The mantra about gravitation as curvature is a misnomer. The curvature tensor for a standard of rest does not describe acceleration in a gravitational field but the \underline{gradient} of the acceleration (e.g. geodesic deviation). The gravitational field itself (Einstein 1907) is essentially an accelerated reference system. It is characterized by a field of orthonormal four-legs in a Riemann space with Lorentz metric. By viewing vectors at different events having identical leg-components as parallel (teleparallelism) the geometry in a gravitational field defines torsion. This formulation of Einstein's 1907 principle of equivalence uses the same Riemannian metric and the same 1916 field equations for his theory of gravitation and fulfills his vision of General Relativity.
Starting from the generalized Raychaudhuri equation with torsion and non-metricity, and considering an FLRW spacetime we derive the most general form of acceleration equation in the presence of torsion and non-metricity. That is we derive the cosmic acceleration equation when the nonRiemannian degrees of freedom are also taken into account. We then discuss some conditions under which torsion and non-metricity accelerate/decelerate the expansion rate of the Universe.
The influence of the torsion on the relative velocity and on the relative acceleration between particles (points) in spaces with an affine connection and a metric [$(L_n,g)$-spaces] and in (pseudo) Riemannian spaces with torsion ($U_n$-spaces) is considered. Necessary and sufficient conditions as well as only necessary and only sufficient conditions for vanishing deformation, shear, rotation and expansion are found. The notion of relative acceleration and the related to it notions of shear, rotation and expansion accelerations induced by the torsion are determined. It is shown that the kinemat…
We measured Newton's gravitational constant G using a new torsion balance method. Our technique greatly reduces several sources of uncertainty compared to previous measurements: (1) it is insensitive to anelastic torsion fiber properties; (2) a flat plate pendulum minimizes the sensitivity due to the pendulum density distribution; (3) continuous attractor rotation reduces background noise. We obtain G = (6.674215 +- 0.000092)x10^-11 m^3kg^-1s^-2; the Earth's mass is, therefore, M = (5.972245 +- 0.000082)x10^24 kg and the Sun's mass is M = (1.988435 +- 0.000027)x10^30kg.
The dynamics of a gravitational torsion kink as a plane symmetric thick domain wall solution of Einstein-Cartan (EC) field equation is given. The spin-torsion energy has to be as high as the gravitational kink potential otherwise torsion will not contribute as an appreciable effect to domain wall.Cartan torsion also contributes to the orthonal pressure of the domain wall.
The influence of space-time torsion on gravitational interaction at cosmological and astrophysical scales is discussed within the framework of gauge gravitation theory in Riemann-Cartan space-time. It is shown that the interaction of the vacuum torsion with proper angular momentums of gravitating objects leads to appearance of additional gravitational force which can be manifested at astrophysical scale.
Gravitational stability of torsion and inflaton field in a four-dimensional spacetime de Sitter solution in scalar-tensor cosmology where Cartan torsion propagates is investigated in detail. Inflaton and torsion evolution equations are derived by making use of a Lagrangean method. Stable and unstable modes for torsion and inflatons are found to be dependent of the background torsion and inflaton fields. Present astrophysical observations favour a stable mode for torsion since this would explain why no relic torsion imprint has been found on the Cosmic Background Radiation in the universe.
Frenet-Serret equations with variable proper acceleration in Minkowski spacetime
Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (IPICYT)（圣路易斯波托西科学与技术研究学院）；Nazarbayev University（纳扎尔巴耶夫大学）；National Taiwan University（国立台湾大学）；Arizona State University（亚利桑那州立大学）；Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics（南京航空航天大学）
Homogeneous isotropic spatial flat cosmological models with two torsion functions in vacuum are built and investigated in the framework of de Sitter gauge theory of gravity. It is shown that by certain choices of parameters of gravitational Lagrangian the cosmological equations have some exact constant solutions that turn out to be stable de Sitter critical points of dynamical systems and can explain observable acceleration of cosmological expansion. The role of the space-time torsion provoking the acceleration of cosmological expansion is shown.
A shift-symmetric Galileon model in presence of spacetime torsion has been constructed for the first time. This has been realized by localizing (or, gauging) the Galileon symmetry in flat spacetime in an appropriate manner. We have applied the above model to study the evolution of the universe at a cosmological scale. Interestingly, for a wide class of torsional structures we have shown that the model leads to late time cosmic acceleration. Furthermore, as torsion vanishes, our model reproduces the standard results.
In this paper we show that in the presence of torsion and a metric with an antisymmetric part one can construct a gravitational analog of Faraday's law of electromagnetism.
Several exact cosmological solutions of a metric-affine theory of gravity with two torsion functions are presented. These solutions give a essentially different explanation from the one in most of previous works to the cause of the accelerating cosmological expansion and the origin of the torsion of the spacetime. These solutions can be divided into two classes. The solutions in the first class define the critical points of a dynamical system representing an asymptotically stable de Sitter spacetime. The solutions in the second class have exact analytic expressions which have never been found …
Riemann-Cartan space time $U_{4}$ is considered here. It has been shown that when we link topological Nieh-Yan density with the gravitational constant then we get Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian as a consequence.
Fluctuations on de Sitter solution of Einstein-Cartan field equations are obtained in terms of the matter density primordial density fluctuations and spin-torsion density and matter density fluctuations obtained from COBE data. Einstein-de Sitter solution is shown to be unstable even in the absence of torsion.The spin-torsion density fluctuation is simply computed from the Einstein-Cartan equations and from COBE data.
Spin-2, spin-1 and spin-0 modes in linearised teleparallelism are obtained where the totally skew-symmetric complex contortion tensor generates scalar torsion waves and the symmetric contortion in the last two indices generates gravitational waves as gravitational perturbations of flat spacetime with contortion tensor. A gedanken experiment with this gravitational-torsion wave hitting a ring of spinless particles is proposed which allows us to estimate the contortion of the Earth by making use of data from LISA GW detector. This value coincides with previous value obtained by Nitsch in telepar…
Progress and plans are reported for a program of gravitational physics experiments using cryogenic torsion pendula undergoing large amplitude torsional oscillation. The program includes a UC Irvine project to measure the gravitational constant G and joint UC Irvine - U. Washington projects to test the gravitational inverse square law at a range of about 10 cm and to test the weak equivalence principle.
One of the reasons why Einstein-Cartan-Sciama-Kibble theory --- which includes torsion due to the intrinsic spin of matter --- is not widely accepted as a viable theory of gravity, is the lack of any experimental evidence for the gravitational torsion. But at the heart of all matter are elementary fermions, which are mathematically described as spinors, and can be viewed as defects in spacetime associated with torsion. Therefore, in this essay we argue that the existence of matter itself provides a proof that gravitational torsion exists, albeit only inside of matter, and hence it does not pro…
According to the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity, curvature and torsion are two equivalent ways of describing the same gravitational field. Despite equivalent, however, they act differently: whereas curvature yields a geometric description, in which the concept of gravitational force is absent, torsion acts as a true gravitational force, quite similar to the Lorentz force of electrodynamics. As a consequence, the right-hand side of a spinless-particle equation of motion (which would represent a gravitational force) is always zero in the geometric description, but not in the telep…
By using a nonholonomous-frame formulation of the general covariance principle, seen as an active version of the strong equivalence principle, an analysis of the gravitational coupling prescription in the presence of curvature and torsion is made. The coupling prescription implied by this principle is found to be always equivalent with that of general relativity, a result that reinforces the completeness of this theory, as well as the teleparallel point of view according to which torsion does not represent additional degrees of freedom for gravity, but simply an alternative way of representing…
We used a continuously rotating torsion balance instrument to measure the acceleration difference of beryllium and titanium test bodies towards sources at a variety of distances. Our result Delta a=(0.6+/-3.1)x10^-15 m/s^2 improves limits on equivalence-principle violations with ranges from 1 m to infinity by an order of magnitude. The Eoetvoes parameter is eta=(0.3+/-1.8)x10^-13. By analyzing our data for accelerations towards the center of the Milky Way we find equal attractions of Be and Ti towards galactic dark matter, yielding eta=(-4 +/- 7)x10^-5. Space-fixed differential accelerations i…
A exact de Sitter-like cosmological solution of quadratic gravitation with torsion has been found. In the limit of constant energy and pressure, it becomes a exact de Sitter spacetime. It exists in a wide class of quadratic gravity theories and is the same in vacuum for all the models in this class, no matter how the coefficients of the quadratic terms in the Lagrangian are. It describes an accelerating universe and gives a cosmological constant which is of the order of magnitude of the observed value. In vacuum the universe is a de Sitter spacetime without torsion. When matter presents, howev…
The definition of the Riemann-Cartan space of the plane wave type is given. The condition under which the torsion plane waves exist is found. It is expressed in the form of the restriction imposed on the coupling constants of the 10-parametric quadratic gravitational Lagrangian. In the mathematical appendix the formula for commutator of the variation operator and Hodge operator is proved. This formula is applied for the variational procedure when the gravitational field equations are obtained in terms of the exterior differential forms.
Dipole fields are common in electromagnetism and may be viewed as the result of a positive and negative charge (or pole) which are close together. A dipole field in gravity is not expected to exist because negative mass has never been observed. However, an exact solution to the gravitational field equations with torsion is presented that does correspond to a dipole gravitational field, even though there is no negative mass. The theory is based on a non-symmetric metric tensor, and it is found there is a singularity in the metric tensor at the origin but no event horizon. Gravitational dipoles …
Dynamical (propagating) torsion can be observed by using conventional gravitational wave detectors such as LIGO, Virgo, LISA and bar detectors. We discuss specific signatures of different types of torsion, in particular those of vector and mixed symmetric torsion (skew symmetric torsion cannot be detected in this way). These signatures are specific to torsion and therefore they can be unambiguously distinguished from those of gravitational waves.
We develop some ideas discussed by E. Schucking [arXiv:0803.4128] concerning the geometry of the gravitational field. First, we address the concept according to which the gravitational acceleration is a manifestation of the spacetime torsion, not of the curvature tensor. It is possible to show that there are situations in which the geodesic acceleration of a particle may acquire arbitrary values, whereas the curvature tensor approaches zero. We conclude that the spacetime curvature does not affect the geodesic acceleration. Then we consider the the Pound-Rebka experiment, which relates the tim…
Poincaré gauge theory of gravity offers opportunities to solve some principal problems of general relativity theory and modern cosmology. In the frame of this theory the gravitational interaction can have the repulsion character in the case of usual gravitating matter with positive values of energy density and pressure satisfying energy dominance condition. Cosmological consequences of gravitational repulsion are considered in the case of homogeneous isotropic models in connection with the problem of cosmological singularity and dark energy problem of general relativity theory. Regular Big Ban…
In this paper we have investigated the gravitational lensing in a spherically symmetric spacetime with torsion in the generalized Einstein-Cartan-Kibble-Sciama (ECKS) theory of gravity by considering higher order terms. The torsion parameters change the spacetime structure which affects the photon sphere, the deflection angle and the strong gravitational lensing. The condition of existence of horizons is not inconsistent with that of the photon sphere. Especially, there exists a novel case in which there is horizon but no photon sphere for the considered spacetime. In this special case, the de…
The general covariance principle, seen as an active version of the principle of equivalence, is used to study the gravitational coupling prescription in the presence of curvature and torsion. It is concluded that the coupling prescription determined by this principle is always equivalent with the corresponding prescription of general relativity. An application to the case of a Dirac spinor is made.
The equations for gravitational plane waves produced by a typical binary system as a solution of linear approximation of Einstein equations is derived. The dynamics of the corresponding gravitational field is analyzed in a 4-dimensional space-time manifold, endowed with a metric and taking into account the torsion. In this context, the geometrical reason of the existence of torsion due to the presence of gravitational waves, as an asymmetry of connection coefficients with respect of the swapping of indices's is highlighted. In a laser interferometer gravitational detector The delay time betwee…
A Friedmann like cosmological model in Einstein-Cartan framework is studied when the torsion function is assumed to be proportional to a single $ϕ(t)$ function coming just from the spin vector contribution of ordinary matter. By analysing four different types of torsion function written in terms of one, two and three free parameters, we found that a model with $ϕ(t)=- αH(t) \big({ρ_{m}(t)}/{ρ_{0c}}\big)^n$ is totally compatible with recent cosmological data, where $α$ and $n$ are free parameters to be constrained from observations, $ρ_m$ is the matter energy density and $ρ_{0c}$ the critical d…
Torsion appears in a natural way in modern formulations of the gravitational theories. In this work we study several aspects of the interplay between the Standard Model and a classical gravitational background with torsion. In particular we consider the problem of the gauge and gravitational anomalies, $B$ and $L$ anomalies, the effective action for the torsion and the propagation of electromagnetic radiation in the presence of torsion.
We study gravitational waves with torsion as exact vacuum solutions of three-dimensional gravity with propagating torsion. The new solutions are a natural generalization of the plane-fronted gravitational waves in general relativity with a cosmological constant, in the presence of matter.
The teleparallel version of Lewis-Papapetrou space-time is investigated. For this space-time the true discussion of the geometric and physical properties is given. We show that the value of space-like torsion-axial vector does not depend on the choice of tetrad field. Consequently, the spin procession of the Dirac particle and the corresponding Hamiltonian do. The energy and momentum densities for such space-time are calculated. We show that when choosing two sets of tetrad fields the dependence and independence of the aforementioned quantities on the tetrad field depend on the Lorentz factor,…
We give a complete formulation of Poincare gauge theory, starting from the fibre bundle formulation to the resultant Riemann-Cartan spacetime. We also introduce several diverse gravity theories descendent from the Poincare gauge theory. Especially, the cosmological effect of the simple scalar-torsion (0^+) mode in Poincare gauge theory of gravity is studied. In the theory, we treat the geometric effect of torsion as an effective quantity, which behaves like dark energy and study the effective equation of state (EoS) of the model. We construct the extra dimension theory of teleparallel gravity …
The possibility to distinguish Dirac from Majorana fermion by gravitational interaction and torsion coupling is discussed. The scattering of both Dirac and Majorana particles are the same in the spherically symmetric gravitational field up to the first order perturbation of the fermion-gravity interaction. The scattering behaviors of Dirac and Majorana fermion are also the same by axial vector torsion but different by vector torsion. We get the conclusion that the scattering by vector torsion field can distinguish the Dirac from Majorana neutrino.
It is shown that all torsion-free vacuum solutions of the model of dS gauge theory of gravity are the vacuum solutions of Einstein field equations with the same positive cosmological constant. Furthermore, for the gravitational theories with more general quadratic gravitational Lagrangian ($F^2+T^2$), the torsion-free vacuum solutions are also the vacuum solutions of Einstein field equations.
The gravitational weak field of a global monopole in the Einstein-Cartan theory of gravity is investigated.To obtain this solution we assume that Cartan torsion takes the form of the Newtonian gravitational potential.From the geodesics it is possible to show that the torsionic monopole produces a repulsive gravitational force.
The role played by torsion in gravitation is critically reviewed. After a description of the problems and controversies involving the physics of torsion, a comprehensive presentation of the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity is made. According to this theory, curvature and torsion are alternative ways of describing the gravitational field, and consequently related to the same degrees of freedom of gravity. However, more general gravity theories, like for example Einstein-Cartan and gauge theories for the Poincare and the affine groups, consider curvature and torsion as representing …
The nonsymmetric gravitational theory leads to a modified acceleration law that can at intermediate distance ranges account for the anomalous acceleration experienced by the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft.
Given a spacetime with nonvanishing torsion, we discuss the equation for the evolution of the separation vector between infinitesimally close curves in a congruence. We show that the presence of a torsion field leads, in general, to tangent and orthogonal effects on the congruence; in particular, the presence of a completely generic torsion field contributes to a relative acceleration between test particles. We derive, for the first time in the literature, the Raychaudhuri equation for a congruence of timelike and null curves in a spacetime with the most generic torsion field.
In the context of the metric-affine Chern-Simons gravity endowed with projective invariance, we derive analytical solutions for torsion and nonmetricity in the homogeneous and isotropic cosmological case, described by a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric. We discuss in some details the general properties of the cosmological solutions in the presence of a perfect fluid, such as the dynamical stability and the emergence of big bounce points, and we examine the structure of some specific solutions reproducing de Sitter and power law behaviours for the scale factor. Then, we focus on first-ord…
The simplest gauge gravitation theory in Riemann-Cartan space-time leading to the solution of the problem of cosmological singularity and dark energy problem is investigated with purpose to solve the dark matter problem. It is shown that the interaction of the vacuum torsion field with proper angular moments of gravitating objects can lead to appearance at astrophysical scale (galaxies, galactic clusters) additional force of gravitational attraction, which in the frame of standard theory is connected with dark matter.
We study the variational principle on a Hilbert-Einstein action in an extended geometry with torsion taking into account non-trivial boundary conditions. We obtain an effective energy-momentum tensor that has its source in the torsion, which represents the matter geometrically induced. We explore about the existence of magnetic monopoles and gravitational waves in this torsional geometry. We conclude that the boundary terms can be identified as possible sources for the cosmological constant and torsion as the source of magnetic monopoles. We examine an example in which gravitational waves are …
We set the first upper limit on the stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background in the frequency range of $1-5\,\mathrm{Hz}$ using a Torsion-bar Antenna (TOBA). A TOBA is a GW detector designed for the detection of low frequency GWs on the ground, with two orthogonal test masses rotated by the incident GWs. We performed a 24-hour observation run using the TOBA and set upper limits, based on frequentist statistics and Bayesian statistics. The most stringent values are $Ω_\mathrm{gw}h_0^2 \leq 6.0 \times10^{18}$ (frequentist) and $Ω_\mathrm{gw}h_0^2 \leq 1.2 \times 10^{20}$ (Bayesian) both at …
In the Einstein-Cartan space $U_4$, an axial vector torsion together with a scalar field connected to a local scale factor have been considered. By combining two particular terms from the SO(4,1) Pontryagin density and then modifying it in a SO(3,1) invariant way, we get a Lagrangian density with Lagrange multipliers. Then under FRW-cosmological background, where the scalar field is connected to the source of gravitation, the Euler-Lagrange equations ultimately give the constancy of the gravitational constant together with only three kinds of energy densities representing mass, radiation and c…
We propose a gravitational model which allows the independent dynamical behaviour of the torsion and nonmetricity fields to be displayed in the framework of Metric-Affine gauge theory of gravity. For this task, we derive a new exact black hole solution referred to this model which extends the role of torsion of the main well-known exact solutions based on Weyl-Cartan geometry and constitutes the first known isolated gravitational system characterized by a metric tensor with independent spin and dilation charges.
It is shown that among the R+beta S^{abc}S_{abc} models, only the one with beta=1/2 has nonvanishing torsion effect in the Robertson--Walker universe filled with a spin fluid, where S_{abc} denotes torsion. Moreover, the torsion effect in that model is found to be able to replace the big-bang singularity by a big bounce. Furthermore, we find that the model can be obtained under a Kaluza--Klein-like ansatz, by assuming that the gravitational gauge group is the de Sitter group.
The gravitational Poynting vector provides a mechanism for the transfer of gravitational energy to a system of falling objects. In the following we will show that the gravitational poynting vector together with the gravitational Larmor theorem also provides a mechanism to explain how massive bodies acquire rotational kinetic energy when external mechanical forces are applied on them.
The paper deals with cosmological solutions describing different phases of the Universe for the homogeneous and isotropic FLRW model of the Universe with torsion. Normally, torsion field is not suitable for maximally symmetric space time model. However, one may use a specific profile of vectorial torsion field, derived from a scalar function. By proper choices of the torsion scalar function, it is shown that a continuous cosmic evolution starting from the emergent scenario to the present late time acceleration is possible. Also thermodynamics of the system is analyzed and equivalence with Eins…
It is shown that cosmological equations for homogeneous isotropic models deduced in the framework of the Poincaré gauge theory of gravity by certain restrictions on indefinite parameters of gravitational Lagrangian take at asymptotics the same form as cosmological equations of general relativity theory for $ΛCDM$-model. Terms related to dark matter and dark energy in cosmological equations of standard theory for $ΛCDM$-model are connected in considered theory with the change of gravitational interaction provoked by spacetime torsion.
We review how the large $c$ expansion of General Relativity leads to an effective theory in the form of Twistless Torsional Newton-Cartan gravity. We show how this is a strong field expansion around the static sector of General Relativity and illustrate this through two examples.
Static spherically symmetric solution in a background spacetime with torsion is derived explicitly. The torsion considered here is identified with the field strength of a second rank antisymmetric tensor field namely the Kalb-Ramond field and the proposed solution therefore has much significance in a string inspired gravitational field theory.
A linear Lorentz connection has always two fundamental derived characteristics: curvature and torsion. The latter is assumed to vanish in general relativity. Three gravitational models involving non-vanishing torsion are examined: teleparallel gravity, Einstein-Cartan, and new general relativity. Their dependability is critically examined. Although a final answer can only be given by experience, it is argued that teleparallel gravity provides the most consistent approach.
Using a recently found black hole solution in the framework of the Poincar{é} gauge theory of gravity, we study gravitational lensing for a system where the lens is a static spherically symmetric black hole. By analyzing the equations of motion for light rays in a space-time with torsion, we derive the deflection angle as the light emitted from a source pass through near the black hole and numerically solve the resulting integral. We also study the effects of torsion on the position of images. The results show that the presence of torsion slightly alters both the deflection angle and position …
Generalization of an idea may lead to very interesting result. Learning how torsion influences on tidal force reveals similarity between tidal equation for geodesic and the Killing equation of second type. The relationship between tidal acceleration, curvature and torsion gives an opportunity to measure torsion.
Torsion gravitational effects in the quantum interference of charged particles are investigated. The influence of axial torsion in the Schiff-Banhill effect (SB) inside a metallic shell is given. The effect of torsion on the surface of the earth on (SB) experiment is estimated. Torsion gravity effects on the Sagnac phase-shift of neutron interferometry are also computed.
Spacetime curvature plays the primary role in general relativity but Einstein later considered a theory where torsion was the central quantity. Just as the Einstein-Hilbert action in the Ricci curvature scalar R can be generalized to f(R) gravity, we consider extensions of teleparallel, or torsion scalar T, gravity to f(T) theories. The field equations are naturally second order, avoiding pathologies, and can give rise to cosmic acceleration with unique features.
