We propose a covariant entropy bound in gravitational theories beyond general relativity (GR), using Wald-Jacobson-Myers entropy instead of Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. We first extend the proof of the bound known in 4-dimensional GR to D-dimensional GR, f(R) gravity and canonical scalar-tensor theory. We then consider Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet (EGB) gravity as a more non-trivial example and, under a set of reasonable assumptions, prove the bound in the GR branch of spherically symmetric configurations. As a corollary, it is shown that under the null and dominant energy conditions, the generalized second law holds in the GR branch of spherically symmetric configurations of EGB gravity at the fully nonlinear level.
Phase transitions with spontaneous symmetry breaking and vector order parameter are considered in multidimensional theory of general relativity. Covariant equations, describing the gravitational properties of topological defects, are derived. The topological defects are classified in accordance with the symmetry of the covariant derivative of the vector order parameter. The abilities of the derived equations are demonstrated in application to the brane world concept. New solutions of the Einstein equations with a transverse vector order parameter are presented. In the vicinity of phase transit…
Traditional derivations of general relativity from the graviton degrees of freedom assume space-time Lorentz covariance as an axiom. In this essay, we survey recent evidence that general relativity is the unique spatially-covariant effective field theory of the transverse, traceless graviton degrees of freedom. The Lorentz covariance of general relativity, having not been assumed in our analysis, is thus plausibly interpreted as an accidental or emergent symmetry of the gravitational sector. From this point of view, Lorentz covariance is a necessary feature of low-energy graviton dynamics, not…
We apply the 1+1+2 covariant approach to describe a general static and spherically symmetric relativistic stellar object which contains two interacting fluids. We then use the 1+1+2 equations to derive the corresponding Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) equations in covariant form in the isotropic, non-interacting case. These equations are used to obtain new exact solutions by means of direct resolution and reconstruction techniques. Finally, we show that the generating theorem known for the single fluid case can also be used to obtain two-fluid solutions from single fluid ones.
We derive a coordinate-independent formulation of the post-1-Newtonian approximation to general relativity. This formulation is a generalization of the Newton-Cartan geometric formulation of Newtonian gravity. It involves several fields and a connection, but no spacetime metric at the fundamental level. We show that the usual coordinate-dependent equations of post-Newtonian gravity are recovered when one specializes to asymptotically flat spacetimes and to appropriate classes of coordinates.
We present Hamilton's equations for the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity (TEGR), which is a reformulation of general relativity based on a curvatureless, metric compatible, and torsionful connection. For this, we consider the Hamiltonian for TEGR obtained through the vector, antisymmetric, symmetric and trace-free, and trace irreducible decomposition of the phase space variables. We present the Hamiltonian for TEGR in the covariant formalism for the first time in the literature, by considering a spin connection depending on Lorentz matrices. We introduce the mathematical formalism…
An action principle of singular hypersurfaces in general relativity and scalar-tensor type theories of gravity in the Einstein frame is presented without assuming any symmetry. The action principle is manifestly doubly covariant in the sense that coordinate systems on and off a hypersurface are disentangled and can be independently specified. It is shown that, including variation of the metric, the position of the hypersurface and matter fields, the variational principle gives the correct set of equations of motion: the Einstein equation off the hypersurface, Israel's junction condition in a d…
Numerical integration of the field equations in bimetric relativity is necessary to obtain solutions describing realistic systems. Thus, it is crucial to recast the equations as a well-posed problem. In general relativity, under certain assumptions, the covariant BSSN formulation is a strongly hyperbolic formulation of the Einstein equations, hence its Cauchy problem is well-posed. In this paper, we establish the covariant BSSN formulation of the bimetric field equations. It shares many features with the corresponding formulation in general relativity, but there are a few fundamental differenc…
We examine the holography bound suggested by Bousso in his covariant entropy conjecture, and argue that it is violated because his notion of light sheet is too generous. We suggest its replacement by a weaker bound.
Recently Bousso conjectured the entropy crossing a certain light-like hypersurface is bounded by the surface area. We point out a number of difficulties with this conjecture.
We present a manifestly Lorentz-covariant description of the phase space of general relativity with the Immirzi parameter. This formulation emerges after solving the second-class constraints arising in the canonical analysis of the Holst action. We show that the new canonical variables give rise to other Lorentz-covariant parametrizations of the phase space via canonical transformations. The resulting form of the first-class constraints in terms of new variables is given. In the time gauge, these variables and the constraints become those found by Barbero.
We introduce a naturally-defined totally invariant spacetime energy expression for general relativity incorporating the contribution from gravity. The extension links seamlessly to the action integral for the gravitational field. The demand that the general expression for arbitrary systems reduces to the Tolman integral in the case of stationary bounded distributions, leads to the matter-localized Ricci integral for energy-momentum in support of the energy localization hypothesis. The role of the observer is addressed and as an extension of the special relativistic case, the field of observers…
We present a grapical way to describe invariants and covariants in the (4 dim) general relativity. This makes us free from the complexity of suffixes . Two new off-shell relations between (mass)$\ast\ast 6$\ invariants are obtained. These are important for 2-loop off-shell calculation in the perturbative quantum gravity. We list up all independent invarians with dimensions of (mass)$\ast\ast 4$\ and (mass)$\ast\ast 6$. Furthermore the explicit form of 6 dim Gauss-Bonnet identity is obtained.
We investigate the covariant Hamiltonian symplectic structure of General Relativity for spatially bounded regions of spacetime with a fixed time-flow vector. For existence of a well-defined Hamiltonian variational principle taking into account a spatial boundary, it is necessary to modify the standard Arnowitt-Deser-Misner Hamiltonian by adding a boundary term whose form depends on the spatial boundary conditions for the gravitational field. The most general mathematically allowed boundary conditions and corresponding boundary terms are shown to be determined by solving a certain equation obta…
We study the covariant entropy bound in the context of gravitational collapse. First, we discuss critically the heuristic arguments advanced by Bousso. Then we solve the problem through an exact model: a Tolman-Bondi dust shell collapsing into a Schwarzschild black hole. After the collapse, a new black hole with a larger mass is formed. The horizon, $L$, of the old black hole then terminates at the singularity. We show that the entropy crossing $L$ does not exceed a quarter of the area of the old horizon. Therefore, the covariant entropy bound is satisfied in this process.
Several arguments suggest that the entropy density at high energy density $ρ$ should be given by the expression $s=K\sqrt{ρ/G}$, where $K$ is a constant of order unity. On the other hand the covariant entropy bound requires that the entropy on a light sheet be bounded by $A/4G$, where $A$ is the area of the boundary of the sheet. We find that in a suitably chosen cosmological geometry, the above expression for $s$ violates the covariant entropy bound. We consider different possible explanations for this fact; in particular the possibility that entropy bounds should be defined in terms of volum…
Causal diamond-shaped subsets of space-time are naturally associated with operator algebras in quantum field theory, and they are also related to the Bousso covariant entropy bound. In this work we argue that the net of these causal sets to which are assigned the local operator algebras of quantum theories should be taken to be non orthomodular if there is some lowest scale for the description of space-time as a manifold. This geometry can be related to a reduction in the degrees of freedom of the holographic type under certain natural conditions for the local algebras. A non orthomodular net …
We revisit the manifestly covariant large $c$ expansion of General Relativity, $c$ being the speed of light. Assuming the relativistic connection has no pole in $c^{-2}$, this expansion is known to reproduce Newton-Cartan gravity and a covariant version of Post-Newtonian corrections to it. We show that relaxing this assumption leads to the inclusion of twistless torsion in the effective non-relativistic theory. We argue that the resulting TTNC theory is an effective description of a non-relativistic regime of General Relativity that extends Newtonian physics by including strong gravitational t…
We study the entropy of the black hole with torsion using the covariant form of the partition function. The regularization of infinities appearing in the semiclassical calculation is shown to be consistent with the grand canonical boundary conditions. The correct value for the black hole entropy is obtained provided the black hole manifold has two boundaries, one at infinity and one at the horizon. However, one can construct special coordinate systems, in which the entropy is effectively associated with only one of these boundaries.
The variation of the energy for a gravitational system is directly defined from the Hamiltonian field equations of General Relativity. When the variation of the energy is written in a covariant form it splits into two (covariant) contributions: one of them is the Komar energy, while the other is the so-called covariant ADM correction term. When specific boundary conditions are analyzed one sees that the Komar energy is related to the gravitational heat while the ADM correction term plays the role of the Helmholtz free energy. These properties allow to establish, inside a classical geometric fr…
The oft-neglected issue of the causal structure in the flat spacetime approach to Einstein's theory of gravity is considered. Consistency requires that the flat metric's null cone be respected, but this does not happen automatically. After reviewing the history of this problem, we introduce a generalized eigenvector formalism to give a kinematic description of the relation between the two null cones, based on the Segre' classification of symmetric rank 2 tensors with respect to a Lorentzian metric. Then we propose a method to enforce special relativistic causality by using the naive gauge free…
We explore the consequences of assuming that the bounded space-time subsets contain a finite number of degrees of freedom. A physically natural hypothesis is that this number is additive for spatially separated subsets. We show that this assumption conflicts with the Lorentz symmetry of Minkowski space since it implies that a conserved current determines the number of degrees of freedom. However, the entanglement across boundaries can lead to a subadditive property for the degrees of freedom of spatially separated sets. We show that this condition and the Poincare symmetry lead to the Bousso c…
A density-dependent conformal killing vector (CKV) field is attained from a conformally transformed action composed of a unique constraint and a Klein-Gordon field. The CKV is re-expressed into an information identity and studied in its integro-differential form for both null and time-like geodesics. It is conjectured that the identity corresponds to a generalized second law of thermodynamics which holographically relates the covariant entropy contained within a volumetric $n$- and $(n-1)$-form, starting from an $(n-2)$-spatial area. The time-like geodesics inherit an effective `geometric spin…
We discuss locally Weyl (scale) covariant generalisations of gravitational theories using Riemann-Cartan-Weyl space-times in arbitrary dimensions. We demonstrate the procedure of Weyl gauging on two examples in particular: General relativity, and topologically massive gravity in three dimensions.
In this short review, we discuss the approach of the commutator algebra of covariant derivative to analyse the gravitational theories, starting from the standard Einstein's general theory of relativity and focusing on the Rastall theory. After that, we discuss the important role of the torsion in this mathematical framework. In the Appendix of the paper we analyse the importance of the nascent gravitational wave astronomy as a tool to discriminate among the general theory of relativity and alternative theories of gravity.
In our previous paper, we have presented a covariant BRST quantization of unimodular gravity which may account for the smallness of the cosmological constant, and have shown that the physical degrees of freedom in the theory are the same as general relativity. The formulation has been given by using rank-2 antisymmetric tensor fields for both ghosts and antighosts. Here we give an alternative formulation using a vector field for the antighost but keeping the same structure for the ghosts. This gives a significantly simpler covariant quantization with less ghosts and no tripole modes in the gho…
We present a proposal to relate the de Sitter Conjecture (dSC) to the Covariant Entropy Bound (CEB). By assuming an early phase of accelerated expansion where the CEB is satisfied, we take into account a contribution from extra-dimensions to the four-dimensional entropy which restricts the values of the usual slow-roll parameters. We show in this context that the dSC inequalities follow from the CEB -- including their mutual exclusion -- in both single and multi-field inflationary scenarios. We also observe that the order one constants, c and c' in the conjecture are given in terms of physical…
We study the Quantum Focussing Conjecture (QFC) in curved spacetime. Noting that quantum corrections from integrating out massive fields generally induce a Gauss-Bonnet term, we study Einstein-Hilbert-Gauss-Bonnet gravity and show for $d\ge 5$ spacetime dimensions that weakly-curved solutions can violate the associated QFC for either sign of the Gauss-Bonnet coupling. The nature of the violation shows that -- so long as the Gauss-Bonnet coupling is non-zero -- it will continue to arise for local effective actions containing arbitrary further higher curvature terms, and when gravity is coupled …
We study causal diamonds in Minkowski, Schwarzschild, (anti) de Sitter, and Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetimes using Euclidean methods. The null boundaries of causal diamonds are shown to map to isolated punctures in the Euclidean continuation of the parent manifold. Boundary terms around these punctures decrease the Euclidean action by $A_\diamond/4$, where $A_\diamond$ is the area of the holographic screen around the diamond. We identify these boundary contributions with the maximal entropy of gravitational degrees of freedom associated with the diamond.
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…
We give an SU(2) covariant representation of the constraints of Euclidean general relativity in the Ashtekar variables. The guiding principle is the use of triads to transform all free spatial indices into SU(2) indices. A central role is played by a special covariant derivative. The Gauss, diffeomorphism and Hamiltonian constraints become purely algebraic restrictions on the curvature and the torsion associated with this connection. We introduce coordinates on the jet space of the dynamical fields which cleanly separate the constraint and gauge directions from the true physical directions. Th…
A general Hamiltonian approach to black hole thermodynamics is used to study entropy and conserved charges for Kerr-AdS solutions in general relativity. These thermodynamic variables are first consistently defined by choosing suitable boundary conditions, and then, they are shown to satisfy the first law of black hole dynamics
We here propose a covariant entropy conjecture on cosmological dynamical horizon. After the formulation of our conjecture, we test its validity in adiabatically expanding universes with open, flat and closed spatial geometry, where our conjecture can also be viewed as a cosmological version of the generalized second law of thermodynamics in some sense.
Black hole thermodynamics of the Kerr-AdS spacetime in three-dimensional general relativity is analyzed using a Hamiltonian approach. The values of the conserved charges and entropy, obtained by a proper treatment of the AdS asymptotic conditions, are shown to satisfy the first law of black hole dynamics.
We examine Bousso's covariant entropy bound conjecture in the context of radiation filled, spatially flat, Friedmann-Robertson-Walker models. The bound is violated near the big bang. However, the hope has been that quantum gravity effects would intervene and protect it. Loop quantum cosmology provides a near ideal setting for investigating this issue. For, on the one hand, quantum geometry effects resolve the singularity and, on the other hand, the wave function is sharply peaked at a quantum corrected but smooth geometry which can supply the structure needed to test the bound. We find that th…
A recently explored interesting quantity in AdS/CFT, dubbed 'residual entropy', characterizes the amount of collective ignorance associated with either boundary observers restricted to finite time duration, or bulk observers who lack access to a certain spacetime region. However, the previously-proposed expression for this quantity involving variation of boundary entanglement entropy (subsequently renamed to 'differential entropy') works only in a severely restrictive context. We explain the key limitations, arguing that in general, differential entropy does not correspond to residual entropy.…
We use the formalism developed by Wald and Zoupas to derive explicit covariant expressions for the charges and fluxes associated with the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs symmetries at null infinity in asymptotically flat spacetimes in vacuum general relativity. Our expressions hold in non-stationary regions of null infinity, are local and covariant, conformally-invariant, and are independent of the choice of foliation of null infinity and of the chosen extension of the symmetries away from null infinity. While similar expressions have appeared previously in the literature in Bondi-Sachs coordinates (to wh…
We investigate the geometry of lightsheets comprised of null geodesics near a brane. Null geodesics which begin parallel to a brane a distance d away are typically gravitationally bound to the brane, so that the maximum distance from the geodesic to the brane never exceeds d. The geometry of resulting lightsheets is similar to that of the brane if one coarse grains over distances of order d. We discuss the implications for the covariant entropy bound applied to brane worlds.
We study the dynamics of vacuum entanglement in the process of gravitational collapse and subsequent black hole evaporation. In the first part of the paper, we introduce a covariant regularization of entanglement entropy tailored to curved spacetimes; this regularization allows us to propose precise definitions for the concepts of black hole "exterior entropy" and "radiation entropy." For a Vaidya model of collapse we find results consistent with the standard thermodynamic properties of Hawking radiation. In the second part of the paper, we compute the vacuum entanglement entropy of various sp…
With an aim towards understanding the time-dependence of entanglement entropy in generic quantum field theories, we propose a covariant generalization of the holographic entanglement entropy proposal of hep-th/0603001. Apart from providing several examples of possible covariant generalizations, we study a particular construction based on light-sheets, motivated in similar spirit to the covariant entropy bound underlying the holographic principle. In particular, we argue that the entanglement entropy associated with a specified region on the boundary in the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence…
This note is to bring to the reader's attention the fact that general relativity and quantum mechanics differ from each other in one main aspect. General relativity is based on the diffeomorphism covariant formulation of the laws of physics while quantum mechanics is constructed such that its fundamental laws remain invariant to a change of topology. It is the goal of this paper to show that in order to obtain a complete description of quantum gravity one has to extend the principle of diffeomorphism invariance from general relativity in the sense of quantum mechanics i.e. the laws of physics …
We argue that a unitary description of the formation and evaporation of a black hole implies that the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy is the "entropy of a vacuum": the logarithm of the number of possible independent ways in which quantum field theory on a fixed classical spacetime background can emerge in a full quantum theory of gravity. In many cases, the covariant entropy counts this entropy--the degeneracy of emergent quantum field theories in full quantum gravity--with the entropy of particle excitations in each quantum field theory giving only a tiny perturbation. In the Rindler description o…
Recently a covariant entropy conjecture has been proposed for dynamical horizons. We apply this conjecture to concordance cosmological models, namely, those cosmological models filled with perfect fluids, in the presence of a positive cosmological constant. As a result, we find this conjecture has a severe constraint power. Not only does this conjecture rule out those cosmological models disfavored by the anthropic principle, but also it imposes an upper bound $10^{-60}$ on the cosmological constant for our own universe, which thus provides an alternative macroscopic perspective for understand…
The scalar-tensor theories have become popular recently in particular in connection with attempts to explain present accelerated expansion of the universe, but they have been considered as a natural extension of general relativity long time ago. The Horndeski scalar-tensor theory involving four invariantly defined Lagrangians is a natural choice since it implies field equations involving at most second derivatives. Following the formalisms of defining covariant global quantities and conservation laws for perturbations of spacetimes in standard general relativity we extend these methods to the …
In this paper, we make a close comparison of a covariant definition of an energy/entropy in general relativity, recently proposed by a collaboration including the present authors, with existing definitions of energies such as the one from the pseudo-tensor and the quasi-local energy. We show that existing definitions of energies in general relativity are conserved charges from the Noether's 2nd theorem for the general coordinate transformation, whose conservations are merely identities implied by the local symmetry and always hold without using equations of motion. Thus none of existing defini…
In the AdS/CFT correspondence, it is often convenient to regulate infinite quantities in asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes by introducing a sharp cutoff in a radial coordinate. This procedure is a priori coordinate-dependent, and may not be well-motivated in full, covariant general relativity; however, the fact that physically meaningful quantities such as the entanglement entropy can be obtained by such a regulation procedure suggests some underlying covariance. In this paper, we provide a careful treatment of the radial cutoff procedure for computing holographic entanglement entropy i…
We introduce a Lorentz-covariant description of tachyons, free of inconsistencies. Our approach is based on an appropriate extension of the special relativity beyond the light barrier, owing to the freedom of synchronization of distant clocks.
As a compelling pattern for the holographic principle, our covariant entropy bound conjecture is proposed for more general dynamical horizons. Then we apply our conjecture to $Λ$CDM cosmological models, where we find it imposes a novel upper bound $10^{-90}$ on the cosmological constant for our own universe by taking into account the dominant entropy contribution from super-massive black holes, which thus provides an alternative macroscopic perspective to understand the longstanding cosmological constant problem. As an intriguing implication of this conjecture, we also discuss the possible pro…
The covariant holographic entropy conjecture of AdS/CFT relates the entropy of a boundary region R to the area of an extremal surface in the bulk spacetime. This extremal surface can be obtained by a maximin construction, allowing many new results to be proven. On manifolds obeying the null curvature condition, these extremal surfaces: i) always lie outside the causal wedge of R, ii) have less area than the bifurcation surface of the causal wedge, iii) move away from the boundary as R grows, and iv) obey strong subadditivity and monogamy of mutual information. These results suggest that the in…
Unimodular gravity (UG) is an important theory which may explain the smallness of the cosmological constant. To get insight into the covariant quantization of UG, we discuss the BRST quantization of General Relativity (GR) with a cosmological constant in the unimodular gauge. We develop a novel way to gauge fix the transverse diffeomorphism (TDiff) and then further to fulfill the unimodular gauge. This process requires the introduction of an additional pair of BRST doublets which decouple from the physical sector together with the other three pairs of BRST doublets for the TDiff. We show that …
Headrick and Takayanagi showed that the Ryu-Takayanagi holographic entanglement entropy formula generally obeys the strong subadditivity (SSA) inequality, a fundamental property of entropy. However, the Ryu-Takayanagi formula only applies when the bulk spacetime is static. It is not known whether the covariant generalization proposed by Hubeny, Rangamani, and Takayanagi (HRT) also obeys SSA. We investigate this question in three-dimensional AdS-Vaidya spacetimes, finding that SSA is obeyed as long as the bulk spacetime satisfies the null energy condition. This provides strong support for the v…
Cyclic universes with bouncing solutions are candidates for solving the big bang initial singularity problem. Here we seek bouncing solutions in a modified Gauss-Bonnet gravity theory, of the type $R+f(G)$, where $R$ is the Ricci scalar, $G$ is the Gauss-Bonnet term, and $f$ some function of it. In finding such a bouncing solution we resort to a technique that reduces the order of the differential equations of the $R+f(G)$ theory to second order equations. As general relativity is a theory whose equations are of second order, this order reduction technique enables one to find solutions which a…
We calculate the deflection angle, as well as the positions and magnifications of the lensed images, in the case of covariant $f(T)$ gravity. We first extract the spherically symmetric solutions for both the pure-tetrad and the covariant formulation of the theory, since considering spherical solutions the extension to the latter is crucial, in order for the results not to suffer from frame-dependent artifacts. Applying the weak-field, perturbative approximation we extract the deviations of the solutions comparing to General Relativity. Furthermore, we calculate the deflection angle and then th…
We analyze the problem of defining the black hole entropy when Chern-Simons terms are present in the action. Extending previous works, we define a general procedure, valid in any odd dimensions both for purely gravitational CS terms and for mixed gauge-gravitational ones. The final formula is very similar to Wald's original formula valid for covariant actions, with a significant modification. Notwithstanding an apparent violation of covariance we argue that the entropy formula is indeed covariant.
