In a given geometry, the kinematics of a congruence of curves is described by a set of three quantities called expansion, rotation, and shear. The equations governing the evolution of these quantities are referred to as kinematic equations. In this paper, the kinematics of congruence of curves in a metric-affine geometry are analysed. Without assuming an underlying theory of gravity, we derive a generalised form of the evolution equations for expansion, namely, Raychaudhuri equation (timelike congruences) and Sachs optical equation (null congruences). The evolution equations for rotation and shear of both timelike and null congruences are also derived. Generalising the deviation equation, we find that torsion and non-metricity contribute to a relative acceleration between neighbouring curves. We briefly discuss the interpretation of the expansion scalars and derive an equation governing angular diameter distances. The effects of torsion and non-metricity on the distances are found to be dependent on which curves are chosen as photon trajectories. We also show that the rotation of a hypersurface orthogonal congruence (timelike or null) is a purely non-Riemannian feature.
This article presents an exhaustive classification of metric-affine theories according to their scale symmetries. First it is clarified that there are three relevant definitions of a scale transformation. These correspond to a projective transformation of the connection, a rescaling of the orthonormal frame, and a combination of the two. The most general second order quadratic metric-affine action, including the parity-violating terms, is constructed in each of the three cases. The results can be straightforwardly generalised by including higher derivatives, and implemented in the general metr…
We extend finding geometrically-significant preserved quantities by solving specific PDEs to the affine transformations and subgroups. This can be viewed not only as a purely geometrical problem but also as a subcase of finding physical observables, and furthermore as part of the comparative study of Background Independence level-by-level in mathematical structure. While cross and scalar-triple products (combined with differences and ratios) suffice to formulate these preserved quantities in 2- and 3-$d$ respectively, the arbitrary-dimensional generalization evokes the theory of forms. The aff…
We consider a generic Metric-Affine Cosmological setup and classify some particularly interesting specific cases of Perfect Hyperfluids. In particular, we present the form of conservation laws for the cases of pure spin, pure dilation and pure shear fluids. We also develop the concept of an incompressible hyperfluid and pay special attention to the case of a hypermomentum preserving hyperfluid. We also give a specific example on the emergence of the spin, dilation and shear currents through matter-connection couplings. In addition, starting from the generalized acceleration equation for the sc…
The algebra of biquaternions possess a manifestly Lorentz invariant form and induces an extended space-time geometry. We consider the links between this complex pre-geometry and real geometry of the Minkowski space-time. Twistor structures naturally arise in the framework of biquaternionic analysis. Both together, algebraic and twistor structures impose rigid restriction on the transport of singular points of biquaternion-valued fields identified with particle-like formations.
Relative velocity and relative acceleration induced by the torsion in (pseudo) Riemannian spaces with torsion and in spaces with an affine connection and metrics
We give a geometric interpretation of color-kinematics duality between tree-level scattering amplitudes of gauge and gravity theories. Using their representation as intersection numbers we show how to obtain Bern-Carrasco-Johansson numerators in a constructive way as residues around boundaries of the moduli space. In this language the kinematic Jacobi identity between each triple of numerators is a residue theorem in disguise.
Systematic understanding for classes of inflationary models is investigated from the viewpoint of the local conformal symmetry and the slightly broken global symmetry in the framework of the metric-affine geometry. In the metric-affine geometry, which is a generalisation of the Riemannian one adopted in the ordinary General Relativity, the affine connection is an independent variable of the metric rather than given e.g. by the Levi-Civita connection as its function. Thanks to this independency, the metric-affine geometry can preserve the local conformal symmetry in each term of the Lagrangian …
We present a way to derive a deformation of special relativistic kinematics (possible low energy signal of a quantum theory of gravity) from the geometry of a maximally symmetric curved momentum space. The deformed kinematics is fixed (up to change of coordinates in the momentum variables) by the algebra of isometries of the metric in momentum space. In particular, the well-known example of $κ$-Poincaré kinematics is obtained when one considers an isotropic metric in de Sitter momentum space such that translations are a subgroup of the isometry group, and for a Lorentz covariant algebra one ge…
We motivate a minimal realization of slow-roll $k$-inflation by incorporating the local conformal symmetry and the broken global $\mathrm{SO}(1,1)$ symmetry in the metric-affine geometry. With use of the metric-affine geometry where both the metric and the affine connection are treated as independent variables, the local conformal symmetry can be preserved in each term of the Lagrangian and thus higher derivatives of scalar fields can be easily added in a conformally invariant way. Predictions of this minimal slow-roll $k$-inflation, $n_\mathrm{s}\sim 0.96$, $r\sim 0.005$, and $c_\mathrm{s}\si…
Reassessing the foundations of Metric-Affine Gravity
Masaryk University（马萨里克大学）；University of Graz（格拉茨大学）；Mons University – UMONS（蒙斯大学）；Politecnico di Torino – PoliTo（都灵理工大学）；Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Section of Torino – INFN（意大利国家核物理研究所都灵分部）
A gravity theory without masses can be constructed in Minkowski spaces using a geometric Minkowski potential. The related affine spacelike spheres can be seen as the regions of the Minkowski spacelike vectors characterized by a constant Minkowski gravitational potential. These spheres point out, for each dimension $n \geq 3$, spacetime models, the de Sitter ones, which satisfy Einstein's field equations in absence of matter. In other words, it is possible to generate geometrically the cosmological constant. Even if a lot of possible parameterizations have been proposed, each one highlighting s…
The classifying space of inertial reference frames in special relativity is naturally hyperbolic. There is a remarkable interplay between central elements of hyperbolic geometry and those of special relativity -- which, to a certain extent, have already been observed in the past -- that we present and further discuss in the paper. We aim at a geometrization of special relativity at the level of kinematic space by giving to physical concepts/phenomena purely geometric definitions/descriptions. In this way, the differences between special relativity and classical mechanics can be seen as a manif…
