantum field theory and gravity - Conceptual and mathematical advances in the search for a unified framework" in Regensburg, Germany. In the tradition of the other proceedings covering this series of conferences, a special feature of this book is the exposition of a wide variety of approaches, with the intention to facilitate a comparison. The book is mainly addressed to mathematicians and physicists who are interested in fundamental questions of mathematical physics. It allows the reader to obtain a broad and up-to-date overview of a fascinating active research area.