Comparing Quantum Gravity Models: String Theory, Loop Quantum Gravity, and Entanglement Gravity versus SU(∞)-QGR

In a previous article we proposed a new model for quantum gravity (QGR) and cosmology, dubbed SU(∞)-QGR. One of the axioms of this model is that Hilbert spaces of the Universe and its subsystems represent the SU(∞) symmetry group. In this framework, the classical spacetime is interpreted as being the parameter space characterizing states of the SU(∞) representing Hilbert spaces. Using quantum uncertainty relations, it is shown that the parameter space—the spacetime—has a 3+1 dimensional Lorentzian geometry. Here, after a review of SU(∞)-QGR, including a demonstration that its classical limit is Einstein gravity, we compare it with several QGR proposals, including: string and M-theories, loop quantum gravity and related models, and QGR proposals inspired by the holographic principle and quantum entanglement. The purpose is to find their common and analogous features, even if they apparently seem to have different roles and interpretations. The hope is that this exercise provides a better understanding of gravity as a universal quantum force and clarifies the physical nature of the spacetime. We identify several common features among the studied models: the importance of 2D structures; the algebraic decomposition to tensor products; the special role of the SU(2) group in their formulation; the necessity of a quantum time as a relational observable. We discuss how these features can be considered as analogous in different models. We also show that they arise in SU(∞)-QGR without fine-tuning, additional assumptions, or restrictions.

Inevitability of the Poisson Bracket Structure of the Relativistic Constraints

The purpose of this paper is to shed some fresh light on the long-standing conceptual question of the origin of the well-known Poisson bracket structure of the constraints that govern the canonical dynamics of generally relativistic field theories, i.e. geometrodynamics. This structure has long been known to be the same for a wide class of fields that inhabit the space-time, namely those with non-differential coupling to gravity. It has also been noticed that an identical bracket structure can be derived independently of any dynamical theory, by purely geometrical considerations in Lorentzian geometry. Here we attempt to provide the missing link between the dynamics and geometry, which we understand to be the reason for this structure to be of the specific kind. We achieve this by a careful analysis of the geometrodynamical approach, which allows us to derive the structure in question and understand it as a consistency requirement for any such theory. In order to stay close to the classical literature on the subject we stick to the metric formulation of general relativity, but the reasoning should carry over to any other formulation as long as the non-metricity tensor vanishes. The discussion section is devoted to derive some interesting consequences of the presented result in the context of reconstructing the Arnowitt–Deser–Misner (ADM) framework, thus providing a precise sense to the inevitability of the Einstein’s theory under minimal assumptions.

Rigidity and concircular symmetries

We present a rigidity result in Lorentzian geometry, related to Bartnik’s conjecture, under the hypothesis of the existence of a concircular vector field with certain properties. We also study the relationship between two different notions of concircular vector fields found in the literature, and give conditions for a generalized Robertson–Walker spacetime to have a timelike concircular vector field.

How to smooth a crinkled map of space–time: Uhlenbeck compactness for L ∞ connections and optimal regularity for general relativistic shock waves by the Reintjes–Temple equations

We present the authors’ new theory of the RT-equations (‘regularity transformation’ or ‘Reintjes–Temple’ equations), nonlinear elliptic partial differential equations which determine the coordinate transformations which smooth connections Γ to optimal regularity, one derivative smoother than the Riemann curvature tensor Riem( Γ ). As one application we extend Uhlenbeck compactness from Riemannian to Lorentzian geometry; and as another application we establish that regularity singularities at general relativistic shock waves can always be removed by coordinate transformation. This is based on establishing a general multi-dimensional existence theory for the RT-equations by application of elliptic regularity theory in L p spaces. The theory and results announced in this paper apply to arbitrary L ∞ connections on the tangent bundle T M of arbitrary manifolds M , including Lorentzian manifolds of general relativity.

Global dynamical time for binary point-like particle systems

A geometrical construction for a global dynamical time for binary point-like particle systems, modeled by relativistic equations of motions, is presented. Thus, we provide a convenient tool for the calculation of the dynamics of recent models for the dynamics of black holes that use individual proper times. The construction is naturally based on the local Lorentzian geometry of the spacetime considered. Although in this presentation we are dealing with the Minkowskian spacetime, the construction is useful for gravitational models that have as a seed Minkowski spacetime. We present the discussion for a binary system, but the construction is obviously generalizable to multiple particle systems. The calculations are organized in terms of the order of the corresponding relativistic forces. In particular, we improve on the Darwin and Landau–Lifshitz approaches, for the case of electromagnetic systems. We discuss the possibility of a Lagrangian treatment of the retarded effects, depending on the nature of the relativistic forces. The higher-order contractions are based on a Runge–Kutta type procedure, which is used to calculate the quantities at the required retarded time, by increasing evaluations of the forces at intermediate times. We emphasize the difference between approximation orders in field equations and approximation orders in retarded effects in the equations of motion. We show this difference by applying our construction to the binary electromagnetic case.

Numerical Modelling of Satellite Downlink Signals in a Finslerian-Perturbed Schwarzschild Spacetime

The work presented in this paper aims to contribute to the problem of testing Finsler gravity theories by means of experiments and observations in the solar system. Within a class of spherically symmetric static Finsler spacetimes we consider a satellite with an on-board atomic clock, orbiting in the Finslerian-perturbed gravitational field of the earth, whose time signal is transmitted to a ground station, where its receive time and frequency are measured with respect to another atomic clock. This configuration is realized by the Galileo 5 and 6 satellites that have gone astray and are now on non-circular orbits. Our method consists in the numerical integration of the satellite’s orbit, followed by an iterative procedure which provides the numerically integrated signals, i.e., null geodesics, from the satellite to the ground station. One of our main findings is that for orbits that are considerably more eccentric than the Galileo 5 and 6 satellite orbits, Finslerian effects can be separated from effects of perturbations of the Schwarzschild spacetime within the Lorentzian geometry. We also discuss the separation from effects of non-gravitational perturbations. This leads us to the conclusion that observations of this kind combined with appropriate numerical modelling can provide suitable tests of Finslerian modifications of general relativity.

Kähler metrics via Lorentzian Geometry in dimension four

Given a semi-Riemannian 4-manifold (M, g) with two distinguished vector fields satisfying properties determined by their shear, twist and various Lie bracket relations, a family of Kähler metrics gK is constructed, defined on an open set in M, which coincides with M in many typical examples. Under certain conditions g and gK share various properties, such as a Killing vector field or a vector field with a geodesic flow. In some cases the Kähler metrics are complete. The Ricci and scalar curvatures of gK are computed under certain assumptions in terms of data associated to g. Many examples are described, including classical spacetimes in warped products, for instance de Sitter spacetime, as well as gravitational plane waves, metrics of Petrov type D such as Kerr and NUT metrics, and metrics for which gK is an SKR metric. For the latter an inverse ansatz is described, constructing g from the SKR metric.