Developments in Mathematical and Experimental Physics: Volume A: Cosmology and Gravitation

The first part is devoted to the topic of quantum gravity and string theories, mainly concerned with recent authoritative results in the study of discretizations in classical and quantum general relativity, non-commutative theories of gravity, (2+1)-dimensional supergravity, and Berezin description of Kaehler quotients. The field to particle transition problem is also considered. The second part deals with cosmology and black holes. Here, cosmological, inflationary, and braneworld scenarios are investigated. Moreover, some scalar field models for the dark matter content of the universe as well as new models of protostellar collapse and fragmentation are presented. This part includes also a study of de Sitter/Anti-de Sitter phase transition for black holes, an understanding of hairy black holes and an improvement of the no-hair theorem proof for the Proca field. The third part is devoted to exact solutions, in particular classical and quantum cosmological solutions in scalar-tensor theories. Additionally, a discussion about conformally flat axisymmetric spacetimes and some considerations on accelerated expansion in scalar-tensor theories are presented. Experimental and some mixed topics are included in the final part. Among them is an experimental foundation of nonlocality and superluminal signal velocity in photonic tunneling, a proposal for testing the weak equivalence principle for charged particles in space. Moreover, a possible new type of skewon field linked to Maxwell theory is also presented, and an authoritative discussion at the interface of quantum and gravitational realms.