Introduction to Gravitational Theories and Cosmology

Author(s):  
Jonathan Pearson
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. D. Gallegos ◽  
U. Gürsoy ◽  
S. Verma ◽  
N. Zinnato

Abstract Non-Riemannian gravitational theories suggest alternative avenues to understand properties of quantum gravity and provide a concrete setting to study condensed matter systems with non-relativistic symmetry. Derivation of an action principle for these theories generally proved challenging for various reasons. In this technical note, we employ the formulation of double field theory to construct actions for a variety of such theories. This formulation helps removing ambiguities in the corresponding equations of motion. In particular, we embed Torsional Newton-Cartan gravity, Carrollian gravity and String Newton-Cartan gravity in double field theory, derive their actions and compare with the previously obtained results in literature.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Cáceres ◽  
Rodrigo Castillo Vásquez ◽  
Alejandro Vilar López

Abstract We derive the holographic entanglement entropy functional for a generic gravitational theory whose action contains terms up to cubic order in the Riemann tensor, and in any dimension. This is the simplest case for which the so-called splitting problem manifests itself, and we explicitly show that the two common splittings present in the literature — minimal and non-minimal — produce different functionals. We apply our results to the particular examples of a boundary disk and a boundary strip in a state dual to 4- dimensional Poincaré AdS in Einsteinian Cubic Gravity, obtaining the bulk entanglement surface for both functionals and finding that causal wedge inclusion is respected for both splittings and a wide range of values of the cubic coupling.


2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (S261) ◽  
pp. 56-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladik Kreinovich

AbstractBy the early 1970s, the improved accuracy of astrometric and time measurements enabled researchers not only to experimentally compare relativistic gravity with the Newtonian predictions, but also to compare different relativistic gravitational theories (e.g., the Brans-Dicke Scalar-Tensor Theory of Gravitation). For this comparison, Kip Thorne and others developed the Parameterized Post-Newtonian Formalism (PPN), and derived the dependence of different astronomically observable effects on the values of the corresponding parameters.Since then, all the observations have confirmed General Relativity. In other words, the question of which relativistic gravitation theory is in the best accordance with the experiments has been largely settled. This does not mean that General Relativity is the final theory of gravitation: it needs to be reconciled with quantum physics (into quantum gravity), it may also need to be reconciled with numerous surprising cosmological observations, etc. It is, therefore, reasonable to prepare an extended version of the PPN formalism, that will enable us to test possible quantum-related modifications of General Relativity.In particular, we need to include the possibility of violating fundamental principles that underlie the PPN formalism but that may be violated in quantum physics, such as scale-invariance, T-invariance, P-invariance, energy conservation, spatial isotropy violations, etc. In this paper, we present the first attempt to design the corresponding extended PPN formalism, with the (partial) analysis of the relation between the corresponding fundamental physical principles.


1978 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 398-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. Aldersley

The notions of conservation of charge and dimensional consistency are used to obtain conditions which uniquely characterize the field equations of electromagnetism and gravitation in a metric-affine gravitational framework with a vector potential. Conditions for the uniqueness of the choice of field equations of a metric-affine gravitational theory (in the absence of electromagnetism) follow as a special case. Some consequences are discussed.


1986 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 3268-3269 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Ray ◽  
Larry L. Smalley

2020 ◽  
Vol 499 (1) ◽  
pp. L53-L57
Author(s):  
Shu-Cheng Yang ◽  
Wen-Biao Han ◽  
Gang Wang

ABSTRACT The weak equivalence principle (WEP) is the cornerstone of gravitational theories. At the local scale, WEP has been tested to high accuracy by various experiments. On the intergalactic distance scale, WEP could be tested by comparing the arrival time of different messengers emitted from the same source. The gravitational time delay caused by massive galaxies is proportional to γ + 1, where the parameter γ is unity in general relativity. The values of γ for different massless particles should be different if WEP is violated, i.e. Δγ is used to indicate the deviation from WEP. So far, |Δγ| has been constrained with gamma-ray bursts, fast radio bursts, etc. Here, we report a new constraint of |Δγ| by using the gravitational wave data of binary black hole coalescences in the LIGO–Virgo catalogue GWTC-1. The best constraints imply that |Δγ| ≲ 10−15 at 90 per cent confidence level.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (06) ◽  
pp. 1841012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Berezin ◽  
Vyacheslav Dokuchaev ◽  
Yury Eroshenko

The spherically symmetric thin shells are the nearest generalizations of the point-like particles. Moreover, they serve as the simple sources of the gravitational fields both in General Relativity and much more complex quadratic gravity theories. We are interested in the special and physically important case when all the quadratic in curvature tensor (Riemann tensor) and its contractions (Ricci tensor and scalar curvature) terms are present in the form of the square of Weyl tensor. By definition, the energy–momentum tensor of the thin shell is proportional to Diracs delta-function. We constructed the theory of the spherically symmetric thin shells for three types of gravitational theories with the shell: (1) General Relativity; (2) Pure conformal (Weyl) gravity where the gravitational part of the total Lagrangian is just the square of the Weyl tensor; (3) Weyl–Einstein gravity. The results are compared with these in General Relativity (Israel equations). We considered in detail the shells immersed in the vacuum. Some peculiar properties of such shells are found. In particular, for the traceless ([Formula: see text] massless) shell, it is shown that their dynamics cannot be derived from the matching conditions and, thus, is completely arbitrary. On the contrary, in the case of the Weyl–Einstein gravity, the trajectory of the same type of shell is completely restored even without knowledge of the outside solution.


1984 ◽  
Vol 422 (1 Eleventh Texa) ◽  
pp. 45-55
Author(s):  
S. DESER

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