We consider the approach to gravity in which four-dimensional curved spacetime is represented by a surface in a flat Minkowski space of higher dimension. After a short overview of the ideas and results of such an approach we concentrate on the study of the so-called splitting gravity, a form of this description in which constant value surface of a set of scalar fields in the ambient flat space-time defines the embedded surface. We construct a form of action which is invariant w.r.t. all symmetries of this theory. We construct the canonical formalism for splitting gravity. The resulting theory turns out to be free of constraints. However, the Hamiltonian of this theory is an implicit function of canonical variables. Finally, we discuss the path integral quantization of such a theory.
Flat Space Cosmology (FSC) spacetimes are exact solutions of 3D gravity theories. In this work, we study phase transition between FSC spacetimes and Hot Flat Spacetimes (HFS) in general minimal massive gravity and exotic general massive gravity. We show that similar to topological massive gravity the tunneling occurs between two spacetimes by comparing their free energies. We also obtain the corrections to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy, and its effect on the phase transition is studied.
It is known that static and spherically symmetric black hole solutions of general relativity in different spacetimes can be embedded into higher dimensional flat spacetime. Given this result, we have explored the thermodynamic nature of black holes á la its embedding into flat spacetime. In particular, we have explicitly demonstrated that black hole temperature can indeed be determined starting from the embedding and hence mapping of the static observers in black hole spacetime to Rindler observers in flat spacetime. Furthermore, by considering the dynamics of a scalar field in the flat spacet…
We show that for non-conformally flat bulk spacetime, there exist no bound modes for zero mass graviton on the 3-brane. The brane world model is therefore unstable for the bulk spacetime being different from the conformally flat anti - de Sitter space.
We show that the averaged null energy condition can be violated by a conformally coupled scalar field in a conformally flat spacetime in 3+1 dimensions. The violation is dependent on the quantum state and can be made as large as desired. It does not arise from the presence of anomalies, although anomalous violations are also possible. Since all geodesics in conformally flat spacetimes are achronal, the achronal averaged null energy condition is likewise violated.
We consider in more detail the covariant counterterm proposed by Mann and Marolf in asymptotically flat spacetimes. With an eye to specific practical computations using this counterterm, we present explicit expressions in general $d$ dimensions that can be used in the so-called `cylindrical cut-off' to compute the action and the associated conserved quantities for an asymptotically flat spacetime. As applications, we show how to compute the action and the conserved quantities for the NUT-charged spacetime and for the Kerr black hole in four dimensions.
We report that a class of three-dimensional bimetric theories contain asymptotically flat solutions. These spacetimes can be cast in a set of asymptotic conditions at null infinity which are preserved under the infinite dimensional BMS group. Moreover, the algebra of the canonical generators exhibits a central extension. The possibility that these solutions describe regular black holes is also discussed.
To understand spacetime dynamics in the canonical tensor model of quantum gravity for the positive cosmological constant case, we analytically and numerically study the phase profile of its exact wave function in a coordinate representation, instead of the momentum representation analyzed so far. A saddle point analysis shows that Lie group symmetric spacetimes are strongly favored due to abundance of continuously existing saddle points, giving an emergent fluid picture. The phase profile suggests that spatial sizes grow in "time", where sizes are measured by the tensor-geometry correspondence…
The divergences of the gravitational action are analyzed for spacetimes that are asymptotically anti-de Sitter and asymptotically flat. The gravitational action is rendered finite using a local counterterm prescription, and the relation of this method to the traditional reference spacetime is discussed. For AdS, an iterative procedure is devised that determines the counterterms efficiently. For asymptotically flat space, we use a different method to derive counterterms which are sufficient to remove divergences in most cases.
We present a cylindrically symmetric, Petrov type D, nonexpanding, shear free and vorticity free solution of Einstein's field equations. The spacetime is asymptotically flat radially and regular everywhere except on the symmetry axis where it possesses a naked curvature singularity. The energy momentum tensor of the spacetime is that for an anisotropic fluid which satisfies the different energy conditions. This spacetime is used to generate a rotating spacetime which admits closed timelike curves and may represent a Cosmic Time Machine.
We use the complexity equals action proposal to calculate the rate of complexity growth for field theories that are the holographic duals of asymptotically flat spacetimes. To this aim, we evaluate the on-shell action of asymptotically flat spacetime on the Wheeler-DeWitt patch. This results in the same expression as can be found by taking the flat-space limit from the corresponding formula related to the asymptotically AdS spacetimes. For the bulk dimensions that are greater than three, the rate of complexity growth at late times approaches from above to Lloyd's bound. However, for the three-…
We prove that certain asymptotically flat initial data sets with nontrivial topology and/or differentiable structure collapse to form singularities. The class of such initial data sets is characterized by a new smooth invariant, the maximal Yamabe invariant, defined through smooth compactification of the asymptotically flat manifold. Our singularity theorem applies to spacetimes admitting a Cauchy surface of nonpositive maximal Yamabe invariant with initial data that satisfies the dominant energy condition. This class of spacetimes includes simply connected spacetimes with a single asymptotic …
We analyze asymptotic properties of higher-dimensional vacuum spacetimes admitting a "non-degenerate" geodetic multiple WAND. After imposing a fall-off condition necessary for asymptotic flatness, we determine the behaviour of the Weyl tensor as null infinity is approached along the WAND. This demonstrates that these spacetimes do not "peel-off" and do not contain gravitational radiation (in contrast to their four-dimensional counterparts). In the non-twisting case, the uniqueness of the Schwarzschild-Tangherlini metric is also proven.
We analyse the quantum geometry of 3-dimensional deformed special relativity (DSR) and the notion of spacetime points in such a context, identified with coherent states that minimize the uncertainty relations among spacetime coordinates operators. We construct this system of coherent states in both the Riemannian and Lorentzian case, and study their properties and their geometric interpretation.
We follow the spirit of a recent proposal to show that previous computations for asymptotically flat spacetimes in four dimensions at null infinity can be re-interpreted in terms of a well-defined holographic current algebra for the time component of the currents. The analysis is completed by the current algebra for the spatial components.
The general metric for conformally flat stationary cyclic symmetric noncircular spacetimes is explicitly given. In spite of the complexity introduced by the inclusion of noncircular contributions, the related metric is derived via the full integration of the conformal flatness constraints. It is also shown that the conditions for the existence of a rotation axis (axisymmetry) are the same ones which restrict the above class of spacetimes to be static. As a consequence, a known theorem by Collinson is just part of a more general result: any conformally flat stationary cyclic symmetric spacetime…
We argue that the flat spacetime with inexact quantum mechanics in it is dual to the de Sitter spacetime with exact quantum mechanics in it, and the positive cosmological constant of this de Sitter spacetime is in the second order of the degree of the violation of the bulk quantum mechanics in the flat spacetime. The flat spacetime is holographic and has a dual time-contracted boundary conformal field theory with two redefined central charges at null infinity. The vanishing smallness of the observed positive cosmological constant suggests the extraordinary exactness of the bulk quantum mechani…
We obtain an explicit two-point function for the Maxwell field in flat Roberson-Walker spaces, thanks to a new gauge condition which takes the scale factor into account and assume a simple form. The two-point function is found to have the short distance Hadamard behavior.
As an extension of arXiv:\{2002.02448, 2008.10740\} we present a physical protocol that a set of observers can use to detect a pure state in the bulk when they are spread across a small cut near $\mathcal{I}^+_-$ in flat spacetime. The protocol involves the modification of a bulk state using simple unitary operators and measurements of the energy of the state. The states that we study are constructed by acting with low energy operators on a vacuum state such that a perturbative analysis is valid. We restrict ourselves to $3+1$ dimensional spacetimes and only consider massless excitations. From…
The central object in the theory of semiclassical stochastic gravity is the noise kernel which is the symmetric two point correlation function of the stress-energy tensor. Using the corresponding Wightman functions in Minkowski, Einstein and open Einstein spaces, we construct the noise kernels of a conformally coupled scalar field in these spacetimes. From them we show that the noise kernels in conformally-flat spacetimes, including the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes, can be obtained in closed analytic forms by using a combination of conformal and coordindate transformations.
Linear perturbations for a one parameter family of stationary, closed Nambu-Goto strings winding around a flat torus in the five-dimensional Schwarzschild spacetime have been studied. It has been shown that this problem is solvable in the sense that frequency spectra and perturbation modes can be expressed only with arithmetic operations and radicals. It has been proven that the Nambu-Goto strings belonging to this family are always unstable, no matter how they are located at almost flat region distant from the event horizon.
We study several properties of some new charges of asymptotically flat spacetimes. These dual supertranslation charges are akin to the magnetic large $U(1)$ charges in QED. In this paper we find the symmetries associated with these charges and show that the global dual supertranslation charge is topological because it is invariant under globally defined, smooth variations of the asymptotic metric. We also exhibit spacetimes where the charge does not vanish and we find dynamical processes that interpolate between regions with different values of these charges.
We construct the phase space of 3-dimensional asymptotically flat spacetimes that forms the bulk metric representation of the BMS group consisting of both supertranslations and superrotations. The asymptotic symmetry group is a unique copy of the BMS group at both null infinities and spatial infinity. The BMS phase space obeys a notion of holographic causality and can be parametrized by boundary null fields. This automatically leads to the antipodal identification of bulk fields between past and future null infinity in the absence of a global conical defect.
We derive exact magnetically charged, static and spherically symmetric black hole solutions of the four-dimensional Einstein-Born-Infeld-dilaton gravity. These solutions are neither asymptotically flat nor (anti)-de Sitter. The properties of the solutions are discussed. It is shown that the black holes are stable against linear radial perturbations.
It is shown that in spite of a generally accepted concept, there exist nondiffeomorphic solutions to the Cauchy problem in nonempty spacetime, which implies the necessity for canonical complementary conditions. It is nonlocal quantum jumps that provide a canonical global structure of spacetime manifold and, by the same token, the canonical complementary conditions.
In order to get a better understanding of holographic properties of gravitational theories with a vanishing cosmological constant, we analyze in detail the relation between asymptotically anti-de Sitter and asymptotically flat spacetimes in three dimensions. This relation is somewhat subtle because the limit of vanishing cosmological constant cannot be naively taken in standard Fefferman-Graham coordinates. After reformulating the standard anti-de Sitter results in Robinson-Trautman coordinates, a suitably modified Penrose limit is shown to connect both asymptotic regimes.
We classify the asymptotic charges of a class of polyhomogeneous asymptotically-flat spacetimes with finite shear, generalising recent results on smooth asymptotically-flat spacetimes. Polyhomogenous spacetimes are a formally consistent class of spacetimes that do not satisfy the well-known peeling property. As such, they constitute a more physical class of asymptotically-flat spacetimes compared to the smooth class. In particular, we establish that the generalised conserved non-linear Newman-Penrose charges that are known to exist for such spacetimes are a subset of asymptotic BMS charges.
We discuss a phase transition of a Reissner-Nordström black hole to a hairy black hole in asymptotically flat spacetime. The hair is due to a massive charged scalar field. The no-hair theorem is evaded thanks to a derivative coupling of the scalar field to the Einstein tensor. The resulting hairy configuration is spherically symmetric. We solve the equations analytically near the transition temperature and show that the hair is concentrated near the horizon decaying exponentially away from it.
We compactify the ten-dimensional spacetime in heterotic supergravity leaving four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. We search for nonsupersymmetric, non-Ricci-flat solutions of the equations of motion with the quadratic curvature term. By assuming that the extradimensional spaces are products of 2-manifolds, three types of solutions are found. They are $S^2\times T^2 \times H^2/Γ$, $S^2\times H^2/Γ\times H^2/Γ$, and $S^2\times S^2 \times H^2/Γ$, where $H^2/Γ$ denotes a compact hyperbolic manifold. The metrics can be written explicitly, and they can be applied to phenomenology.
It is argued that the symmetry algebra of asymptotically flat spacetimes at null infinity in 4 dimensions should be taken as the semi-direct sum of supertranslations with infinitesimal local conformal transformations and not, as usually done, with the Lorentz algebra. As a consequence, two dimensional conformal field theory techniques will play as fundamental a role in this context of direct physical interest as they do in three dimensional anti-de Sitter gravity.
We attempt to understand the CFT$_1$ structure underlying (2+1)D gravity in flat spacetime via dimensional reduction. We observe that under superrotation, the hyperbolic (and dS$_2$) slices of flat spacetime transform to asymptotically (A)dS$_2$ slices. We consider a wedge region bounded by two such surfaces as End-of-the-World branes and employ Wedge holography to perform holographic reduction. We show that once we consider fluctuating branes, the localised theory on the branes is Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) theory. Finally, using the dual description of JT, we derive an 1D Schwarzian theory at th…
Analytical approximations for $< ϕ^2 >$ of a quantized scalar field in ultrastatic asymptotically flat spacetimes are obtained. The field is assumed to be both massive and massless, with an arbitrary coupling $ξ$ to the scalar curvature, and in a zero or nonzero temperature vacuum state. The expression for $< ϕ^2 >$ is divided into low- and high-frequency parts. The expansion for the high-frequency contribution to this quantity is obtained. This expansion is analogous to the DeWitt-Schwinger one. As an example, the low-frequency contribution to $< ϕ^2 >$ is calculated on the background of the …
The possibility that the asymptotic quasi-normal mode (QNM) frequencies can be used to obtain the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy for the Schwarzschild black hole -- commonly referred to as Hod's conjecture -- has received considerable attention. To test this conjecture, using monodromy technique, attempts have been made to analytically compute the asymptotic frequencies for a large class of black hole spacetimes. In an earlier work, two of the current authors computed the high frequency QNMs for scalar perturbations of $(D+2)$ dimensional spherically symmetric, asymptotically flat, single horizon …
Perturbations of a class of semiclassical strings known today as spiky strings, are studied using the well-known Jacobi equations for small normal deformations of an embedded timelike surface. It is shown that there exists finite normal perturbations of the spiky string worldsheets embedded in a $2+1$ dimensional flat spacetime. Such perturbations lead to a rounding off of the spikes, which, in a way, demonstrates the stable nature of the unperturbed worldsheet. The same features appear for the dual spiky string solution and in the spiky as well as their dual solutions in $3+1$ dimensional fla…
The special conformal transformation (composed by inversion - translation - inversion) is used to generate a time dependent conformally flat spacetime. In order to be an exact solution of Einstein's equations, we need as a source a stress tensor corresponding to an anisotropic fluid with negative regular energy density and positive pressures. For the static approximation, the generators of the infinitesimal transformation resemble those recently obtained by Majhi and Padmanabhan for the coordinate transformation leading to the "near horizon" Schwarzschild metric in Kruskal coordinates. The sta…
Recent work has shown that the addition of an appropriate covariant boundary term to the gravitational action yields a well-defined variational principle for asymptotically flat spacetimes and thus leads to a natural definition of conserved quantities at spatial infinity. Here we connect such results to other formalisms by showing explicitly i) that for spacetime dimension $d \ge 4$ the canonical form of the above-mentioned covariant action is precisely the ADM action, with the familiar ADM boundary terms and ii) that for $d=4$ the conserved quantities defined by counter-term methods agree pre…
Quantum nature of classical flat Kasner spacetime is studied using effective spacetime description in loop quantum cosmology. We find that even though the spacetime curvature vanishes at the classical level, non-trivial quantum gravitational effects can arise. For the standard loop quantization of Bianchi-I spacetime, which uniquely yields universal bounds on expansion and shear scalars and results in a generic resolution of strong singularities, we find that a flat Kasner metric is not a physical solution of the effective spacetime description, except in a limit. The lack of a flat Kasner met…
The instanton representation of Plebanski gravity admits a natural canonical structure where the (densitized) eigenvalues of the CDJ matrix are the basic momentum space variables. Canonically conjugate configuration variables exist for six distinct configurations in the full theory, referred to as quantizable configurations. The CDJ matrix relates to the Petrov classification and principal null directions of spacetime, which we directly correlate to these quantizable degrees of freedom. The implication of this result is the ability to perform a quantization procedure for spacetimes of Petrov T…
We discuss the question of whether the existence of singularities is an intrinsic property of 4D spacetime. Our hypothesis is that singularities in 4D are induced by the separation of spacetime from the other dimensions. We examine this hypothesis in the context of the so-called canonical or warp metrics in 5D. These metrics are popular because they provide a clean separation between the extra dimension and spacetime. We show that the spacetime section, in these metrics, inevitably becomes singular for some finite (non-zero) value of the extra coordinate. This is true for all canonical metrics…
For mathematical convenience initial data sets in numerical relativity are often taken to be conformally flat. Employing the dual-foliation formalism, we investigate the physical consequences of this assumption. Working within a large class of asymptotically flat spacetimes we show that the ADM linear momentum is governed by the leading Lorentz part of a boost even in the presence of supertranslation-like terms. Following up, we find that in spacetimes that are asymptotically flat, and admit spatial slices with vanishing linear momentum that are sufficiently close to conformal flatness, any bo…
We perform the canonical quantization of a relativistic spinless particle moving in a curved and static spacetime. We show that the classical theory already describes at the same time both particle and antiparticle. The analyses involves time-depending constraints and we are able to construct the two-particle Hilbert space. The requirement of a static spacetime is necessary in order to have a well defined Schrödinger equation and to avoid problems with vacuum instabilities. The severe ordering ambiguities we found are in essence the same ones of the well known non-relativistic case.
The problem of time in canonical quantum gravity is related to the fact that the canonical description is based on the prior choice of a spacelike foliation, hence making a reference to a spacetime metric. However, the metric is expected to be a dynamical, fluctuating quantity in quantum gravity. We show how this problem can be solved in the histories formulation of general relativity. We implement the 3+1 decomposition using metric-dependent foliations which remain spacelike with respect to all possible Lorentzian metrics. This allows us to find an explicit relation of covariant and canonical…
This paper describes an approach that uses flat-spacetime dimension estimators to estimate the manifold dimension of causal sets that can be faithfully embedded into curved spacetimes. The approach is invariant under coarse graining and can be implemented independently of any specific curved spacetime. Results are given based on causal sets generated by random sprinklings into conformally flat spacetimes in 2, 3, and 4 dimensions, as well as one generated by a percolation dynamics.
We construct stationary flat three-dimensional Lorentzian manifolds with singularities that are obtained from Euclidean surfaces with cone singularities and closed one-forms on these surfaces. In the application to (2+1)-gravity, these spacetimes correspond to models containing massive particles with spin. We analyse their geometrical properties, introduce a generalised notion of global hyperbolicity and classify all stationary flat spacetimes with singularities that are globally hyperbolic in that sense. We then apply our results to (2+1)-gravity and analyse the causality structure of these s…
This work deals with the presence of twinlike models in scalar field theories. We show how to build distinct scalar field theories having the same extended solution, with the same energy density and the very same linear stability. Here, however, we start from a given but generalized scalar field theory, and we construct the corresponding twin model, which also engenders generalized dynamics. We investigate how the twinlike models arise in flat and in curved spacetime. In the curved spacetime, we consider a braneword model with the warp factor controlling the spacetime geometry with a single ex…
The problem of existence of spacelike hypersurfaces with constant mean curvature in asymptotically flat spacetimes is considered for a class of asymptotically Schwarzschild spacetimes satisfying an interior condition. Using a barrier construction, a proof is given of the existence of complete hypersurfaces with constant mean cuvature which intersect null infinity in a regular cut.
We propose a holographic correspondence of the flat spacetime based on the behavior of the entanglement entropy and the correlation functions. The holographic dual theory turns out to be highly non-local. We argue that after most part of the space is traced out, the reduced density matrix gives the maximal entropy and the correlation functions become trivial. We present a toy model for this holographic dual using a non-local scalar field theory that reproduces the same property of the entanglement entropy. Our conjecture is consistent with the entropy of Schwarzschild black holes in asymptotic…
The Newman-Penrose equations for spacetimes having one spacelike Killing vector are reduced -- in a geometrically defined "canonical frame'' -- to a minimal set, and its differential structure is studied. Expressions for the frame vectors in an arbitrary coordinate basis are given, and coordinate-independent choices of the metric functions are suggested which make the components of the Ricci tensor in the direction of the Killing vector vanish.
In quantum theory of the free Dirac field on spatially flat FLRW spacetimes we introduce a new type of vacuum able to separate the positive and negative frequencies in the rest frames. This is refereed as the rest frame vacuum shoving that this differs from the adiabatic vacuum apart from the Minkowski spacetime where these two vacua coincide.
We explore the possibility for generalized electromagnetism on flat spacetime. For a single copy of $U(1)$ gauge theory, we show that the Galileon-type generalization of electromagnetism is forbidden. Given that the equations of motion for the vector field are gauge invariant and Lorentz invariant, follow from an action and contain no more than second derivative on $A_μ$, the equations of motion are at most linear with respect to second derivative of $A_μ$.
