We investigate the consequences of the ambiguity of minimal coupling procedure for Einstein-Cartan gravity with Holst term and fermions. A new insight is provided into the nature and physical relevance of coupling procedures considered hitherto in the context of Ashtekar-Barbero-Immirzi formalism with fermions. The issue of physical effects of the Immirzi parameter in semi--classical theory is reinvestigated. We argue that the conclusive answer to the question of its measurability will not be possible until the more fundamental problem of nonuniqueness of gravity--induced fermion interaction in Einstein-Cartan theory is solved.
We show that the Palatini--Cartan--Holst formulation of General Relativity in tetrad variables must be complemented with additional requirements on the fields when boundaries are taken into account for the associated BV theory to induce a compatible BFV theory on the boundary.
General relativity in four dimensions can be reformulated as a gauge theory, referred to as Palatini-Cartan-Holst theory. This paper describes its reduced phase space using a geometric method due to Kijowski and Tulczyjew and its relation to that of the Einstein-Hilbert approach.
In the standard Einstein-Cartan theory(EC), matter fields couple to gravitation field through the Minimal Coupling Procedure(MCP), yet leaving the theory an ambiguity: applying MCP to the action or to the equation of motion would lead to different gravitational couplings. We propose a new covariant derivative to remove the ambiguity, then discuss the relation between our proposal and previous treatments on this subject.
The Israel junction conditions of a thin shell in the context of Einstein-Cartan gravity are revisited. It is shown that with a choice of the torsion discontinuity taken to be orthogonal to the hypersurface and consistent with the antisymmetric properties of torsion tensor and contorsion tensor, the generalized asymmetric surface energy-momentum tensor turns out to be tangent to the hypersurface while the resulting generalized Israel junction conditions are modified. The main differences to previous works are mentioned.
We retreat the well-known Einstein-Cartan theory by slightly modifying the covariant derivative of spinor field by investigating double cover of the Lorentz group. We first write the Lagrangian consisting of the Einstein-Hilbert term, Dirac term and a scalar field term in a non-Riemannian spacetime with curvature and torsion. Then by solving the affine connection analytically we reformulate the theory in the Riemannian spacetime in a self-consistent way. Finally we discuss our results and give future perspectives on the subject.
The stress-energy tensor of a matter shell whose history coincides with a null hypersurface in the Einstein-Cartan gravity is revisited. It is demonstrated that with a proper choice for the torsion discontinuity taken to be orthogonal to the null hypersurface and consistent with the antisymmetric property of torsion tensor, the modified expression for the asymmetric stress-energy tensor is automatically tangent to the hypersurface. The main differences with respect to a previous work are addressed
In this paper we study the so called "warp drive" spacetimes within the $U_{4}$ Riemann-Cartan manifolds of Einstein-Cartan theory. Specifically, the role that spin may play with respect to energy condition violation is considered. It turns out that with the addition of spin, the torsion terms in Einstein-Cartan gravity do allow for energy condition respecting warp drives. Limits are derived which minimize the amount of spin required in order to have a weak/null-energy condition respecting system. This is done both for the traditional Alcubierre warp drive as well as for the modified warp driv…
The Hamiltonian formalism of Einstein--Cartan (EC) gravity is a starting point for canonical quantum gravity. The existing formalisms are at most Lorentz covariant, or diffeomorphism covariant. Here we analyze the Hamiltonian EC gravity in a 5d covariant way, with the gauge group being the de Sitter (dS) group, which unifies the Lorentz transformations and translation in an elegant manner, and also coincides with the acceleration of the universe. We reformulate the EC equations into a dS-covariant form, then find out the dS-covariant constraints of the phase space, and make all the constraint …
It is well known that only the axial piece of the torsion couples minimally to fermions in a Riemann-Cartan geometry, while the other ones decouple. In this paper, we consider the Dirac field minimally coupled to a dynamical background with torsion and compute its contribution to the fermionic one-loop effective action. Such a contribution owns topological nature since it can be linked with topological invariants from Riemann-Cartan spaces, like Nieh-Yan and Chern-Simons terms. Furthermore, we propose a novel modified theory of gravity constructed by adding the aforementioned one-loop contribu…
The Raychaudhuri equations for the expansion, shear and vorticity are generalized in a spacetime with torsion for timelike as well as null congruences. These equations are purely geometrical like the original Raychaudhuri equations and could be reduced to them when there is no torsion. Using the Einstein-Cartan-Sciama-Kibble field equations the effective stress-energy tensor is derived. We also consider an Oppenheimer-Snyder model for the gravitational collapse of dust. It is shown that the null energy condition (NEC) is violated before the density of the collapsing dust reaches the Planck den…
We generalize the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations for space-times endowed with a Weyssenhoff like torsion field in the Einstein-Cartan theory. The new set of structure equations clearly show how the presence of torsion affects the geometry of the space-time. We obtain new exact solutions for compact objects with non-null spin surrounded by vacuum, explore their properties and discuss how these solutions should be smoothly matched to an exterior space-time. We study how spin changes the Buchdahl limit for the maximum compactness of stars. Moreover, under rather generic conditions, we prove…
We address the implementation of the cosmological principle, that is, the assumption of homogeneity and isotropy in the spatial distribution of matter in the Universe, within the context of Einstein-Cartan theory including minimal couplings of both Dirac and Maxwell fields to torsion. This theory gives rise to new physical effects in environments of high spin densities while leaving the vacuum dynamics unaffected. Our approach is to impose the cosmological principle from the onset to the geometrical degrees of freedom (metric and torsion functions), which constrains the torsion components and …
Einstein-Cartan theory is an extension of the standard formulation of General Relativity where torsion (the antisymmetric part of the affine connection) is non-vanishing. Just as the space-time metric is sourced by the stress-energy tensor of the matter fields, torsion is sourced via the spin density tensor, whose physical effects become relevant at very high spin densities. In this work we introduce an extension of the Einstein-Cartan-Dirac theory with an electromagnetic (Maxwell) contribution minimally coupled to torsion. This contribution breaks the $U(1)$ gauge symmetry, which is suggested…
In the present work we investigate evolving wormhole configurations described by a constant redshift function in Einstein-Cartan theory ({\sf ECT}). The matter content consists of a Weyssenhoff fluid along with an anisotropic matter which together generalize the anisotropic energy momentum tensor in general relativity ({\sf GR}) in order to include the effects of intrinsic angular momentum (spin) of particles. Using a generalized Friedmann-Robertson-Walker ({\sf FRW}) spacetime, we derive analytical evolving wormhole geometries by assuming a particular equation of state ({\sf EoS}) for energy …
This work derives the elements of classical Einstein Cartan theory (EC) from classical general relativity (GR) in two ways. (I) Derive discrete versions of torsion (translational holonomy) and the spin torsion field equation of EC from one Kerr solution in GR. (II) Derive the field equations of EC as the continuum limit of a distribution of many Kerr masses in classical GR. The convergence computations employ epsilon delta arguments, and are not as rigorous as convergence in Sobolev norm. Inequality constraints needed for convergence restrict the limits from continuing to an infinitesimal leng…
