Riemann-Cartan Spacetime Research Articles

GRAVITY AND MIRROR GRAVITY IN PLEBANSKI FORMULATION

We present several theories of four-dimensional gravity in the Plebanski formulation, in which the tetrads and the connections are the independent dynamical variables. We consider the relation between different versions of gravitational theories: Einsteinian, "topological," "mirror" gravities and gravity with torsion. We assume that our world, in which we live, is described by the self-dual left-handed gravity, and propose that if the Mirror World exists in Nature, then the "mirror gravity" is the right-handed antiself-dual gravity. In this connection, we give a brief review of gravi-weak unification models. In accordance with cosmological measurements, we consider the Universe with broken mirror parity. We also discuss the problems of cosmological constant and communication between visible and mirror worlds. Investigating a special version of the Riemann–Cartan space–time, which has torsion as an additional geometric property, we have shown that in the Plebanski formulation the ordinary and dual "topological" sectors of gravity, as well as the gravity with torsion, are equivalent. Equations of motion are obtained. In this context, we have also discussed a "pure connection gravity" — a diffeomorphism-invariant gauge theory of gravity. Loop Quantum Gravity is also briefly reviewed.

On some physical aspects of isotropic cosmology in Riemann-Cartan spacetime

Isotropic cosmology built in the framework of the Poincaré gauge theory ofgravity based on sufficiently general expression of gravitational Lagrangian isconsidered. The derivation of cosmological equations and equations for torsionfunctions in the case of the most general homogeneous isotropic models isgiven. Physical aspects of isotropic cosmology connected with possible solutionof dark energy problem and problem of cosmological singularity are discussed.

Brans-Dicke theory of gravity with torsion: A possible solution ofω-problem

We study the Brans-Dicke theory of gravity in Riemann-Cartan space-times, and obtain general torsion solutions, which are completely determined by Brans-Dicke scalar field $\Phi$, in the false vacuum energy dominated epoch. The substitution of the torsion solutions back to our action gives the original Brans-Dicke action with $\Phi$-dependent Brans-Dicke parameter $\omega(\Phi)$. The evolution of $\omega(\Phi)$ during the inflation is studied and it is found that $\omega$ approaches to infinity at the end of inflation. This may solve the $\omega$-problem in the extended inflation model.

Quaternionic Variational Formalism for General Relativity in Riemann and Riemann-Cartan Space-Times

It is shown that there exists a 2-dimensional matrix representation of complex quaternions over real quaternions, which allows to define Pauli matrix in 4 dimensions over the quaternionic field and leads to the quaternionic spinor group previously proposed. It is also attempted to apply complex quaternions to general relativity at the level of the variational formalism. Linear gravitational Lagrangian in Riemann-Cartan space-time U4 is derived using quaternion caluculus; namely scalar curvature in U4 is put into a quaternionic form. Consequently, Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian in Riemann space R4 is also defined over quaternions, as first shown by Sachs. The matter fields coupled to gravity are assumed to be the scalar and the Dirac fields. The quaternionic variational formalism corresponds to the first-order formalism but with a limited pattern of allowed fields such that the quaternionic fields carry only coordinate tensor indices but no local Lorentz indices which are contracted with that possessed by the basis of complex quaternions. In particular, both the quaternionic vierbein field and Lorentz gauge field (corresponding to the spin connection) are regarded as coordinate vectors which are independently varied, obtaining Einstein and Cartan equations, respectively. It is incidentally shown that the consistent condition of Einstein equation in U4 is proved via the variational formalism and the anti-symmetric part of Einstein equation together with Cartan equation in U4 leads to an identity which expresses the anti-symmetric part of the enegy-momentum tensor by means of the covariant divergence of the spin angular momentum tensor, both of Dirac field. We also present pedagogical proofs of Bianchi and Bach-Lanczos identities in U4 using the quaternionic formalism.

Gravitation and Electromagnetism as Geometrical Objects of a Riemann-Cartan Spacetime Structure

In this paper we first show that any coupled system consisting of a gravitational plus a free electromagnetic field can be described geometrically in the sense that both Maxwell equations and Einstein equation having as source term the energy-momentum of the electromagnetic field can be derived from a geometrical Lagrangian proportional to the scalar curvature R of a particular kind of Riemann-Cartan spacetime structure. In our model the gravitational and electromagnetic fields are identified as geometrical objects of the structure.We show moreover that the contorsion tensor of the particular Riemann-Cartan spacetime structure of our theory encodes the same information as the one contained in Chern-Simons term $${{\bf A} \wedge {\it d}{\bf A}}$$ that is proportional to the spin density of the electromagnetic field. Next we show that by adding to the geometrical Lagrangian a term describing the interaction of a electromagnetic current with a general electromagnetic field plus the gravitational field, together with a term describing the matter carrier of the current we get Maxwell equations with source term and Einstein equation having as source term the sum of the energy-momentum tensors of the electromagnetic and matter terms. Finally modeling by dust charged matter the carrier of the electromagnetic current we get the Lorentz force equation. Moreover, we prove that our theory is gauge invariant. We also briefly discuss our reasons for the present enterprise.

D-branes from classical macroscopic strings

This paper is a sequel to the series of papers dedicated to model independent analysis of brane-like extended objects in curved backgrounds. In particular, we study cylindrical membranes wrapped around the extra compact dimension of a (D + 1)-dimensional Riemann–Cartan spacetime. The world-sheet equations are obtained from the universally valid conservation equations of the membrane stress–energy and spin tensors. In the limit of small extra dimension, the dimensionally reduced theory is obtained. The narrow membrane becomes an effective string characterized not only by tension and spin, but also by electric and dilaton charges. The boundary of such an effective string has been shown to live in less spacetime dimensions than its interior. Precisely, the string endpoints are trapped by the surfaces orthogonal to the gradient of the effective dilaton field. The string dynamics has been shown to follow from an action functional subject to the Dirichlet boundary conditions. This way, we have succeeded in obtaining a macroscopic D-brane analogue.

Limiting energy density and a regular accelerating universe in Riemann-Cartan spacetime

Isotropic cosmology built in the Riemann-Cartan spacetime by using sufficiently general expression of gravitational Lagrangian is investigated. It is shown that cosmological equations obtained by certain restrictions on indefinite parameters of gravitational Lagrangian lead to limiting energy density at the beginning of cosmological expansion and all cosmological models filled with usual gravitating matter satisfying standard energy conditions are regular with respect to energy density, spacetime metrics with its time derivative and torsion functions. At asymptotics cosmological solutions of spatially flat models coincide with that of standard ΛCDM-model for accelerating Universe.

Lorentz violation from torsion trace and non-minimal coupling in radio galactic dynamos

Earlier Kostelecky et al. [A. Kostelecky, N. Russell, and J. Tasson, Phys Rev Lett 100, 111102 (2008).] have obtained torsion bounds from Lorentz violation, where torsion components are taken from the axial part of torsion. In this brief report it is shown that more stringent bounds may be obtained by using nearly minimal magnetogenesis torsion trace instead of the minimal coupling between photons and axial torsion used by Kostelecky and his group. Just for comparison, in Kostelecky et al., the most stringent limit is estimated to be ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}31}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$ while here one obtains ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}33}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$. This estimate is obtained by constraining the torsion to galactic astronomy data. From the point of view of magnetogenesis, an interesting physical consequence is that dynamo action is obtained when the torsion trace background is negative, while the magnetic field energy decays when torsion is positive. Polarization of radio-galaxies can be used to obtain an even more stringent limit of $T\ensuremath{\sim}1.7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}46}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$ to Lorentz violation. Using WMAP, Kostelecky and Mewes [A. Kostelecky and M. Mewes, Astrophys. J. 689, L1 (2008)] have found limits of the order of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}43}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$. These results are obtained by making use of flat torsion modes [L. Garcia de Andrade, Phys Lett B 696, 1 (2011)], but may easily be extended to Riemann-Cartan spacetime.

Beyond Einstein–Cartan gravity: quadratic torsion and curvature invariants with even and odd parity including all boundary terms

Recently, gravitational gauge theories with torsion have been discussed by an increasing number of authors from a classical as well as from a quantum field theoretical point of view. The Einstein–Cartan(–Sciama–Kibble) Lagrangian has been enriched by the parity odd pseudoscalar curvature (Hojman, Mukku and Sayed) and by torsion square and curvature square pieces, likewise of even and odd parity. (i) We show that the inverse of the so-called Barbero–Immirzi parameter multiplying the pseudoscalar curvature, because of the topological Nieh–Yan form, can be appropriately discussed if torsion square pieces are included. (ii) The quadratic gauge Lagrangian with both parities, proposed by Obukhov et al and Baekler et al, emerges also in the framework of Diakonov et al. We establish the exact relations between both approaches by applying the topological Euler and Pontryagin forms in a Riemann–Cartan space expressed for the first time in terms of irreducible pieces of the curvature tensor. (iii) In a Riemann–Cartan spacetime, that is, in a spacetime with torsion, parity-violating terms can be brought into the gravitational Lagrangian in a straightforward and natural way. Accordingly, Riemann–Cartan spacetime is a natural habitat for chiral fermionic matter fields.

An Entropy Functional for Riemann-Cartan Space-Times

By viewing space-time as a continuum elastic medium and introducing an entropy functional for its elastic deformations, T. Padmanabhan has shown that general relativity emerges from varying the functional and that the latter suggests holography for gravity and yields the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy formula. In this paper we extend this idea to Riemann-Cartan space-times by constructing an entropy functional for the elastic deformations of space-times with torsion. We show that varying this generalized entropy functional permits to recover the full set of field equations of the Cartan-Sciama-Kibble theory. Our generalized functional shows that the contributions to the on-shell entropy of a bulk region in Riemann-Cartan space-times come from the boundary as well as the bulk and hence does not suggest that holography would also apply for gravity with spin in space-times with torsion. It is nevertheless shown that for the specific cases of Dirac fields and spin fluids the system does become holographic. The entropy of a black hole with spin is evaluated and found to be in agreement with Bekenstein-Hawking formula.

Exact solutions in 3D gravity with torsion

We study the three-dimensional gravity with torsion given by the Mielke-Baekler (MB) model coupled to gravitational Chern-Simons term, and that possess electric charge described by Maxwell-Chern-Simons electrodynamics. We find and discuss this theory’s charged black holes solutions and uncharged solutions. We find that for vanishing torsion our solutions by means of a coordinate transformation can be written as three-dimensional Chern-Simons black holes. We also discuss a special case of this theory, Topologically Massive Gravity (TMG) at chiral point, and we show that the logarithmic solution of TMG is also a solution of the MB model at a fixed point in the space of parameters. Furthermore, we show that our solutions generalize Gödel type solutions in a particular case. Also, we recover BTZ black hole in Riemann-Cartan spacetime for vanishing charge.

String background fields and the Riemann–Cartan geometry

We study classical dynamics of cylindrical membranes wrapped around the extra compact dimension of a (D + 1)-dimensional Riemann–Cartan spacetime. The world-sheet equations and boundary conditions are obtained from the universally valid conservation equations of the stress–energy and spin tensors. Specifically, we consider membranes made of macroscopic matter with maximally symmetric distribution of spin. In the narrow membrane limit, the dimensionally reduced theory is obtained. It describes how effective strings couple to the effective D-dimensional geometry. The striking coincidence with the string theory σ-model is observed. In this correspondence, the string background fields Gμν, Bμν, Aμ and Φ are related to the metric and torsion of the Riemann–Cartan spacetime.

Cosmological constant from quarks and torsion

AbstractWe present a simple and natural way to derive the observed small, positive cosmological constant from the gravitational interaction of condensing fermions. In the Riemann‐Cartan spacetime, torsion gives rise to the axial–axial vector four‐fermion interaction term in the Dirac Lagrangian for spinor fields. We show that this nonlinear term acts like a cosmological constant if these fields have a nonzero vacuum expectation value. For quark fields in QCD, such a torsion‐induced cosmological constant is positive and its energy scale is only about 8 times larger than the observed value. Adding leptons to this picture could lower this scale to the observed value.

Momentum-space representation of the Feynman propagator in Riemann-Cartan spacetime

We first construct generalized Riemann-normal coordinates by using autoparallels, instead of geodesics, in an arbitrary Riemann-Cartan spacetime. With the aid of generalized Riemann-normal coordinates and their associated orthonormal frames, we obtain a momentum-space representation of the Feynman propagator for scalar fields, which is a direct generalization of Bunch and Parker's works to curved spacetime with torsion. We further derive the proper-time representation in $n$ dimensional Riemann-Cartan spacetime from the momentum-space representation. It leads us to obtain the renormalization of one-loop effective Lagrangians of free scalar fields by using dimensional regularization. When torsion tensor vanishes, our resulting momentum-space representation returns to the standard Riemannian results.

On the Dirac and Spin-Dirac Operators

This paper is an extension of [11], where we study the Dirac and spin-Dirac operators associated to different connections. In the present work we present some relations between the Dirac operators associated to the connections on Riemann-Cartan-Weyl spacetime, Riemann-Cartan spacetime and Riemann spacetime. We obtain a generalized Lichnerowicz formula, decompositions of the Dirac and spin-Dirac operators and their squares in terms of the standard Dirac and spin-Dirac operators and using the fact that spinor fields have representatives in the Clifford bundle we present also a noticeable relation involving the spin-Dirac and the Dirac operators.

On Spacelike Congruences in Riemann-Cartan Space-time

The theory of spacelike congruences is briefly reviewed. Expressions for the expansion, the rotation and the shear tensor of the spacelike curves and their corresponding natural transport laws in Riemann-Cartan space-time are derived. We consider the Maxwell’s equations with torsion and established the Helmholtz theorems on vortex tubes, magnetic flux tubes and electric flux tubes. The fluid in magnetohydrodynamics provides E a =0, hence counterparts of Helmholtz theorems and the strength of the magnetic flux tube can be measured.

TOPOLOGICAL STRUCTURE AND EVOLUTION OF SPACE–TIME DISLOCATIONS AND DISCLINATIONS

By making use of the gauge potential decomposition theory and ϕ-mapping theory, the topological structure and the topological quantization of dislocations and disclinations are studied in the framework of Riemann–Cartan space–time manifold. The evolution of dislocation strings and disclination points is also studied from the topological properties of the order parameter field. The dislocations and disclinations are found generating or annihilating at the limit points and encountering, splitting, or merging at the bifurcation points of the order parameter field.

Electromagnetic and gravitational interactions of the spinning particle

We consider the invariance of the spinning free particle Lagrangian under the global coordinate transformations for the classical model of the electron with internal degrees of freedom and obtain the conservation of the energy-momentum, total angular momentum, and electric charge. The local gauge transformations give the electromagnetic and gravitational interactions of the spinning particle in the Riemann-Cartan space from the generalized spin connections. We show that the covariant constancy of the Dirac matrices gives; (i) the form invariance of the classical equations of motion, except the gravitational force terms in nongeodesic equation, (ii) the conservation of the electromagnetic current, (iii) the quantum Hamiltonian and equations of motion from the classical ones without the quantum ordering corrections, and (iv) the minimal coupling of the gravitation with the spinning particle in the Hamiltonian and in wave equations in the Riemann-Cartan space–time.

Black hole entropy in 3D gravity with torsion

The role of torsion in three-dimensional quantum gravity is investigated by studying the partition function of the Euclidean theory in Riemann–Cartan spacetime. The entropy of the black hole with torsion is found to differ from the standard Bekenstein–Hawking result, but its form is in complete agreement with the first law of black hole thermodynamics.

Spontaneous Lorentz violation, Nambu-Goldstone modes, and gravity

The fate of the Nambu-Goldstone modes arising from spontaneous Lorentz violation is investigated. Using the vierbein formalism, it is shown that up to 10 Lorentz and diffeomorphism Nambu-Goldstone modes can appear and that they are contained within the 10 modes of the vierbein associated with gauge degrees of freedom in a Lorentz-invariant theory. A general treatment of spontaneous local Lorentz and diffeomorphism violation is given for various spacetimes, and the fate of the Nambu-Goldstone modes is shown to depend on both the spacetime geometry and the dynamics of the tensor field triggering the spontaneous Lorentz violation. The results are illustrated within the general class of bumblebee models involving vacuum values for a vector field. In Minkowski and Riemann spacetimes, the bumblebee model provides a dynamical theory generating a photon as a Nambu-Goldstone boson for spontaneous Lorentz violation. The Maxwell and Einstein-Maxwell actions are automatically recovered in axial gauge. Associated effects of potential experimental relevance include Lorentz-violating couplings in the matter and gravitational sectors of the Standard-Model Extension and unconventional Lorentz-invariant couplings. In Riemann-Cartan spacetime, the possibility also exists of a Higgs mechanism for the spin connection, leading to the absorption of the propagating Nambu-Goldstone modes into the torsion component of the gravitational field.