scholarly journals Commutatively deformed general relativity: foundations, cosmology, and experimental tests

2021 ◽  
Vol 81 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
P. G. N. de Vegvar
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Lorentz Invariance ◽  
Integral Kernel ◽  
Einstein Field Equation ◽  
Minkowski Spacetime ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Matter Field ◽  
Observable Universe ◽  
Particle Exchange

AbstractAn integral kernel representation for the commutative $$\star $$ ⋆ -product on curved classical spacetime is introduced. Its convergence conditions and relationship to a Drin’feld differential twist are established. A $$\star $$ ⋆ -Einstein field equation can be obtained, provided the matter-based twist’s vector generators are fixed to self-consistent values during the variation in order to maintain $$\star $$ ⋆ -associativity. Variations not of this type are non-viable as classical field theories. $$\star $$ ⋆ -Gauge theory on such a spacetime can be developed using $$\star $$ ⋆ -Ehresmann connections. While the theory preserves Lorentz invariance and background independence, the standard ADM $$3+1$$ 3 + 1 decomposition of 4-diffs in general relativity breaks down, leading to different $$\star $$ ⋆ -constraints. No photon or graviton ghosts are found on $$\star $$ ⋆ -Minkowski spacetime. $$\star $$ ⋆ -Friedmann equations are derived and solved for $$\star $$ ⋆ -FLRW cosmologies. Big Bang Nucleosynthesis restricts expressions for the twist generators. Allowed generators can be constructed which account for dark matter as arising from a twist producing non-standard model matter field. The theory also provides a robust qualitative explanation for the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the observable Universe. Particle exchange quantum statistics encounters thresholded modifications due to violations of the cluster decomposition principle on the nonlocality length scale $$\sim 10^{3-5} \,L_P$$ ∼ 10 3 - 5 L P . Precision Hughes–Drever measurements of spacetime anisotropy appear as the most promising experimental route to test deformed general relativity.

The Elements of Relativity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Wittman
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Geometric Model ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Twin Paradox ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Galilean Relativity ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Thinking Tools ◽  
Working Out

Relativity is a set of remarkable insights into the way space and time work. The basic notion of relativity, first articulated by Galileo, explains why we do not feel Earth moving as it orbits the Sun and was successful for hundreds of years. We present thinking tools that elucidate Galilean relativity and prepare us for the more modern understanding. We then show how Galilean relativity breaks down at speeds near the speed of light, and follow Einstein’s steps in working out the unexpected relationships between space and time that we now call special relativity. These relationships give rise to time dilation, length contraction, and the twin “paradox” which we explain in detail. Throughout, we emphasize how these effects are tightly interwoven logically and graphically. Our graphical understanding leads to viewing space and time as a unified entity called spacetime whose geometry differs from that of space alone, giving rise to these remarkable effects. The same geometry gives rise to the energy?momentum relation that yields the famous equation E = mc2, which we explore in detail. We then show that this geometric model can explain gravity better than traditional models of the “force” of gravity. This gives rise to general relativity, which unites relativity and gravity in a coherent whole that spawns new insights into the dynamic nature of spacetime. We examine experimental tests and startling predictions of general relativity, from everyday applications (GPS) to exotic phenomena such as gravitomagnetism, gravitational waves, Big Bang cosmology, and especially black holes.

Nonlocal Gravity

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bahram Mashhoon
Keyword(s):  
Gravitational Field ◽  
Gravitational Lensing ◽  
Past History ◽  
Lorentz Invariance ◽  
Minkowski Spacetime ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Local Principle ◽  
History Of ◽  
Expansion Of The Universe ◽  
Nearby Galaxies

A postulate of locality permeates through the special and general theories of relativity. First, Lorentz invariance is extended in a pointwise manner to actual, namely, accelerated observers in Minkowski spacetime. This hypothesis of locality is then employed crucially in Einstein’s local principle of equivalence to render observers pointwise inertial in a gravitational field. Field measurements are intrinsically nonlocal, however. To go beyond the locality postulate in Minkowski spacetime, the past history of the accelerated observer must be taken into account in accordance with the Bohr-Rosenfeld principle. The observer in general carries the memory of its past acceleration. The deep connection between inertia and gravitation suggests that gravity could be nonlocal as well and in nonlocal gravity the fading gravitational memory of past events must then be taken into account. Along this line of thought, a classical nonlocal generalization of Einstein’s theory of gravitation has recently been developed. In this nonlocal gravity (NLG) theory, the gravitational field is local, but satisfies a partial integro-differential field equation. A significant observational consequence of this theory is that the nonlocal aspect of gravity appears to simulate dark matter. The implications of NLG are explored in this book for gravitational lensing, gravitational radiation, the gravitational physics of the Solar System and the internal dynamics of nearby galaxies as well as clusters of galaxies. This approach is extended to nonlocal Newtonian cosmology, where the attraction of gravity fades with the expansion of the universe. Thus far only some of the consequences of NLG have been compared with observation.

General Relativity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Carlip
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
High Energy Physics ◽  
Hamiltonian Formulation ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Gravitational Energy ◽  
Field Equations ◽  
Physics First ◽  
Condensed Matter Theory ◽  
Introductory Textbooks

This work is a short textbook on general relativity and gravitation, aimed at readers with a broad range of interests in physics, from cosmology to gravitational radiation to high energy physics to condensed matter theory. It is an introductory text, but it has also been written as a jumping-off point for readers who plan to study more specialized topics. As a textbook, it is designed to be usable in a one-quarter course (about 25 hours of instruction), and should be suitable for both graduate students and advanced undergraduates. The pedagogical approach is “physics first”: readers move very quickly to the calculation of observational predictions, and only return to the mathematical foundations after the physics is established. The book is mathematically correct—even nonspecialists need to know some differential geometry to be able to read papers—but informal. In addition to the “standard” topics covered by most introductory textbooks, it contains short introductions to more advanced topics: for instance, why field equations are second order, how to treat gravitational energy, what is required for a Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity. A concluding chapter discusses directions for further study, from mathematical relativity to experimental tests to quantum gravity.

Beyond the Schwarzschild Metric

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Wittman
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
General Relativity ◽  
Gravitational Waves ◽  
Test Particle ◽  
Direct Detection ◽  
Relativistic Effects ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Clusters Of Galaxies ◽  
General Relativistic ◽  
The Universe

General relativity explains much more than the spacetime around static spherical masses.We briefly assess general relativity in the larger context of physical theories, then explore various general relativistic effects that have no Newtonian analog. First, source massmotion gives rise to gravitomagnetic effects on test particles.These effects also depend on the velocity of the test particle, which has substantial implications for orbits around black holes to be further explored in Chapter 20. Second, any changes in the sourcemass ripple outward as gravitational waves, and we tell the century‐long story from the prediction of gravitational waves to their first direct detection in 2015. Third, the deflection of light by galaxies and clusters of galaxies allows us to map the amount and distribution of mass in the universe in astonishing detail. Finally, general relativity enables modeling the universe as a whole, and we explore the resulting Big Bang cosmology.

scholarly journals Accidental Gauge Symmetries of Minkowski Spacetime in Teleparallel Theories

Universe ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 143
Author(s):  
Jose Beltrán Jiménez ◽  
Tomi S. Koivisto
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Minkowski Spacetime ◽  
Linear Extensions ◽  
Gauge Symmetries ◽  
Linear Spectrum ◽  
Massless Spin ◽  
Non Linear ◽  
Common Framework ◽  
Local Symmetries ◽  
Quadratic Action

In this paper, we provide a general framework for the construction of the Einstein frame within non-linear extensions of the teleparallel equivalents of General Relativity. These include the metric teleparallel and the symmetric teleparallel, but also the general teleparallel theories. We write the actions in a form where we separate the Einstein–Hilbert term, the conformal mode due to the non-linear nature of the theories (which is analogous to the extra degree of freedom in f(R) theories), and the sector that manifestly shows the dynamics arising from the breaking of local symmetries. This frame is then used to study the theories around the Minkowski background, and we show how all the non-linear extensions share the same quadratic action around Minkowski. As a matter of fact, we find that the gauge symmetries that are lost by going to the non-linear generalisations of the teleparallel General Relativity equivalents arise as accidental symmetries in the linear theory around Minkowski. Remarkably, we also find that the conformal mode can be absorbed into a Weyl rescaling of the metric at this order and, consequently, it disappears from the linear spectrum so only the usual massless spin 2 perturbation propagates. These findings unify in a common framework the known fact that no additional modes propagate on Minkowski backgrounds, and we can trace it back to the existence of accidental gauge symmetries of such a background.

GEOMETRY OF SPACETIME AND FINSLER GEOMETRY

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (08n09) ◽  
pp. 1678-1685 ◽  
Author(s):  
REZA TAVAKOL
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
String Theory ◽  
Riemannian Geometry ◽  
Lorentz Invariance ◽  
Finsler Geometry ◽  
Spacetime Geometry ◽  
Test Particles ◽  
Light Rays ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Underlying Geometry

A central assumption in general relativity is that the underlying geometry of spacetime is pseudo-Riemannian. Given the recent attempts at generalizations of general relativity, motivated both by theoretical and observational considerations, an important question is whether the spacetime geometry can also be made more general and yet still remain compatible with observations? Here I briefly summarize some earlier results which demonstrate that there are special classes of Finsler geometry, which is a natural metrical generalization of the Riemannian geometry, that are strictly compatible with the observations regarding the motion of idealised test particles and light rays. I also briefly summarize some recent attempts at employing Finsler geometries motivated by more recent developments such as those in String theory, whereby Lorentz invariance is partially broken.

scholarly journals Thick branes in the scalar–tensor representation of f(R, T) gravity

2021 ◽  
Vol 81 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
João Luís Rosa ◽  
Matheus A. Marques ◽  
Dionisio Bazeia ◽  
Francisco S. N. Lobo
Keyword(s):  
Scalar Field ◽  
Matter Field ◽  
Energy Tensor ◽  
Tensor Representation ◽  
Observable Universe ◽  
Brane Model ◽  
Gravitational Fields ◽  
Stress Energy ◽  
Tensor Representations ◽  
The Stability

AbstractBraneworld scenarios consider our observable universe as a brane embedded in a five-dimensional bulk. In this work, we consider thick braneworld systems in the recently proposed dynamically equivalent scalar–tensor representation of f(R, T) gravity, where R is the Ricci scalar and T the trace of the stress–energy tensor. In the general $$f\left( R,T\right) $$ f R , T case we consider two different models: a brane model without matter fields where the geometry is supported solely by the gravitational fields, and a second model where matter is described by a scalar field with a potential. The particular cases for which the function $$f\left( R,T\right) $$ f R , T is separable in the forms $$F\left( R\right) +T$$ F R + T and $$R+G\left( T\right) $$ R + G T , which give rise to scalar–tensor representations with a single auxiliary scalar field, are studied separately. The stability of the gravitational sector is investigated and the models are shown to be stable against small perturbations of the metric. Furthermore, we show that in the $$f\left( R,T\right) $$ f R , T model in the presence of an extra matter field, the shape of the graviton zero-mode develops internal structure under appropriate choices of the parameters of the model.

scholarly journals Torsion or not torsion, that is the question

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (12) ◽  
pp. 1644013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri Bonder
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Spin Polarized ◽  
Empirical Tests ◽  
New Interactions

A hypothesis of general relativity (GR) is that spacetime torsion vanishes identically. This assumption has no empirical support; in fact, a nonvanishing torsion is compatible with all the experimental tests of GR. The first part of this essay specifies the framework that is suitable to test the vanishing-torsion hypothesis, and an interesting relation with the gravitational degrees of freedom is suggested. In the second part, some original empirical tests are proposed based on the observation that torsion induces new interactions between different spin-polarized particles.

scholarly journals Augustine of Hippo’s Philosophy of Time Meets General Relativity

KronoScope ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ettore Minguzzi
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Cosmological Model ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Null Hypersurface ◽  
Philosophy Of Time ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

Abstract This paper proposes a cosmological model that uses a causality argument to solve the homogeneity and entropy problems of cosmology. In this model, a chronology violating region of spacetime causally precedes the remainder of the Universe, and a theorem establishes the existence of time functions precisely outside the chronology violating region. This model is shown to nicely reproduce Augustine of Hippo’s thought on time and the beginning of the Universe. In the model, the spacelike boundary representing the Big Bang is replaced by a null hypersurface at which the gravitational degrees of freedom are almost frozen while the matter and radiation content is highly homogeneous and thermalized.

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