To say that this is the best book on the quantum theory of fields is no praise, since to my knowledge it is the only book on this subject But it is a very good and most useful book The original was written in German and appeared in 1942 This is a translation with some minor changes A few remarks have been added, concerning meson theory and nuclear forces, also footnotes referring to modern work in this field, and finally an appendix on the symmetrization of the energy momentum tensor according to Belinfante Quantum Theory of Fields Prof Gregor Wentzel Translated from the German by Charlotte Houtermans and J M Jauch Pp ix + 224, (New York and London: Interscience Publishers, Inc, 1949) 36s

Quantum Theory of Fields

Over recent decades, the role of torsion in gravity has been extensively investigated along the main direction of bringing gravity closer to its gauge formulation and incorporating spin in a geometric description. Here we review various torsional constructions, from teleparallel, to Einstein-Cartan, and metric-affine gauge theories, resulting in extending torsional gravity in the paradigm of f (T) gravity, where f (T) is an arbitrary function of the torsion scalar. Based on this theory, we further review the corresponding cosmological and astrophysical applications. In particular, we study cosmological solutions arising from f (T) gravity, both at the background and perturbation levels, in different eras along the cosmic expansion. The f (T) gravity construction can provide a theoretical interpretation of the late-time universe acceleration, alternative to a cosmological constant, and it can easily accommodate with the regular thermal expanding history including the radiation and cold dark matter dominated phases. Furthermore, if one traces back to very early times, for a certain class of f (T) models, a sufficiently long period of inflation can be achieved and hence can be investigated by cosmic microwave background observations-or, alternatively, the Big Bang singularity can be avoided at even earlier moments due to the appearance of non-singular bounces. Various observational constraints, especially the bounds coming from the large-scale structure data in the case of f (T) cosmology, as well as the behavior of gravitational waves, are described in detail. Moreover, the spherically symmetric and black hole solutions of the theory are reviewed. Additionally, we discuss various extensions of the f (T) paradigm. Finally, we consider the relation with other modified gravitational theories, such as those based on curvature, like f (R) gravity, trying to illuminate the subject of which formulation, or combination of formulations, might be more suitable for quantization ventures and cosmological applications.

f(T) teleparallel gravity and cosmology

Over the past decades, the role of torsion in gravity has been extensively investigated along the main direction of bringing gravity closer to its gauge formulation and incorporating spin in a geometric description. Here we review various torsional constructions, from teleparallel, to Einstein-Cartan, and metric-affine gauge theories, resulting in extending torsional gravity in the paradigm of f(T) gravity, where f(T) is an arbitrary function of the torsion scalar. Based on this theory, we further review the corresponding cosmological and astrophysical applications. In particular, we study cosmological solutions arising from f(T) gravity, both at the background and perturbation levels, in different eras along the cosmic expansion. The f(T) gravity construction can provide a theoretical interpretation of the late-time universe acceleration, and it can easily accommodate with the regular thermal expanding history including the radiation and cold dark matter dominated phases. Furthermore, if one traces back to very early times, a sufficiently long period of inflation can be achieved and hence can be investigated by cosmic microwave background observations, or alternatively, the Big Bang singularity can be avoided due to the appearance of non-singular bounces. Various observational constraints, especially the bounds coming from the large-scale structure data in the case of f(T) cosmology, as well as the behavior of gravitational waves, are described in detail. Moreover, the spherically symmetric and black hole solutions of the theory are reviewed. Additionally, we discuss various extensions of the f(T) paradigm. Finally, we consider the relation with other modified gravitational theories, such as those based on curvature, like f(R) gravity, trying to enlighten the subject of which formulation might be more suitable for quantization ventures and cosmological applications.

We review the recent literature on modified theories of gravity in the Palatini approach. After discussing the motivations that lead to consider alternatives to Einstein's theory and to treat the metric and the connection as independent objects, we review several topics that have been recently studied within this framework. In particular, we provide an in-depth analysis of the cosmic speedup problem, laboratory and solar systems tests, the structure of stellar objects, the Cauchy problem, and bouncing cosmologies. We also discuss the importance of going beyond the f(R) models to capture other phenomenological aspects related with dark matter/energy and quantum gravity.

Palatini Approach to Modified Gravity: f(R) Theories and Beyond

String Theory: Preface

We consider the Riemann-Cartan geometry as a basis for the Einstein-Sciama-Kibble theory coupled to spinor fields: we focus on f(R) and conformal gravities, regarding the flag-dipole spinor fields, type-(4) spinor fields under the Lounesto classification. We study such theories in specific cases given, for instance, by cosmological scenarios: we find that in such background the Dirac equation admits solutions that are not Dirac spinor fields, but in fact the aforementioned flag-dipoles ones. These solutions are important from a theoretical perspective, as they evince that spinor fields are not necessarily determined by their dynamics, but also a discussion on their structural (algebraic) properties must be carried off. Furthermore, the phenomenological point of view is shown to be also relevant, since for isotropic Universes they circumvent the question whether spinor fields do undergo the Cosmological Principle.

/pdf/flag-dipole-spinor-fields-in-esk-gravities-3dkeli8ick.pdf

Flag-dipole spinor fields in ESK gravities

In this paper we consider the most general least-order derivative theory of gravity in which not only curvature but also torsion is explicitly present in the Lagrangian, and where all independent fields have their own coupling constant: we will apply this theory to the case of ELKO fields, which is the acronym of the German Eigenspinoren des LadungsKonjugationsOperators designating eigenspinors of the charge conjugation operator, and thus they are a Majorana-like special type of spinors; and to the Dirac fields, the most general type of spinors. We shall see that because torsion has a coupling constant that is still undetermined, the ELKO and Dirac field equations are endowed with self-interactions whose coupling constant is undetermined: we discuss different applications according to the value of the coupling constants and the different properties that consequently follow. We highlight that in this approach, the ELKO and Dirac field’s self-interactions depend on the coupling constant as a parameter that may even make these non-linearities manifest at subatomic scales.

A modified theory of gravity with torsion and its applications to cosmology and particle physics

We study Dirac spinors in Bianchi type-I cosmological models, within the framework of torsional f(R)-gravity We find four types of results: the resulting dynamic behavior of the universe depends on the particular choice of function f(R); some f(R) models do not isotropize and have no Einstein limit, so that they have no physical significance, whereas for other f(R) models isotropization and Einsteinization occur, and so they are physically acceptable, suggesting that phenomenological arguments may select f(R) models that are physically meaningful; the singularity problem can be avoided, due to the presence of torsion; the general conservation laws holding for f(R)-gravity with torsion ensure the preservation of the Hamiltonian constraint, so proving that the initial value problem is well-formulated for these models

Dirac spinors in Bianchi-I f(R)-cosmology with torsion

We consider generally relativistic gauge transformations for the spinorial fields finding two mutually exclusive but together exhaustive classes in which fermions are placed adding supplementary information to the results obtained by Lounesto, and identifying quantities analogous to the momentum vector and the Pauli–Lubanski axial vector. We discuss how our results are similar to those obtained by Wigner by taking into account the system of Dirac field equations. We will investigate the consequences for the dynamics and in particular we shall address the problem of getting the nonrelativistic approximation in a consistent way. We are going to comment on extensions.

Luca Fabbri

Papers

Flag-dipole spinor fields in ESK gravities

A modified theory of gravity with torsion and its applications to cosmology and particle physics

Dirac spinors in Bianchi-I f(R)-cosmology with torsion

A generally relativistic gauge classification of the Dirac fields

The most general cosmological dynamics for ELKO matter fields