Deformed general relativity and torsion

Abstract

We argue that the natural framework for embedding the ideas of deformed, or doubly, special relativity (DSR) into a curved spacetime is a generalization of Einstein–Cartan theory, considered by Stelle and West. Instead of interpreting the noncommuting ‘spacetime coordinates’ of the Snyder algebra as endowing spacetime with a fundamentally noncommutative structure, we are led to consider a connection with torsion in this framework. This may lead to the usual ambiguities in minimal coupling. We note that observable violations of charge conservation induced by torsion should happen on a timescale of 103 s, which seems to rule out these modifications as a serious theory. Our considerations show, however, that the noncommutativity of translations in the Snyder algebra need not correspond to noncommutative spacetime in the usual sense.