We describe a new BF-type first-order in derivatives Lagrangian for General Relativity. The Lagrangian depends on a connection field as well as a Lie-algebra valued two-form field, with no other fields present. There are two free parameters, which translate into the cosmological constant and the coefficient in front of a topological term. When one of the parameters is set to zero, the theory becomes topological. When the other parameter is zero, the theory reduces to the (anti-) self-dual gravity. Thus, our new Lagrangian interpolates between the topological and anti-self-dual gravities. It also interprets GR as the (anti-) self-dual gravity with an extra quadratic in the auxiliary two-form field term added to the Lagrangian, precisely paralleling the situation in Yang-Mills theory.
It is shown that there exists such collection of variables that the standard QCD Lagrangian can be represented as the sum of usual Palatini Lagrangian for Einstein general relativity and the Lagrangian of matter and some other fields where the tetrad fields and the metric are constructed from initial $SU(3)$ Yang - Mills fields.
We extend the Non-Relativistic formulation of General Relativity (NRGR) given in Goldberger et al. (Phys Rev D 73:104029, 2006) to incorporate the effects of electromagnetic charge of the constituents of the binary. We incorporate the photon field in NRGR by giving the field decomposition and power counting rules. Using these, we develop the Feynman rules to describe photon and graviton interactions with point particle worldline. We then find the corrections to the Einstein-Infeld-Hoffmann Lagrangian (Einstein et al. in Ann Math 39:65-100, 1938) due to the presence of the photon field and elec…
Gauge fields associated to the Dirac matrix algebra used with the standard quadratic gauge field Lagrangian lead to an extended gravitational Lagrangian which includes the Einstein-Hilbert one, plus quadratic, cosmological constant and torsion terms. This note looks at three cases : the static central symmetric field, the isotropic expanding universe, and the asymptotic field of a rotating body, and show that, in weak gravitational fields, there is no contradiction with General Relativity results.
In the restricted four-body problem consisting of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun as the primaries and a spacecraft as the planetoid, we take into account the solar perturbation in the description of the motion of a spacecraft in the vicinity of the stable Earth-Moon libration points L4 and L5 both in the classical regime and in the context of effective field theories of gravity. We then evaluate the location of all Lagrangian points in the Earth-Moon system within the framework of general relativity. For the points L4 and L5, the corrections of coordinates are of order a few millimeters. Afte…
This paper gives a new, simple and concise derivation of brane actions and brane dynamics in general relativity and in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity. We present a unified treatment, applicable to timelike surface layers and spacelike transition layers, and including consideration of the more difficult lightlike case.
A differential bulk-surface relation of the lagrangian of General Relativity has been derived by Padmanabhan. This has relevance to gravitational information and degrees of freedom. An alternate derivation is given based on the differential form gauge theory formulation of gravity due to Gockeler and Schucker. Also an entropy functional of Padmanabhan and Paranjape can be rewritten as the Gockeler and Schucker lagrangian.
We describe a novel procedure to map the field equations of nonlinear Ricci-based metric-affine theories of gravity, coupled to scalar matter described by a given Lagrangian, into the field equations of General Relativity coupled to a different scalar field Lagrangian. Our analysis considers examples with a single and $N$ real scalar fields, described either by canonical Lagrangians or by generalized functions of the kinetic and potential terms. In particular, we consider several explicit examples involving $f(R)$ theories and the Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity model, coupled to differ…
We present a new finite action for Einstein gravity in which the Lagrangian is quadratic in the covariant derivative of a spinor field. Via a new spinor-curvature identity, it is related to the standard Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian by a total differential term. The corresponding Hamiltonian, like the one associated with the Witten positive energy proof is fully four-covariant. It defines quasi-local energy-momentum and can be reduced to the one in our recent positive energy proof. (Fourth Prize, 1994 Gravity Research Foundation Essay.)
We present the Lagrangian whose corresponding action is the trace K action for General Relativity. Although this Lagrangian is second order in the derivatives, it has no second order time derivatives and its behaviour at space infinity in the asymptotically flat case is identical to other alternative Lagrangians for General Relativity, like the gamma-gamma Lagrangian used by Einstein. We develop some elements of the variational principle for field theories with boundaries, and apply them to second order Lagrangians, where we stablish the conditions -- proposition 1 -- for the conservation of t…
We study the action for the three-space formalism of General Relativity, better known as the BFÓ (Barbour--Foster--Ó Murchadha) action, which is a square-root BSW (Baierlein--Sharp--Wheeler) action. In particular, we explore the (pre)symplectic structure by pulling it back via a Legendre map to the tangent bundle of the configuration space of this action. With it we attain the canonical Lagrangian vector field which generates the gauge transformations (3-diffeomorphisms) and the true physical evolution of the system. This vector field encapsulates all the dynamics of the system. We also discus…
The main fundamental principles characterizing the vacuum field structure are formulated and the modeling of the related vacuum medium and charged point particle dynamics by means of devised field theoretic tools are analyzed. The work is devoted to studying the vacuum structure, special relativity, electrodynamics of interacting charged point particles and quantum mechanics, and is a continuation of \cite{BPT,BRT1}. Based on the vacuum field theory no-geometry approach, the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian reformulation of some alternative classical electrodynamics models is devised. The Dirac type…
We employ the 'square root' of the Maxwell Lagrangian (i.e. \surd(F_{μν}F^{μν})), coupled with gravity to search for the possible linear potentials which are believed to play role in confinement. It is found that in the presence of magnetic charge no confining potential exists in such a model. Confining field solutions are found for radial geodesics in pure electrically charged Nariai- Bertotti-Robinson (NBR)-type spacetime with constant scalar curvature. Recently, Guendelman, Kaganovich, Nissimov and Pacheva, [Phys.Lett.B704(2011)230] have shown that superposed square root with standard Maxwe…
The problem of formulating synchronous variational principles in the context of General Relativity is discussed. Based on the analogy with classical relativistic particle dynamics, the existence of variational principles is pointed out in relativistic classical field theory which are either asynchronous or synchronous. The historical Einstein-Hilbert and Palatini variational formulations are found to belong to the first category. Nevertheless, it is shown that an alternative route exists which permits one to cast these principles in terms of equivalent synchronous Lagrangian variational formul…
Building towards a more covariant approach to canonical classical and quantum gravity we outline an approach to constrained dynamics that de-emphasizes the role of the Hamiltonian phase space and highlights the role of the Lagrangian phase space. We identify a "Lagrangian one-form" to replace the standard symplectic one-form, which we use to construct the canonical constraints and an associated constraint algebra. The method is particularly useful for generally covariant systems and systems with a degenerate canonical symplectic form, such as Einstein Cartan gravity, to which we apply the meth…
Using a suitable rescaling of the independent variable, a Lagrangian is found for the nonlinear Vialov equation ruling the longitudinal profiles of glaciers and ice caps in the shallow ice approximation. This leads to a formal analogy between the (rescaled) Vialov equation and the Friedmann equation of relativistic cosmology, which is explored. This context provides a new symmetry of the (rescaled) Vialov equation and gives, at least formally, all its solutions using a generating function, which is the Nye profile for the degenerate case of perfectly plastic ice.
After briefly reviewing the theory of relativistic elasticity, we expand a general elastic Lagrangian to quadratic order and compute the main parameters for the linear elasticity of relativistic solids: the longitudinal and transverse speeds of sound, the Poisson ratio, and the bulk, shear and Young moduli. Using these, we discuss which Lagrangian is the best choice to model a relativistic rigid elastic solid.
It is well known that objects can oscillate around the Lagrangian point L4. In this manuscript we compute the period of these oscillations by computing the exact expression of the characteristic polynomial of the matrix that determined the stability of the Lagrangian point. When we use relativity theory we are supposed to get a small improvement of this period. This paper compares the values of the the characteristic polynomials computed in the following way: 1. Using relativity with an error smaller than 10^{-30}. 2. The characteristic polynomial coming from a paper written in 2002, 3. The ch…
We show in a new way that the general relativity action (and Lagrangian)in recent Einstein-Palatini formulation is equivalent in four dimensions to the action (and Lagrangian) of a gauge field. This paper is a continuation of the previous paper [17] and it also gives an amended version of the lecture delivered by one of the authors [M.D.] at Hypercomplex Seminar in Bedlewo.
We consider static, spherically symmetric configurations in general relativity, supported by nonlinear electromagnetic fields with gauge-invariant Lagrangians depending on the single invariant $f = F_{μν} F^{μν}$. After a brief review on black hole (BH) and solitonic solutions, obtained so far with pure electric or magnetic fields, an attempt is made to obtain dyonic solutions, those with both electric and magnetic charges. A general scheme is suggested, leading to solutions in quadratures for an arbitrary Lagrangian function $L(f)$ (up to some monotonicity restrictions); such solutions are ex…
In this communication, we present a class of Brans-Dicke-like theories with a universal coupling between the scalar field and the matter Lagrangian. We show this class of theories naturally exhibits a decoupling mechanism between the scalar field and matter. As a consequence, this coupling leads to almost the same phenomenology as general relativity in the Solar System: the trajectories of massive bodies and the light propagation differ from general relativity only at the second post-Newtonian order. Deviations from general relativity are beyond present detection capabilities. However, this cl…
General Relativity resembles a very elegant crystal glass: If we touch its principles, that is, its Lagrangian, there is a risk of breaking everything. Or, if we will, it is like a short blanket: Curing some problems creates new problems. This paper is devoted to bring to light the reasons why we pursue the possibility of a non-Lagrangian theory of gravity under the hypothesis of an extension of the original general relativity with an ansatz inspired in the fundamental principles of classical and quantum physics.
We propose a 4-dimensional Kaluza-Klein approach to general relativity in the (2,2)-splitting of space-time using the double null gauge. The associated Lagrangian is equivalent to the Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian, since it yields the same field equations as the E-H Lagrangian does. It is describable as a (1+1)-dimensional Yang-Mills type gauge theory coupled to (1+1)-dimensional matter fields, where the minimal coupling associated with the diffeomorphism group of the 2-dimensional spacelike fibre space automatically appears. Written in the first-order formalism, our Lagrangian density directly …
In this work, we comment on two special points in the paper by S. Ghosh [Phys. Rev. D 74, 084019 (2006)]. First of all, the Lagrangian presented by the author does not describe the Magueijo- Smolin model of Doubly Special Relativity since it is equivalent to the Lagrangian of the standard free relativistic particle. We also show that the introduction of noncommutative structures is not relevant to the problem of Lorentz covariance in Ghosh formalism.
We present an elastic constitutive model of gravity where we identify physical space with the mid-hypersurface of an elastic hyperplate called the "cosmic fabric" and spacetime with the fabric's world volume. Using a Lagrangian formulation, we show that the fabric's behavior as derived from Hooke's Law is analogous to that of spacetime per the Field Equations of General Relativity. The study is conducted in the limit of small strains, or analogously, in the limit of weak and nearly static gravitational fields. The Fabric's Lagrangian outside of inclusions is shown to have the same form as the …
We show that homogeneous black strings of third-order Lovelock theory are unstable under s-wave perturbations. This analysis is done in dimension $D=9$, which is the lowest dimension that allows the existence of homogeneous black strings in a theory that contains only the third-order Lovelock term in the Lagrangian. As is the case in general relativity, the instability is produced by long wavelength perturbations and it stands for the perturbative counterpart of a thermal instability. We also provide a comparative analysis of the instabilities of black strings at a fixed radius in general rela…
We investigate the late-time cosmological behaviour of scalar-tensor theories with a universal multiplicative coupling between the scalar field and the matter Lagrangian in the matter era. This class of theory encompasses the case of the massless string dilaton (see Damour and Polyakov, General Relativity and Gravitation, 26, 1171) as well as a theory with an intrinsic decoupling mechanism in the solar system (see Minazzoli and Hees, Phys. Rev. D 88, 041504). The cosmological evolution is studied in the General Relativity limit justified by solar system constraints on the gravitation theory. T…
The formulation of a dynamical theory of General Relativity, including matter, is viewed as a problem of coupling Einstein's theory of pure gravity, formulated as an action principle, to an independently chosen and well defined field theory of matter. It is well known that this is accomplished in a most natural way when the matter theory is formulated as a relativistic, Lagrangian field theory. Special matter models of this type have been available; here a thermodynamical model that allows for general flows is used. A problem that is of even older date, one that was pursued vigorously by leadi…
We compare analytic predictions for real and Fourier space two-point statistics for biased tracers from a variety of Lagrangian Perturbation Theory approaches against those from state of the art N-body simulations in $f(R)$ Hu-Sawicki and the nDGP braneworld modified gravity theories. We show that the novel physics of gravitational collapse in scalar tensor theories with the chameleon or the Vainshtein screening mechanism can be effectively factored in with bias parameters analytically predicted using the Peak-Background Split formalism when updated to include the environmental sensitivity of …
In this work we revisit the study of the gravitational interaction in the context of the Special Theory of Relativity. It is found that, as long as the equivalence principle is respected, a relativistic non-linear energy conservation theorem arises in a natural way. We interpret that this non-linear conservation law stresses the non-linear character of the gravitational interaction.The theorem reproduces the energy conservation theorem of Newtonian mechanics in the corresponding low energy limit, but also allows to derive some standard results of post-Newtonian gravity, such as the formula of …
We report off-shell Noether currents obtained from off-shell Noether potentials for first-order general relativity described by $n$-dimensional Palatini and Holst Lagrangians including the cosmological constant. These off-shell currents and potentials are achieved by using the corresponding Lagrangian and the off-shell Noether identities satisfied by diffeomorphisms generated by arbitrary vector fields, local $SO(n)$ or $SO(n-1,1)$ transformations, `improved diffeomorphisms', and the `generalization of local translations' of the orthonormal frame and the connection. A remarkable aspect of our …
We discuss the question of gauge choice when analysing relativistic density perturbations at second order. We compare Newtonian and General Relativistic approaches. Some misconceptions in the recent literature are addressed. We show that the comoving-synchronous gauge is the unique gauge in General Relativity that corresponds to the Lagrangian frame and is entirely appropriate to describe the matter overdensity at second order. The comoving-synchronous gauge is the simplest gauge in which to describe Lagrangian bias at second order.
The Newtonian limit of fourth-order gravity is worked out discussing its viability with respect to the standard results of General Relativity. We investigate the limit in the metric approach which, with respect to the Palatini formulation, has been much less studied in the recent literature, due to the higher-order of the field equations. In addition, we refrain from exploiting the formal equivalence of higher-order theories considering the analogy with specific scalar-tensor theories, i.e. we work in the so-called Jordan frame in order to avoid possible misleading interpretations of the resul…
We consider a version of Palais' Principle of Symmetric Criticality (PSC) that is applicable to the Lie symmetry reduction of Lagrangian field theories. PSC asserts that, given a group action, for any group-invariant Lagrangian the equations obtained by restriction of Euler-Lagrange equations to group-invariant fields are equivalent to the Euler-Lagrange equations of a canonically defined, symmetry-reduced Lagrangian. We investigate the validity of PSC for local gravitational theories built from a metric. It is shown that there are two independent conditions which must be satisfied for PSC to …
In this paper two things are done. First it is shown how a four dimensional gauged Wess-Zumino-Witten term arises from the five dimensional Einstein-Hilbert plus Gauss-Bonnet lagrangian with a special choice of the coefficients. Second, the way in which the equations of motion of four-dimensional General Relativity arise is exhibited.
The different forms of the Hamiltonian formulations of linearized General Relativity/spin-two theories are discussed in order to show their similarities and differences. It is demonstrated that in the linear model, non-covariant modifications to the initial covariant Lagrangian (similar to those modifications used in full gravity) are in fact unnecessary. The Hamiltonians and the constraints are different in these two formulations but the structure of the constraint algebra and the gauge invariance derived from it are the same. It is shown that these equivalent Hamiltonian formulations are rel…
There exists a large class of generally covariant metric Lagrangians that contain only local terms and describe two propagating degrees of freedom. Trivial examples can be be obtained by applying a local field redefinition to the Lagrangian of general relativity, but we show that the class of two propagating degrees of freedom Lagrangians is much larger. Thus, we exhibit a large family of non-local field redefinitions that map the Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian into ones containing only local terms. These redefinitions have origin in the topological shift symmetry of BF theory, to which GR is rel…
Recent work in the literature has advocated using the Earth-Moon-planetoid Lagrangian points as observables, in order to test general relativity and effective field theories of gravity in the solar system. However, since the three-body problem of classical celestial mechanics is just an approximation of a much more complicated setting, where all celestial bodies in the solar system are subject to their mutual gravitational interactions, while solar radiation pressure and other sources of nongravitational perturbations also affect the dynamics, it is conceptually desirable to improve the curren…
In order to account for all possible contractions allowed by the presence of the solder form, a generalized Hodge dual is defined for the case of soldered bundles. Although for curvature the generalized dual coincides with the usual one, for torsion it gives a completely new dual definition. Starting from the standard form of a gauge lagrangian for the translation group, the generalized Hodge dual yields precisely the lagrangian of the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity, and consequently also the Einstein-Hilbert lagrangian of general relativity.
We claim that the physical parameters of the constructed black hole solutions in general relativity (GR) coupled to nonlinear electrodynamics (NED) by Zhong-Ying Fan and Xiaobao Wang in the Paper [Phys. Rev. D 94, 124027 (2016)] are misinterpreted, despite the formalism being correct. We argue that because of these misinterpretations, the derived black hole solutions and the Lagrangian densities presented in that paper are slightly inconsistent. In this comment, we present complete black hole solutions of the given Lagrangian densities which correct the interpretation of the physical parameter…
It is claimed that the paper by Zhong-Ying Fan and Xiaobao Wang [Phys. Rev. D 94, 124027 (2016), arXiv: 1610.02636] on nonlinear electrodynamics coupled to general relativity, being correct in general, in some respects repeats previously obtained results without giving proper references. There is also an important point missing in this paper, but necessary for understanding the physics of the system: in solutions with an electric charge, a regular center requires a non-Maxwell behavior of the Lagrangian function $L(f),\ (f= F_{μν} F^{μν})$ at small $f$. Therefore, in all electric regular black…
The general relativistic theory of elasticity is reviewed from a Lagrangian, as opposed to Eulerian, perspective. The equations of motion and stress-energy-momentum tensor for a hyperelastic body are derived from the gauge-invariant action principle first considered by DeWitt. This action is a natural extension of the action for a single relativistic particle. The central object in the Lagrangian treatment is the Landau-Lifshitz radar metric, which is the relativistic version of the right Cauchy-Green deformation tensor. We also introduce relativistic definitions of the deformation gradient, G…
We propose the Lagrangian formulation for describing the motion of a test particle in a general relativistic, stationary, and axially symmetric spacetime. The test particle is also affected by a radiation field, modeled as a coherent flux of photons traveling along the null geodesics of the background spacetime, including the general relativistic Poynting-Robertson effect. The innovative part of this work is to prove the existence of the potential linked to the dissipative action caused by the Poynting-Robertson effect in General Relativity through the help of an integrating factor, depending …
We rewrite the Lagrangian of the fermionic sector of the Standard Model in a novel compact form. The new Lagrangian is second order in derivatives, and is obtained from the usual first order Lagrangian by integrating out all primed (or dotted) 2-component spinors. The Higgs field enters the new Lagrangian non-polynomially, very much like the metric enters the Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian of General Relativity. We also discuss unification in the second order formalism, and describe a natural in this framework SU(2)xSU(4) unified theory.
We describe an infinite-parametric class of effective metric Lagrangians that arise from an underlying theory with two propagating degrees of freedom. The Lagrangians start with the Einstein-Hilbert term, continue with the standard R^2, (Ricci)^2 terms, and in the next order contain (Riemann)^3 as well as on-shell vanishing terms. This is exactly the structure of the effective metric Lagrangian that renormalizes quantum gravity divergences at two-loops. This shows that the theory underlying the effective field theory of gravity may have no more degrees of freedom than is already contained in g…
To circumvent some technical difficulties faced by the geometric Lagrangian approach to the physical degree of freedom count presented in the work of Diaz, Higuita, and Montesinos, J. Math. Phys. 55, 122901 (2014) that prevent its direct implementation to field theory, in this paper, we slightly modify the geometric Lagrangian approach in such a way that its resulting version works perfectly for field theory (and for particle systems, of course). As in previous work, the current approach also allows us to directly get the Lagrangian constraints, a new Lagrangian formula for the counting of the…
We use a trick similar to Weinberg's for adiabatic modes, in a Manton approximation for general relativity on manifolds with spatial boundary. This results in a description of the slow-time dependent solutions as null geodesics on the space of boundary diffeomorphisms, with respect to a metric we prove to be composed solely of the boundary data. We show how the solutions in the bulk space is determined with the constraints of general relativity. To give our description a larger perspective, we furthermore identify our resulting Lagrangian as a generalized version of the covariantized Lagrangia…
A review of the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity is presented. It is emphasized that general relativity may be formulated in terms of the tetrad fields and of the torsion tensor, and that this geometrical formulation leads to alternative insights into the theory. The equivalence with the standard formulation in terms of the metric and curvature tensors takes place at the level of field equations. The review starts with a brief account of the history of teleparallel theories of gravity. Then the ordinary interpretation of the tetrad fields as reference frames adapted to arbitrary o…
The Lagrangian proposed by York et al. and the covariant first order Lagrangian for General Relativity are introduced to deal with the (vacuum) gravitational field on a reference background. The two Lagrangians are compared and we show that the first one can be obtained from the latter under suitable hypotheses. The induced variational principles are also compared and discussed. A conditioned correspondence among Noether conserved quantities, quasilocal energy and the standard Hamiltonian obtained by 3+1 decomposition is also established. As a result, it turns out that the covariant first orde…
Starting from a Lagrangian we perform the full constraint analysis of the Hamiltonian for General relativity in the tetrad-connection formulation for an arbitrary value of the Immirzi parameter and solve the second class constraints, presenting the theory with a Hamiltonian composed of first class constraints which are the generators of the gauge symmetries of the action. In the time gauge we then recover Barbero's formulation of gravity.
This paper discusses three matter-of-principle methods for measuring the general relativity correction to the Newtonian values of the position of collinear Lagrangian points L1 and L2 of the Sun-Earth-satellite system. All approaches are based on time measurements. The first approach exploits a pulsar emitting signals and two receiving antennas located at L1 and L2, respectively. The second method is based on a relativistic positioning system based on the Lagrangian points themselves. These first two methods depend crucially on the synchronization of clocks at L1 and L2. The third method combi…
We show that in theories of generalised teleparallel gravity, whose Lagrangians are algebraic functions of the usual teleparallel Lagrangian, the action and the field equations are not invariant under local Lorentz transformations. We also argue that these theories appear to have extra degrees of freedom with respect to general relativity. The usual teleparallel Lagrangian, which has been extensively studied and leads to a theory dynamically equivalent to general relativity, is an exception. Both of these facts appear to have been overlooked in the recent literature on f(T) gravity, but are cr…
The Poincaré (inhomogeneous Lorentz) group underlies special relativity. In these lectures a consistent formalism is developed allowing an appropriate gauging of the Poincaré group. The physical laws are formulated in terms of points, orthonormal tetrad frames, and components of the matter fields with respect to these frames. The laws are postulated to be gauge invariant under local Poincaré transformations. This implies the existence of 4 translational gauge potentials ${e}^α$ (``gravitons") and 6 Lorentz gauge potentials $Γ^{αβ}$ (``rotons") and the coupling of the momentum current and the s…
This thesis investigates a toy model for inflation in a class of modified theories of gravity in the metric formalism. Instead of the standard procedure -- assuming a non-linear Lagrangian $f(R)$ in the Jordan frame -- we start from a simple ϕ^2 potential in the Einstein frame and investigate the corresponding $f(R)$ in the former picture. Such approach yields plenty of new pieces of information, namely a self-terminating inflationary solution with a linear Lagrangian, a robust criterion for stability of such theories, a dynamical effective potential for the Ricci scalar $R$, the addition of a…
We consider the two-body problem in post-Newtonian approximations of general relativity. We report the recent results concerning the equations of motion, and the associated Lagrangian formulation, of compact binary systems, at the third post-Newtonian order (1/c^6 beyond the Newtonian acceleration). These equations are necessary when constructing the theoretical templates for searching and analyzing the gravitational-wave signals from inspiralling compact binaries in VIRGO-type experiments.
