Fundamental Symmetries and Spacetime Geometries in Gauge Theories of Gravity: Prospects for Unified Field Theories
Francisco Cabral, Francisco S. N. Lobo, Diego Rubiera-Garcia
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33 pages. Invite review to the Special Issue "80 Years of Professor Wigner's Seminal Work "On Unitary Representations of the Inhomogeneous Lorentz Group"". Matches published version
Gravity can be formulated as a gauge theory by combining symmetry principles and geometrical methods in a consistent mathematical framework. The gauge approach to gravity leads directly to non-Euclidean, post-Riemannian spacetime geometries, providing the adequate formalism for metric-affine theories of gravity with curvature, torsion and non-metricity. In this paper, we analyze the structure of gauge theories of gravity and consider the relation between fundamental geometrical objects and symmetry principles as well as different spacetime paradigms. Special attention is given to Poincaré gauge theories of gravity, their field equations and Noether conserved currents, which are the sources of gravity. We then discuss several topics of the gauge approach to gravitational phenomena, namely, quadratic Poincaré gauge models, the~Einstein-Cartan-Sciama-Kibble theory, the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity, quadratic metric-affine Lagrangians, non-Lorentzian connections, and the breaking of Lorentz invariance in the presence of non-metricity. We also highlight the probing of post-Riemannian geometries with test matter. Finally, we briefly discuss some perspectives regarding the role of both geometrical methods and symmetry principles towards unified field theories and a new spacetime paradigm, motivated from the gauge approach to gravity.
We study hidden symmetries, the symmetries associated with the Killing tensors, of the near horizon geometry of odd-dimensional Kerr-AdS-NUT black hole in two limits: generic extremal and extremal vanishing horizon (EVH) limits. Starting from Kerr-AdS-NUT black hole in ellipsoidal coordinates which admits integrable geodesic equations, we obtain the near horizon extremal/EVH geometries and their principal and Killing tensors by taking the near horizon limit. We explicitly demonstrate that geodesic equations are separable and integrable on theses near horizon geometries. We also compute the con…
Finsler geometry is a well known generalization of Riemannian geometry which allows to account for a possibly non trivial structure of the space of configurations of relativistic particles. We here establish a link between Finsler geometry and the sort of models with curved momentum space and DSR-relativistic symmetries which have been recently of interest in the quantum-gravity literature. We use as case study the much-studied scenario which is inspired by the $κ$-Poincaré quantum group, and show that the relevant deformation of relativistic symmetries can be implemented within a Finsler geom…
Generalizing the Lie derivative of smooth tensor fields to distribution-valued tensors, we examine the Killing symmetries and the collineations of the curvature tensors of some distributional domain wall geometries. The chosen geometries are rigorously the distributional thin wall limit of self gravitating scalar field configurations representing thick domain walls and the permanence and/or the rising of symmetries in the limit process is studied. We show that, for all the thin wall spacetimes considered, the symmetries of the distributional curvature tensors turns out to be the Killing symmet…
We explicitly construct all stationary, non-static, extremal near horizon geometries in $D$ dimensions that satisfy the vacuum Einstein equations, and that have $D-3$ commuting rotational symmetries. Our work generalizes [arXiv:0806.2051] by Kunduri and Lucietti, where such a classification had been given in $D=4,5$. But our method is different from theirs and relies on a matrix formulation of the Einstein equations. Unlike their method, this matrix formulation works for any dimension. The metrics that we find come in three families, with horizon topology $S^2 \times T^{D-4}$, or $S^3 \times T…
We seek exact solutions to the Einstein field equations which arise when two spacetime geometries are conformally related. Whilst this is a simple method to generate new solutions to the field equations, very few such examples have been found in practice. We use the method of Lie analysis of differential equations to obtain new group invariant solutions to conformally related Petrov type D spacetimes. Four cases arise depending on the nature of the Lie symmetry generator. In three cases we are in a position to solve the master field equation in terms of elementary functions. In the fourth case…
Lie group symmetry analysis for systems of coupled, nonlinear ordinary differential equations is performed in order to obtain the entire solution space to Einstein's field equations for vacuum Bianchi spacetime geometries. The symmetries used are the automorphisms of the Lie algebra of the corresponding three-dimensional isometry group acting on the hyper-surfaces of simultaneity for each Bianchi Type, as well as the scaling and the time reparametrization symmetry. A detailed application of the method is presented for Bianchi Type IV. The result is the acquisition of the general solution of Ty…
A spacetime interpretation of deformed relativity symmetry groups was recently proposed by resorting to Finslerian geometries, seen as the outcome of a continuous limit endowed with first order corrections from the quantum gravity regime. In this work we further investigate such connection between deformed algebras and Finslerian geometries by showing that the Finsler geometries associated to the generalisation of the Poincaré group (the so called $κ$-Poincaré Hopf algebra) are maximally symmetric spacetimes which are also of the Berwald type: Finslerian spacetimes for which the connections ar…
We prove that $D\geq 5$ dimensional stationary, non-static near horizon geometries with (D-3) rotational symmetries subject to the vacuum Einstein equations including a cosmological constant cannot have toroidal horizon topology. In D=4 dimensions the same result is obtained under the assumption of a non-negative cosmological constant.
We derive black hole entropy based on the near-horizon symmetries of black hole space-times. To derive these symmetries we make use of an $(R,T)$-plane close to a Killing horizon. We identify a set of vector fields that preserves this plane and forms a Witt algebra. The corresponding algebra of Hamiltonians is shown to have a non-trivial central extension. Using the Cardy formula and the central charge we obtain the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy.
"Diagonal" spatially inhomogeneous (SI) models are introduced under the assumption of the existence of (proper) intrinsic symmetries and can be seen, in some sense, complementary to the Szekeres models. The structure of this class of spacetimes can be regarded as a generalization of the (twist-free) Locally Rotationally Symmetric (LRS) geometries without any global isometry containing, however, these models as special cases. We consider geometries where a six-dimensional algebra $\mathcal{IC}$ of Intrinsic Conformal Vector Fields (ICVFs) exists acting on a $2-$dimensional (pseudo)-Riemannian m…
Retrieval of classical behaviour in quantum cosmology is usually discussed in the framework of {\em midi}superspace models in the presence of scalar fields and the inhomogeneous modes corresponding either to gravitational or scalar fields. In this work, we propose an alternative model to study the decoherence of homogeneous and isotropic geometries where the scalar field is replaced by a massive vector field with a global internal symmetry. We study here the cases with $U(1)$ and $SO(3)$ global internal symmetries. The presence of a mass term breaks the conformal invariance and allows for the …
In teleparallel gravity and, in particular, in $F(T)$ teleparallel gravity, there is a challenge in determining an appropriate (co-)frame and its corresponding spin connection to describe the geometry. Very often, the "proper" frame, the frame in which all inertial effects are absent, is not the simplest (e.g, diagonal) (co-)frame. The determination of the frame and its corresponding spin connection for $F(T)$ teleparallel gravity theories when there exist affine symmetries is of much interest. In this paper we present the general form of the coframe and its corresponding spin connection for t…
The Riemann-Hilbert approach to studying solutions of supergravity theories allows us to associate spacetime independent monodromy matrices (matrices in the Geroch group) with solutions that effectively only depend on two spacetime coordinates. This offers insights into symmetries of supergravity theories, and in the classification of their solutions. In this paper, we initiate a systematic study of monodromy matrices for multi-center solutions of five-dimensional U(1)$^3$ supergravity. We obtain monodromy matrices for a class of collinear Bena-Warner bubbling geometries. We show that for this…
Holographic modeling of strongly correlated many-body systems motivates the study of novel spacetime geometries where the scaling behavior of quantum critical systems is encoded into spacetime symmetries. Einstein-Dilaton-Maxwell theory has planar black brane solutions that exhibit Lifshitz scaling and in some cases hyperscaling violation. Entanglement entropy and Wilson loops in the dual field theory are studied by inserting simple geometric probes involving minimal surfaces into the black brane geometry. Coupling to background matter fields leads to interesting low-energy behavior in hologra…
We introduce a definition of symmetry generating vector fields on manifolds which are equipped with a first-order reductive Cartan geometry. We apply this definition to a number of physically motivated examples and show that our newly introduced notion of symmetry agrees with the usual notions of symmetry of affine, Riemann-Cartan, Riemannian and Weizenböck geometries, which are conventionally used as spacetime models. Further, we discuss the case of Cartan geometries which can be used to model observer space instead of spacetime. We show which vector fields on an observer space can be interpr…
Exceptional field theories yield duality covariant formulations of supergravity. We show that they provide a highly efficient tool to compute the Kaluza-Klein mass spectra associated to compactifications around various background geometries relevant for string theory and holographic applications. This includes geometries with little to no remaining symmetries, hardly accessible to standard methods. As an illustration, we work out the masses of some higher Kaluza-Klein multiplets around warped geometries corresponding to some prominent ${\cal N} = 2$ supersymmetric AdS vacua in maximal supergra…
We informally review the construction of spacetime geometries with multifractal and, more generally, multiscale properties. Based on fractional calculus, these continuous spacetimes have their dimension changing with the scale; they display discrete symmetries in the ultraviolet and ordinary Poincaré symmetries in the infrared. Under certain reasonable assumptions, field theories (including gravity) on multifractional geometries are generally argued to be perturbatively renormalizable. We also sketch the relation with other field theories of quantum gravity based on the renormalization group.
Symmetric non-expanding horizons are studied in arbitrary dimension. The global properties -as the zeros of infinitesimal symmetries- are analyzed particularly carefully. For the class of NEH geometries admitting helical symmetry a quasi-local analog of Hawking's rigidity theorem is formulated and proved: the presence of helical symmetry implies the presence of two symmetries: null, and cyclic. The results valid for arbitrary-dimensional horizons are next applied in a complete classification of symmetric NEHs in 4-dimensional space-times (the existence of a 2-sphere crossection is assumed). Th…
We consider the classification of near-horizon geometries in a general two-derivative theory of gravity coupled to abelian gauge fields and uncharged scalars in four and five dimensions, with one and two commuting rotational symmetries respectively. Assuming that the theory of gravity reduces to a 3d non-linear sigma model (as is typically the case for ungauged supergravities), we show that the functional form of any such near-horizon geometry may be determined. As an example we apply this to five dimensional minimal supergravity. We also construct an example of a five parameter near-horizon g…
The black-hole information paradox provides one of the sharpest foci for the conflict between quantum mechanics and general relativity and has become the proving-ground of would-be theories of quantum gravity. String theory has made significant progress in resolving this paradox, and has led to the fuzzball and microstate geometry programs. The core principle of these programs is that horizons and singularities only arise if one tries to describe gravity using a theory that has too few degrees of freedom to resolve the physics. String theory has sufficiently many degrees of freedom and this na…
We construct the first smooth horizonless supergravity solutions that have two topologically-nontrivial three-cycles supported by flux, and that have the same mass and charges as a non-extremal D1-D5-P black hole. Our configurations are solutions to six-dimensional ungauged supergravity coupled to a tensor multiplet, and uplift to solutions of Type IIB supergravity. The solutions represent multi-center generalizations of the non-BPS solutions of Jejjala, Madden, Ross, and Titchener, which have over-rotating angular momenta. By adding an additional Gibbons-Hawking center, we succeed in lowering…
General covariance is the cornerstone of Einstein's General Relativity (GR) and implies that any two metrics related by diffeomorphisms are physically equivalent. There are, however, many examples pointing to the fact that this strict statement of general covariance needs refinement. There are a very special (measure-zero) subset of diffeomorphisms, the residual diffeomrphisms, to which one can associate well-defined conserved charges. This would hence render these diffeomorphic geometries physically distinct. We discuss that these symmetries may be appropriately called "symplectic symmetries"…
From Bertotti--Robinson to Vacuum: New Exact Solutions in General Relativity via Harrison and Inversion Symmetries
Institute of Mathematics of the Czech Academy of Sciences（捷克科学院数学研究所）；Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Postgrado, Universidad de La Serena（拉塞雷纳大学研究与研究生院）；Sede Esmeralda, Universidad de Tarapacá（塔帕卡里大学埃斯梅尔达校区）；Institute of Theoretical Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University（查理大学数学物理学院理论物理研究所）；Departamento de Física, Universidad de Concepción（康塞普西翁大学物理系）
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