Time Reparametrization Research Articles

Nambu-Goto equation from three-dimensional gravity

We demonstrate that the solutions of three-dimensional gravity obtained by gluing two copies of a spacetime across a junction constituted of a tensile string are in one-to-one correspondence with the solutions of the Nambu-Goto equation in the same spacetime up to a finite number of rigid deformations related to worldsheet and spacetime isometries. The non-linear Nambu-Goto equation satisfied by the average of the embedding coordinates of the junction emerges directly from the junction conditions along with the rigid deformations and corrections due to the tension. Therefore, the equivalence principle generalizes non-trivially to the string. Our results are valid both in three-dimensional flat and AdS spacetimes. In the context of AdS3/CFT2 correspondence, our setup could be used to describe a class of interfaces in the conformal field theory featuring relative time reparametrization at the interface which encodes the solution of the Nambu-Goto equation corresponding to the bulk junction.

Bertrand’s theorem and the double copy of relativistic field theories

Which relativistic field theories give rise to Kepler dynamics in the two-body problem? We consider a class of Hamiltonians that is the unique relativistic extension of the Kepler problem preserving its so(4) algebra, and have orbits related through time reparametrisation to orbits of the original Kepler problem. For three explicit examples, we give a natural interpretation in terms of spin-0,-1 and -2 interacting field theories in 5D. These are organically connected via the classical double copy, which therefore preserves maximal superintegrability.

Displacement versus velocity memory effects from a gravitational plane wave

This article demonstrates that additionally to the well-known velocity memory effect, a vacuum gravitational plane wave can also induce a displacement memory on a couple of test particles. A complete classification of the conditions under which a velocity or a displacement memory effect occur is established. These conditions depend both the initial conditions of the relative motion and on the wave profile. The two cases where the wave admits a pulse or a step profile are treated. Our analytical expressions are then compared to numerical integrations to exhibit either a velocity or a displacement memory, in the case of these two families of profiles. Additionally to this classification, the existence of a new symmetry of polarized vacuum gravitational plane wave under Möbius reparametrization of the null time is demonstrated. Finally, we discuss the resolution of the geodesic deviation equation by means of the underlying symmetries of vacuum gravitational plane wave.

Time Reparametrization and Event Location for Discontinuous Differential Algebraic Equations

In this paper, we consider numerical methods for the event location of differential algebraic equations. The event corresponds to cross a discontinuity surface, beyond which another differential algebraic equation holds. The methods are based on a particular change of the independent variable time, called time reparametrization or time transformation, reducing the equation to another equation where the event time is known in advance. From a numerical point of view, these methods never cross the discontinuity surface and reach it in a fixed number of steps. The methods works also for differential algebraic equations of index higher than one.

Cosmology in Lorentzian Regge calculus: causality violations, massless scalar field and discrete dynamics

We develop a model of spatially flat, homogeneous and isotropic cosmology in Lorentzian Regge calculus, employing four-dimensional Lorentzian frusta as building blocks. By examining the causal structure of the discrete spacetimes obtained by gluing such four-frusta in spatial and temporal direction, we find causality violations if the sub-cells connecting spatial slices are spacelike. A Wick rotation to the Euclidean theory can be defined globally by a complexification of the variables and an analytic continuation of the action. Introducing a discrete free massless scalar field, we study its equations of motion and show that it evolves monotonically. Furthermore, in a continuum limit, we obtain the equations of a homogeneous scalar field on a spatially flat Friedmann background. Vacuum solutions to the causally regular Regge equations are static and flat and show a restoration of time reparametrisation invariance. In the presence of a scalar field, the height of a frustum is a dynamical variable that has a solution if causality violations are absent and if an inequality relating geometric and matter boundary data is satisfied. Edge lengths of cubes evolve monotonically, yielding a contracting or an expanding branch of the Universe. In a small deficit angle expansion, the system can be deparametrised via the scalar field and a continuum limit of the discrete theory can be defined which we show to yield the relational Friedmann equation. These properties are obstructed if higher orders of the deficit angle are taken into account. Our results suggest that the inclusion of timelike sub-cells is necessary for a causally regular classical evolution in this symmetry restricted setting. Ultimately, this works serves as a basis for forthcoming investigations on the cosmological path integral within the framework of effective spin foams.

Null Raychaudhuri: canonical structure and the dressing time

We initiate a study of gravity focusing on generic null hypersurfaces, non-perturbatively in the Newton coupling. We present an off-shell account of the extended phase space of the theory, which includes the expected spin-2 data as well as spin-0, spin-1 and arbitrary matter degrees of freedom. We construct the charges and the corresponding kinematic Poisson brackets, employing a Beltrami parameterization of the spin-2 modes. We explicitly show that the constraint algebra closes, the details of which depend on the non-perturbative mixing between spin-0 and spin-2 modes. Finally we show that the spin zero sector encodes a notion of a clock, called dressing time, which is dynamical and conjugate to the constraint.It is well-known that the null Raychaudhuri equation describes how the geometric data of a null hypersurface evolve in null time in response to gravitational radiation and external matter. Our analysis leads to three complementary viewpoints on this equation. First, it can be understood as a Carrollian stress tensor conservation equation. Second, we construct spin-0, spin-2 and matter stress tensors that act as generators of null time reparametrizations for each sector. This leads to the perspective that the null Raychaudhuri equation can be understood as imposing that the sum of CFT-like stress tensors vanishes. Third, we solve the Raychaudhuri constraint non-perturbatively. The solution relates the dressing time to the spin-2 and matter boost charge operators.Finally we establish that the corner charge corresponding to the boost operator in the dressing time frame is monotonic. These results show that the notion of an observer can be thought of as emerging from the gravitational degrees of freedom themselves. We briefly mention that the construction offers new insights into focusing conjectures.

Signature methods for brain-computer interfaces

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) allow direct communication between one’s central nervous system and a computer without any muscle movement hence by-passing the peripheral nervous system. They can restore disabled people’s ability to interact with their environment, e.g. communication and wheelchair control. However, to this day their performance is still hindered by the non-stationarity of electroencephalography (EEG) signals, as well as their susceptibility to noise from the users’ environment and from their own physiological activity. Moreover, a non-negligible amount of users struggle to use BCI systems based on motor imagery. In this paper, a new method based on the path signature is introduced to tackle this problem by using features which are different from the usual power-based ones. The path signature is a series of iterated integrals computed from a multidimensional path. It is invariant under translation and time reparametrization, which makes it a robust feature for multichannel EEG time series. The performance can be further boosted by combining the path signature with the gold standard Riemannian classifier in the BCI field exploiting the geometric structure of symmetric positive definite (SPD) matrices. The results obtained on publicly available datasets show that the signature method is more robust to inter-user variability than classical ones, especially on noisy and low-quality data. Hence, this study paves the way towards the use of mathematical tools that until now have been neglected, in order to tackle the EEG-based BCI variability issue. It also sheds light on the lead-lag relationship captured by path signature which seems relevant to assess the underlying neural mechanisms.

Note on the action with the Schwarzian at the stretched horizon

In this paper, we discuss the quantization of an interesting model of Carlip which appeared recently. It shows a way to associate boundary degrees of freedom to the stretched horizon of a stationary non-extremal black hole, as has been done in JT gravity for near-extremal black holes. The path integral now contains an integral over the boundary degrees of freedom, which are time reparametrizations of the stretched horizon keeping its length fixed. These boundary degrees of freedom can be viewed as elements of $Diff(S^1)/S^1$, which is the coadjoint orbit of an ordinary coadjoint vector under the action of the Virasoro group. From the symplectic form on this manifold, we obtain the measure in the boundary path integral. Doing a one-loop computation about the classical solution, we find that the one-loop answer is not finite, signalling that either the classical solution is unstable or there is an indefiniteness problem with this action, similar to the conformal mode problem in quantum gravity. Upon analytically continuing the field, the boundary partition function we get is independent of the inverse temperature and does not contribute to the thermodynamics at least at one-loop. This is in contrast to the study of near-extremal black holes in JT gravity, where the entire contribution to thermodynamics is from boundary degrees of freedom.

JT gravity from holographic reduction of 3D asymptotically flat spacetime

We attempt to understand the CFT1 structure underlying (2+1)D gravity in flat spacetime via dimensional reduction. We observe that under superrotation, the hyperbolic (and dS2) slices of flat spacetime transform to asymptotically (A)dS2 slices. We consider a wedge region bounded by two such surfaces as End-of-the-World branes and employ Wedge holography to perform holographic reduction. We show that once we consider fluctuating branes, the localised theory on the branes is Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) theory. Finally, using the dual description of JT, we derive an 1D Schwarzian theory at the spatial slice of null infinity. In this dual Celestial (nearly) CFT, the superrotation mode of 3D plays the role of the Schwarzian derivative of the boundary time reparametrization mode.

Minimal solutions to generalized Lambda-semiflows and gradient flows in metric spaces

Generalized Lambda-semiflows are an abstraction of semiflows with nonperiodic solutions, for which there may be more than one solution corresponding to given initial data. A select class of solutions to generalized Lambda-semiflows is introduced. It is proved that such minimal solutions are unique corresponding to given ranges and generate all other solutions by time reparametrization. Special qualities of minimal solutions are shown. The concept of minimal solutions is applied to gradient flows in metric spaces and generalized semiflows. Generalized semiflows have been introduced by Ball.

A variational approach to frozen planet orbits in helium

We present variational characterizations of frozen planet orbits for the helium atom in the Lagrangian and the Hamiltonian picture. They are based on a Levi-Civita regularization with different time reparametrizations for the two electrons and lead to nonlocal functionals. Within this variational setup, we deform the helium problem to one where the two electrons interact only by their mean values and use this to deduce the existence of frozen planet orbits.

Quantizing Chaplygin Hamiltonizable nonholonomic systems.

In this article we develop a quantization procedure for Chaplygin Hamiltonizable nonholonomic systems—mechanical systems subject to non-integrable velocity constraints whose reduced mechanics is Hamiltonian after a suitable time reparametrization—using Poincaré transformations and geometric quantization. We illustrate the theory developed through examples and discuss potential applications to the study of the quantum mechanics of nanovehicles.

Proper time reparametrization in cosmology: Möbius symmetry and Kodama charges

It has been noticed that for a large class of cosmological models, the gauge fixing of the time-reparametrization invariance does not completely fix the clock. Instead, the system enjoys a surprising residual Noether symmetry under a Möbius reparametrization of the proper time, which maps gauge-inequivalent solutions to the Friedmann equations onto each other. In this work, we provide a unified treatment of this hidden conformal symmetry and its realization in the homogeneous and isotropic sector of the Einstein-Scalar-Λ system. We consider the flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) model, the (A)dS cosmology and provide a first treatment of the model with spatial constant curvature.We derive the general condition relating the choice of proper time and the conformal weight of the scale factor, and give a detailed analysis of the conserved Noether charges generating this physical symmetry. Our approach allows us to identify new realizations of this symmetry while recovering previous results in a unified manner. We also present the general mapping onto the conformal particle and discuss the solution-generating nature of the transformations beyond the Möbius symmetry. Finally, we show that, at least in a restricted context, this hidden conformal symmetry is intimately related to the Kodama charges of spherically symmetric gravity. This new connection suggests that the Möbius invariance of cosmology is only the corner of a larger symmetry structure which could be relevant beyond cosmological models.

Fast-forward scheme reexamined: Choice of time and quantization

The fast-forward scheme for accelerating time evolution of quantum states through change of time is reexamined. Dirac’s homogeneous formalism for classical dynamics and canonical quantization warrant that the Schrödinger equation is covariant under reparametrization of time. From this, it is concluded that the scheme does not attain its objective.

Relating a Rate-Independent System and a Gradient System for the Case of One-Homogeneous Potentials

We consider a non-negative and one-homogeneous energy functional {{mathcal {J}}} on a Hilbert space. The paper provides an exact relation between the solutions of the associated gradient-flow equations and the energetic solutions generated via the rate-independent system given in terms of the time-dependent functional {{mathcal {E}}}(t,u)= t {{mathcal {J}}}(u) and the norm as a dissipation distance. The relation between the two flows is given via a solution-dependent reparametrization of time that can be guessed from the homogeneities of energy and dissipations in the two equations. We provide several examples including the total-variation flow and show that equivalence of the two systems through a solution dependent reparametrization of the time. Making the relation mathematically rigorous includes a careful analysis of the jumps in energetic solutions which correspond to constant-speed intervals for the solutions of the gradient-flow equation. As a major result we obtain a non-trivial existence and uniqueness result for the energetic rate-independent system.

Degenerate Hořava gravity

Hořava gravity breaks Lorentz symmetry by introducing a dynamical timelike scalar field (the khronon), which can be used as a preferred time coordinate (thus selecting a preferred space–time foliation). Adopting the khronon as the time coordinate, the theory is invariant only under time reparametrizations and spatial diffeomorphisms. In the infrared limit, this theory is sometimes referred to as khronometric theory. Here, we explicitly construct a generalization of khronometric theory, which avoids the propagation of Ostrogradski modes as a result of a suitable degeneracy condition (although stability of the latter under radiative corrections remains an open question). While this new theory does not have a general-relativistic limit and does not yield a Friedmann–Robertson–Walker-like cosmology on large scales, it still passes, for suitable choices of its coupling constants, local tests on Earth and in the Solar System, as well as gravitational-wave tests. We also comment on the possible usefulness of this theory as a toy model of quantum gravity, as it could be completed in the ultraviolet into a ‘degenerate Hořava gravity’ theory that could be perturbatively renormalizable without imposing any projectability condition.

Structure preserving discretization of time-reparametrized Hamiltonian systems with application to nonholonomic mechanics

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>We propose a discretization of vector fields that are Hamiltonian up to multiplication by a positive function on the phase space that may be interpreted as a time reparametrization. We construct a family of maps, labeled by an arbitrary <inline-formula><tex-math id="M1">\begin{document}$ \ell \in \mathbb{N} $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> indicating the desired order of accuracy, and prove that our method is structure preserving in the sense that the discrete flow is interpolated to order <inline-formula><tex-math id="M2">\begin{document}$ \ell $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> by the flow of a continuous system possessing the same structure as the vector field that is being discretized. In particular, our discretization preserves a smooth measure on the phase space to the arbitrary order <inline-formula><tex-math id="M3">\begin{document}$ \ell $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula>. We present applications to a remarkable class of nonholonomic mechanical systems that allow Hamiltonization. To our best knowledge, these results provide the first instance of a measure preserving discretization (to arbitrary order) of measure preserving nonholonomic systems.</p>

Statistical mechanics with non-integrable topological constraints: Self-organization in knotted phase space

The object of this study is the statistical mechanics of dynamical systems lacking a Hamiltonian structure due to the presence of non-integrable topological constraints that limit the accessible regions of the phase space. Focusing on the simplest three dimensional case, we develop a procedure (Poissonization) that assigns to any three dimensional non-Hamiltonian system an equivalent four dimensional Hamiltonian system endowed with a proper time. The statistical distribution is then constructed in the recovered four dimensional canonical phase space. Projecting in the original reference frame, we show that the statistical distribution departs from standard Maxwell–Boltzmann statistics. The deviation is a function of the knottedness of the phase space, which is measured by the helicity density of the topological constraint. The theory is then generalized to a class of non-Hamiltonian systems in higher dimensions.

How to reduce epidemic peaks keeping under control the time-span of the epidemic.

One of the main challenges of the measures against the COVID-19 epidemic is to reduce the amplitude of the epidemic peak without increasing without control its timescale. We investigate this problem using the SIR model for the epidemic dynamics, for which reduction of the epidemic peak IP can be achieved only at the price of increasing the time tP of its occurrence and its entire time-span tE. By means of a time reparametrization we linearize the equations for the SIR dynamics. This allows us to solve exactly the dynamics in the time domain and to derive the scaling behaviour of the size, the timescale and the speed of the epidemics, by reducing the infection rate α and by increasing the removal rate β by a factor of λ. We show that for a given value of the size (IP, the total, IE and average number of infected), its occurrence time tP and entire time-span tE can be reduced by a factor 1/λ if the reduction of I is achieved by increasing the removal rate instead of reducing the infection rate. Thus, epidemic containment measures based on tracing, early detection followed by prompt isolation of infected individuals are more efficient than those based on social distancing. We apply our results to the COVID-19 epidemic in Northern Italy. We show that the peak time tP and the entire time span tE could have been reduced by a factor 0.9 ≤ 1/λ ≤ 0.34 with containment measures focused on increasing β instead of reducing α.

State-dependent diffusion in a bistable potential: Conditional probabilities and escape rates.

We consider a simple model of a bistable system under the influence of multiplicative noise. We provide a path integral representation of the overdamped Langevin dynamics and compute conditional probabilities and escape rates in the weak noise approximation. The saddle-point solution of the functional integral is given by a diluted gas of instantons and anti-instantons, similar to the additive noise problem. However, in this case, the integration over fluctuations is more involved. We introduce a local time reparametrization that allows its computation in the form of usual Gaussian integrals. We found corrections to the Kramers escape rate produced by the diffusion function which governs the state-dependent diffusion for arbitrary values of the stochastic prescription parameter. Theoretical results are confirmed through numerical simulations.