We deal with the question of what it means to define a minimal coupling prescription in presence of torsion and/or non-metricity, carefully explaining while the naive substitution $\partial\to\na$ introduces extra couplings between the matter fields and the connection that can be regarded as non-minimal in presence of torsion and/or non-metricity. We will also investigate whether minimal coupling prescriptions at the level of the action (MCPL) or at the level of field equations (MCPF) lead to different dynamics. To that end, we will first write the Euler-Lagrange equations for matter fields in terms of the covariant derivatives of a general non-Riemannian space, and derivate the form of the associated Noether currents and charges. Then we will see that if the minimal coupling prescriptions is applied as we discuss, for spin 0 and 1 fields the results of MCPL and MCPF are equivalent, while for spin 1/2 fields there is a difference if one applies the MCPF or the MCPL, since the former leads to charge violation.
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.
This Thesis is devoted to the study of Metric-Affine Theories of Gravity and Applications to Cosmology. The thesis is organized as follows. In the first Chapter we define the various geometrical quantities that characterize a non-Riemannian geometry. In the second Chapter we explore the MAG model building. In Chapter 3 we use a well known procedure to excite torsional degrees of freedom by coupling surface terms to scalars. Then, in Chapter 4 which seems to be the most important Chapter of the thesis, at least with regards to its use in applications, we present a step by step way to solve for …
We introduce and develop the 1+3 covariant approach to relativity and cosmology to spacetimes of arbitrary dimensions that have nonzero torsion and do not satisfy the metricity condition. Focusing on timelike observers, we identify and discuss the main differences between their kinematics and those of their counterparts living in standard Riemannian spacetimes. At the centre of our analysis lies the Raychaudhuri equation, which is the fundamental formula monitoring the convergence/divergence, namely the collapse/expansion, of timelike worldline congruences. To the best of our knowledge, we pro…
We develop a novel model for Cosmological Hyperfluids, that is fluids with intrinsic hypermomentum that induce spacetime torsion and non-metricity. Imposing the Cosmological Principle to Metric-Affine Spaces, we present the most general covariant form of the hypermomentum tensor in an FLRW Universe along with its conservation laws and therefore construct a novel hyperfluid model for Cosmological purposes. Extending the previous model of the unconstrained hyperfluid in a Cosmological setting we establish the conservation laws for energy-momentum and hypermomentum and therefore provide the compl…
We derive the generalized Gauss-Codazzi-Mainardi (GCM) equation for a general affine connection with torsion and non-metricity. Moreover, we show that the metric compatibility and torsionless condition of a connection on a manifold are inherited to the connection of its hypersurface. As a physical application to these results, we derive the (3+1)-Einstein Field Equation (EFE) for a special case of Metric-Affine f(R)-gravity when f(R)=R, the Metric-Affine General Relativity (MAGR). Motivated by the concept of geometrodynamics, we introduce additional variables on the hypersurface as a consequen…
We study the renormalization of theories of gravity with an arbitrary (torsionful and non-metric) connection. The class of actions we consider is of the Palatini type, including the most general terms with up to two derivatives of the metric, but no derivatives of the connection. It contains 19 independent parameters. We calculate the one loop beta functions of these parameters and find their fixed points. The Holst subspace is discussed in some detail and found not to be stable under renormalization. Some possible implications for ultraviolet and infrared gravity are discussed.
Torsion and nonmetricity are inherent ingredients in modifications of Eintein's gravity that are based on affine spacetime geometries. In the context of pure f(R) gravity we discuss here, in some detail, the relatively unnoticed duality between torsion and nonmetricity. In particular we show that for R2 gravity torsion and nonmetricity are related by projective transformations. Since the latter correspond simply to redefining the affine parameters of autoparallels, we conclude that torsion and nonmetricity are physically equivalent properties of spacetime. As a simple example we show that both…
A Cartan-geometrical perspective on torsion and non-metricity
Scuola Superiore Meridionale（南方高等学院）；INFN– Sezione di Napoli（那不勒斯意大利国家核物理研究所）；University of Tartu（塔尔图大学）；Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, University of Gdańsk（格但斯克大学理论物理与天体物理研究所）
We study the inclusion of fermionic degrees of freedom and ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetry in 4-dimensional manifolds with arbitrary torsion and non-metricity tensors deforming the connection. We inspect the closure of local diffeomorphism, Lorentz and supersymmetric transformations on the vielbein and gravitino at leading order in fermions. The closure of a pair of supersymmetric transformations acting on the vielbein restricts the form of the spin connection. The dependency of the latter on the fundamental fields is exclusively given by the vielbein, up to Lorentz and/or diffeomorphisms brackets,…
I investigate the general extension of Einstein's gravity by considering the third rank non-metricity tensor and the torsion tensor. The minimal coupling to Dirac fields faces an ambiguity coming from a severe arbitrariness of the Fock-Ivanenko coefficients. This arbitrariness is fed in part by the covariant derivative of Dirac matrices, which is not completely determined as well. It is remarkable that this feature is not exclusive to the non-metricity case: it happens also for gravity with torsion alone. Nevertheless, theory in vacuum is well defined and non-trivial, where torsion is the sour…
In this article, we consider a special case of Metric-Affine f(R)-gravity for f(R) = R, i.e. the Metric-Affine General Relativity (MAGR). As a companion to the first article in the series, we perform the (3+1) decomposition to the hypermomentum equation, obtained from the minimization of the MAGR action S [g, ω] with respect to the connection ω. Moreover, we show that the hypermomentum tensor H could be constructed completely from 10 hypersurfaces variables that arise from its dilation, shear, and rotational (spin) parts. The (3+1) hypermomentum equations consists of 1 scalar, 3 vector, 3 matr…
We study the potential effects of spacetime non-metricity in cosmology. In the spirit of Einstein-Cartan gravity, but with non-metricity replacing torsion, we consider the Einstein-Hilbert action and assume zero torsion. Adopting certain hyperfluid models, with non-vanishing hypermomentum that can source spacetime non-metricity, we add a matter component into the action and derive the field equations, along with the conservation laws. Applying our formulae to cosmology, we generalize the Friedmann and the Raychaudhuri equations in the presence of non-metricity. Our results show that, in a numb…
After recalling the differential geometry of non-metric connections in the formalism of differential forms, we introduce the idea of a Non-Metricity (NM) connection, whose connection $1$--forms coincides with the non-metricity $1$--forms for a class of cobase fields. Then we formulate a theory of gravitation (equivalent to General Relativity (GR)) which admits a geometrical interpretation in a flat torsionless space where the gravitational field is completely manifest in the non-metricity of a NM connection. We define and then apply the non-metricity gauge to a gravitational Lagrangian density…
Relaxing the Riemannian condition to incorporate geometric quantities such as torsion and non-metricity may allow to explore new physics associated with defects in a hypothetical space-time microstructure. Here we show that non-metricity produces observable effects in quantum fields in the form of 4-fermion contact interactions, thereby allowing us to constrain the scale of non-metricity to be greater than 1 TeV by using results on Bhabha scattering. Our analysis is carried out in the framework of a wide class of theories of gravity in the metric-affine approach. The bound obtained represents …
We extend the results of antecedent literature on quadratic Metric-Affine Gravity by studying a new quadratic gravity action in vacuum which, besides the usual (non-Riemannian) Einstein-Hilbert contribution, involves all the parity even quadratic terms in torsion and non-metricity plus a Lagrangian that is quadratic in the field-strengths of the torsion and non-metricity vector traces. The theory result to be equivalent, on-shell, to a Vector-Tensor theory. We also discuss the sub-cases in which the contribution to the Lagrangian quadratic in the field-strengths of the torsion and non-metricit…
We investigate the cosmological aspects of the most general parity preserving Metric-Affine Gravity theory quadratic in torsion and non-metricity in the presence of a cosmological hyperfluid. The equations of motion are obtained by varying the action with respect to the metric and the independent affine connection. Subsequently, considering a Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker background, we derive the most general form of the modified Friedmann equations for the full quadratic theory. We then focus on a characteristic sub-case involving only two quadratic contributions given in terms of tors…
A Weyl structure is usually defined by an equivalence class of pairs $({\bf g}, \boldsymbolω)$ related by Weyl transformations, which preserve the relation $\nabla {\bf g}=\boldsymbolω\otimes{\bf g}$, where ${\bf g}$ and $\boldsymbolω$ denote the metric tensor and a 1-form field. An equivalent way of defining such a structure is as an equivalence class of conformally related metrics with a unique affine connection $Γ_{\boldsymbolω}$, which is invariant under Weyl transformations. In a standard Weyl structure, this unique connection is assumed to be torsion-free and have vectorial non-metricity…
General Relativity enjoys the freedom of different geometrical interpretations in terms of curvature, torsion or non-metricity. Within this geometrical trinity, a simpler geometrical formulation of General Relativity manifests itself in the latter, where gravity is entirely attributed to non-metricity. In this Letter, we consider non-linear extensions of Coincident General Relativity $f(\mathring{\mathbb{Q}})$ for phenomenological applications on both cosmological as well as galactic scales. The theory not only delivers dark energy on large scales but also recovers MOND on galactic scales, tog…
We study the variational principle over an Hilbert-Einstein like action for an extended geometry taking into account torsion and non-metricity. By extending the semi-Riemannian geometry, we obtain an effective energy-momentum tensor which can be interpreted as physical sources. As an application we develop a new manner to obtain the gravitational wave equations on a Weyl-integrable manifold taking into account the non-metricity and non-trivial boundary conditions on the minimization of the action, which can be identified as possible sources for the cosmological constant and provides two differ…
We revisit the definition and some of the characteristics of quadratic theories of gravity with torsion. We start from the most general Lagrangian density quadratic in the curvature and torsion tensors. By assuming that General Relativity should be recovered when torsion vanishes and investigating the behaviour of the vector and pseudovector torsion fields in the weak-gravity regime, we present a set of necessary conditions for the stability of these theories. Moreover, we explicitly obtain the gravitational field equations using the Palatini variational principle with the metricity condition …
We derive the full set of field equations for the Metric-Affine version of the Myrzakulov gravity model and also extend this family of theories to a broader one. More specifically, we consider theories whose gravitational Lagrangian is given by $F(R,T,Q, {\cal T},{\cal D})$ where $T$, $Q$ are the torsion and non-metricity scalars, ${\cal T}$ is the trace of the energy-momentum tensor and ${\cal D}$ the divergence of the dilation current. We then consider the linear case of the aforementioned theory and assuming a cosmological setup we obtain the modified Friedmann equations. In addition, focus…
Brans-Dicke theory is described by an action that allows the so called frame transformation, which replaces the non-minimal coupling between the scalar field and the curvature by a coupling between the scalar field and matter fields. In this paper, we describe how the viewpoint that they are physically equivalent has a geometrical counterpart in the framework of Weyl integrable geometry. This way, Dicke's interpretation in terms of running units is a physical manifestation of the non-metricity tensor.
General Relativity and its higher derivative extensions have symmetric teleparallel reformulations in terms of the non-metricity tensor within a torsion-free and flat geometry. These notes present a derivation of the exact propagator for the most general infinite-derivative, even-parity and generally covariant theory in the symmetric teleparallel spacetime. The action made up of the non-metricity tensor and its contractions is decomposed into terms involving the metric and a gauge vector field and is found to complement the previously known non-local ghost- and singularity-free theories.
Atomic clocks and gravitational waves as probes of non-metricity
Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM)（基础科学研究院）；Damghan University（达姆甘大学）；Khazar University（哈扎尔大学）；National Observatory of Athens（雅典国家天文台）；Universidad Católica del Norte（天主教主教大学）；University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学）
Role of the Dynamic Degree of Freedom in Scalar-Tensor Non-Metricity Gravity with Curved FLRW Geometry
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman（苏丹依德里斯教育大学）；Universiti Malaya（马来亚大学）；Durban University of Technology（德班理工大学）；Stellenbosch University（斯泰伦博斯大学）；Universidad Catòlica del Norte（北方天主教大学）；National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (NITheCS)（国家理论与计算科学研究所）
We show how minimally-coupled matter fields of arbitrary spin, when coupled to Ricci-Based Gravity theories, develop non-trivial effective interactions that can be treated perturbatively only below a characteristic high-energy scale $Λ_Q$. Our results generalize to arbitrary matter fields those recently obtained for spin 1/2 fields in \cite{Latorre:2017uve}. We then use this interactions to set bounds on the high-energy scale $Λ_Q$ that controls departures of Ricci-Based Gravity theories from General Relativity. Particularly, for Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity we obtain the strong boun…
We study a large family of metric-affine theories with a projective symmetry, including non-minimally coupled matter fields which respect this invariance. The symmetry is straightforwardly realised by imposing that the connection only enters through the symmetric part of the Ricci tensor, even in the matter sector. We leave the connection completely free (including torsion) and obtain its general solution as the Levi-Civita connection of an auxiliary metric, showing that the torsion only appears as a projective mode. This result justifies the widely used condition of setting vanishing torsion …
Symmetric teleparallel gravity (STG) offers an interesting avenue to formulate a theory of gravitation that relies neither on curvature nor torsion but only on non-metricity Q. Given the growing number of observations of gravitational waves (GWs) and their use to explore gravitational theories, in this work we investigate the GWs in various extensions of STG, focusing on their speed and polarization. For the simple STG, for theories that arise from the generalized irreducible decomposition of STG, and for f(Q) gravity, we obtain the same speed and polarizations with general relativity. For sca…
