Search results for "Spacetime"
showing 10 items of 159 documents
Einstein-Cartan gravity, Asymptotic Safety, and the running Immirzi parameter
2013
In this paper we analyze the functional renormalization group flow of quantum gravity on the Einstein-Cartan theory space. The latter consists of all action functionals depending on the spin connection and the vielbein field (co-frame) which are invariant under both spacetime diffeomorphisms and local frame rotations. In the first part of the paper we develop a general methodology and corresponding calculational tools which can be used to analyze the flow equation for the pertinent effective average action for any truncation of this theory space. In the second part we apply it to a specific three-dimensional truncated theory space which is parametrized by Newton's constant, the cosmological…
The quantum, the geon, and the crystal
2015
Effective geometries arising from a hypothetical discrete structure of space-time can play an important role in the understanding of the gravitational physics beyond General Relativity. To discuss this question, we make use of lessons from crystalline systems within solid state physics, where the presence of defects in the discrete microstructure of the crystal determine the kind of effective geometry needed to properly describe the system in the macroscopic continuum limit. In this work we study metric-affine theories with non-metricity and torsion, which are the gravitational analog of crystalline structures with point defects and dislocations. We consider a crystal-motivated gravitationa…
A scenario for critical scalar field collapse in $AdS_3$
2014
We present a family of exact solutions, depending on two parameters $\alpha$ and $b$ (related to the scalar field strength), to the three-dimensional Einstein-scalar field equations with negative cosmological constant $\Lambda$. For $b=0$ these solutions reduce to the static BTZ family of vacuum solutions, with mass $M = -\alpha$. For $b\neq0$, the solutions become dynamical and develop a strong spacelike central singularity. The $\alpha0$ agrees qualitatively with that observed in numerical simulations of subcritical collapse. We analyze the linear perturbations of the threshold solution, $\alpha=0$, in the $\Lambda=0$ approximation, and find that it has only one unstable growing mode, whi…
Phase space coordinates and the Hamiltonian constraint of Regge calculus.
1994
We suggest that the phase space of Regge calculus is spanned by the areas and the deficit angles corresponding to the two-simplexes on the spacelike hypersurface of simplicial spacetime. Our proposal is based on a slight modification of the Ashtekar formulation of canonical gravity. In terms of these phase space coordinates we write an equation which we suggest to be a simplicial version of the Hamiltonian constraint of canonical gravity.
Gravitational waves in Fully Constrained Formulation in a dynamical spacetime with matter content
2011
We analyze numerically the behaviour of the hyperbolic sector of the Fully Constrained Formulation (FCF) (Bonazzola et al. 2004). The numerical experiments allow us to be confident in the performances of the upgraded version of the CoCoNuT code (Dimmelmeier et al. 2005) by replacing the Conformally Flat Condition (CFC), an approximation of Einstein equations, by FCF. First gravitational waves in FCF in a dynamical spacetime with matter content will be shown.
On the local existence of maximal slicings in spherically symmetric spacetimes
2010
In this talk we show that any spherically symmetric spacetime admits locally a maximal spacelike slicing. The above condition is reduced to solve a decoupled system of first order quasi-linear partial differential equations. The solution may be accomplished analytical or numerically. We provide a general procedure to construct such maximal slicings.
Geometry, pregeometry and beyond
2005
This article explores the overall geometric manner in which human beings make sense of the world around them by means of their physical theories; in particular, in what are nowadays called pregeometric pictures of Nature. In these, the pseudo-Riemannian manifold of general relativity is considered a flawed description of spacetime and it is attempted to replace it by theoretical constructs of a different character, ontologically prior to it. However, despite its claims to the contrary, pregeometry is found to surreptitiously and unavoidably fall prey to the very mode of description it endeavours to evade, as evidenced in its all-pervading geometric understanding of the world. The question r…
Eternal hilltop inflation
2016
We consider eternal inflation in hilltop-type inflation models, favored by current data, in which the scalar field in inflation rolls off of a local maximum of the potential. Unlike chaotic or plateau-type inflation models, in hilltop inflation the region of field space which supports eternal inflation is finite, and the expansion rate $H_{EI}$ during eternal inflation is almost exactly the same as the expansion rate $H_*$ during slow roll inflation. Therefore, in any given Hubble volume, there is a finite and calculable expectation value for the lifetime of the "eternal" inflation phase, during which quantum flucutations dominate over classical field evolution. We show that despite this, i…
Particle creation by wormholes: A 1 + 1 model
2020
The propagation of a free massless scalar field in a [Formula: see text]-dimensional Minkowski space modeling, a wormhole is considered. The wormhole model consists on two timelike trajectories, which represent the entrance and the exit of the wormhole, connected via some transfer function that specifies how incoming modes that reach the entrance are transferred to the exit. We find that particles and energy fluxes are generically produced except for transfer functions that represent global conformal transformations. We consider several examples involving exit trajectories which are asymptotically inertial, asymptotically null, and also involving a faster-than-light motion to illustrate th…
Planck-scale physics: facts and beliefs
2006
The relevance of the Planck scale to a theory of quantum gravity has become a worryingly little examined assumption that goes unchallenged in the majority of research in this area. However, in all scientific honesty, the significance of Planck's natural units in a future physical theory of spacetime is only a plausible, yet by no means certain, assumption. The purpose of this article is to clearly separate fact from belief in this connection.