Exact solutions and spacetime singularities in nonlocal gravity

We hereby study exact solutions in a wide range of local higher-derivative and weakly nonlocal gravitational theories. In particular, we give a list of exact classical solutions for two classes of gravitational theories both weakly nonlocal, unitary, and super-renormalizable (or finite) at quantum level. We prove that maximally symmetric spacetimes are exact solutions in both classes, while in dimension higher than four we can also have Anti-de Sitter solutions in the presence of positive cosmological constant. It is explicitly shown under which conditions flat and Ricci-flat spacetimes are exact solutions of the equation of motion (EOM) for the first class of theories not involving the Weyl tensor in the action. We find that the well-known physical spacetimes like Schwarzschild, Kerr, (Anti-) de Sitter serve as solutions for standard matter content, when the EOM does not contain the Riemann tensor alone (operators made out of only the Riemann tensor.) We pedagogically show how to obtain these exact solutions. Furthermore, for the second class of gravity theories, with terms in the Lagrangian written using Weyl tensors, the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) spacetimes are also exact solutions (exactly in the same way like in Einstein theory), when the matter content is given by conformal matter (radiation). We also comment on rather inevitable presence and universality of singularities and possible resolution of them in finite and conformally invariant theories. "Delocalization" is proposed as a way to solve the black hole singularity problem in the first class. In order to solve the problem of cosmological singularities in the second class, it seems crucial to have a conformally invariant or asymptotically free quantum gravitational theory.