Weyl geometry

We develop the properties of Weyl geometry, beginning with a review of the conformal properties of Riemannian spacetimes. Decomposition of the Riemann curvature into trace and traceless parts allows an easy proof that the Weyl curvature tensor is the conformally invariant part of the Riemann curvature, and shows the explicit change in the Ricci and Schouten tensors required to insure conformal invariance. We include a proof of the well-known condition for the existence of a conformal transformation to a Ricci-flat spacetime. We generalize this to a derivation of the condition for the existence of a conformal transformation to a spacetime satisfying the Einstein equation with matter sources. Then, enlarging the symmetry from Poincaré to Weyl, we develop the Cartan structure equations of Weyl geometry, the form of the curvature tensor and its relationship to the Riemann curvature of the corresponding Riemannian geometry. We present a simple theory of Weyl-covariant gravity based on a curvature-linear action, and show that it is conformally equivalent to general relativity. This theory is invariant under local dilatations, but not the full conformal group.     

Weyl-Dirac geometry and dark matter

Weyl proposed a geometry that differed from Riemannian geometry, which underlies general relativity, in that it contained a vector that could be interpreted as describing the electromagnetic field. Dirac modified this geometry to remove certain difficulties and based it on a variational principle which gave satisfactory field equations for gravitation and electromagnetism. However, by changing the value of a parameter appearing in his variational principle one gets, instead of electromagnetism, a field of massive particles of spin 1, which can be assumed to interact with ordinary matter only through gravitation. It is suggested that these bosons, called weylons, provide most of the dark matter in the universe.     

Thermodynamical laws and spacetime geometry

We examine the conditions imposed on spacetime geometry by linear and extended thermodynamics. In this analysis we confine ourselves on shear-free spacetimes with divergence-free Weyl tensor. This results in a variety of well-known spacetimes which have to have simple kinematic properties as well as very restricted source structure. In all cases the thermodynamical considerations show the privileged role of the equation p = – which can be interpreted as cosmological constant. Moreover, it is interesting to observe that the restrictions imposed on the spacetime geometry in the case of extended thermodynamics (for vanishing anisotropic pressure) are much stronger than in the linear case.     

Numerical investigation of multidimensional cosmological models based on the Weyl integrable geometry

The dynamics of multidimensional cosmological models based on the Weyl integrable geometry are investigated by means of numerical methods. Models are considered in space and in the presence of matter, the latter modeled by an ideal liquid and a nonminimal scalar field. Sufficient conditions are obtained under which cosmological singularity is absent and the scenario of dynamic dimensional reduction is realized.Scientific Research Center of PV. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 5, pp. 107–113, May, 1995.     

Classification of the Weyl curvature spinors of neutral metrics in four dimensions

Neutral geometry is of increasing interest. As with Riemannian and Lorentzian geometry, spinors can be expected to provide a valuable tool in neutral geometry. For a neutral metric in four dimensions, the classification of the Weyl curvature spinors by the pattern of principal spinors each admits is given. For each Weyl curvature spinor, there are nine nontrivial types. This classification is then related to the classification, given previously by the author, of a Weyl curvature spinor when regarded as a curvature endomorphism (four types). These results are the neutral analogues of well known and fundamental results in Lorentzian geometry, but display the peculiarities of neutral geometry. One can expect these results to be an essential ingredient in a full understanding of neutral geometry in four dimensions.     

Imaginary Weyl coordinates in the Kerr space-time

By introducing imaginary Weyl coordinates the Kerr geometry can be described by the Weyl coordinate system as good as the Boyer-Lindquist system.     

Weyl's association,Wigner's function and affine geometry

According to Weyl one may associate a function with a dynamical operator; these functions depend on the parameters p and q and can be displayed in a p, q manifold, the W space. In the classical limit the W space becomes the phase space parametrised by the canonical variables. The function associated in this manner with the density operator is Wigner's function. It turns out that if Wigner's function is a delta function it cannot represent the density operator of a physically realisable state unless the argument of the delta-function is linear in the parameters a and q. In all other cases Wigner's function associated with a physically realisable state has a finite width, proportional to $\text{h}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>2</mtext><mtext>3</mtext>}}$. Consequently straightness (linear combination of p and q) has a fundamental significance in the W space. Since this property is preserved under linear inhomogeneous transformations the W space will have a geometry generated by these transformations, the affine geometry of Euler, Moebius and Blaschke. In the present note we show how this comes about, how it simplifies the semiclassical approximations of Wigner's function, and makes one understand how in the classical limit this geometry is lost, allowing to be replaced by the geometry of canonical transformations.     

Twisted Courant algebroids and coisotropic Cartan geometries

In this paper, we show that associated to any coisotropic Cartan geometry there is a twisted Courant algebroid. This includes, in particular, parabolic geometries. By using this twisted Courant algebroid, we give some new results about the Cartan curvature and the Weyl structure of a parabolic geometry. As more direct applications, we can construct a Lie 2-algebra and a three-dimensional (3D) AKSZ sigma model from a coisotropic Cartan geometry.     

Weyl's geometry and physics

It is proposed to remove the difficulty of nonitegrability of length in the Weyl geometry by modifying the law of parallel displacement and using standard vectors. The field equations are derived from a variational principle slightly different from that of Dirac and involving a parameter . For =0 one has the electromagnetic field. For <0 there is a vector meson field. This could be the electromagnetic field with finite-mass photons, or it could be a meson field providing the missing mass of the universe. In cosmological models the two natural gauges are the Einstein gauge and the cosmic gauge. With the latter the universe has a fixed size, but the sizes of small systems decrease with time and their masses and energies increase, thus producing the Hubble effect. The field of a particle in this gauge is investigated, and it leads to an interesting solution of the Einstein equations that raises a question about the Schwarzschild solution.     

Weyl fermions on strings embedded in three dimensions

It is shown that the determinant of the Weyl operator introduced by Kavalov, Kostov and Sedrakyan is determined by the extrinsic geometry of the embedding. The effective action is anomalous under bendings of the surface.     

Cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropies in brane worlds

We propose a new formulation to calculate the cosmic microwave background (CMB) spectrum in the Randall-Sundrum two-brane model based on recent progress in solving the bulk geometry using a low energy approximation. The evolution of the anisotropic stress imprinted on the brane by the 5D Weyl tensor is calculated. An impact of the dark radiation perturbation on the CMB spectrum is investigated in a simple model assuming an initially scale-invariant adiabatic perturbation. The dark radiation perturbation induces isocurvature perturbations, but the resultant spectrum can be quite different from the prediction of simple mixtures of adiabatic and isocurvature perturbations due to Weyl anisotropic stress.     

Null lifts and projective dynamics

We describe natural Hamiltonian systems using projective geometry. The null lift procedure endows the tangent bundle with a projective structure where the null Hamiltonian is identified with a projective conic and induces a Weyl geometry. Projective transformations generate a set of known and new dualities between Hamiltonian systems, as for example the phenomenon of coupling-constant metamorphosis. We conclude outlining how this construction can be extended to the quantum case for Eisenhart–Duval lifts.     

Cosmic dark matter and Dirac gauge function

It is suggested that the dark matter of the universe is due to the presence of a scalar field described by the gauge function introduced by Dirac in his modification of the Weyl geometry. The behavior of such dark matter is investigated.     

On the geometry of the Zel'manov-Grishchuk cosmological homogeneity criterion

The geometrical interpretation of the “differential homogeneity” criterion of Zel'manov and Grishchuk is discussed. It is related to the existence of spatial groups of motion, spatial conformal flatness, the absence of a “magnetic part” of the Weyl tensor, and hypersurface-orthogonal motion of fundamental observers who see no relative energy transport.     

Integrable optical geometry

It is shown that a Lorentzian 4-manifold admitting a congruence of optical (null) geodesics without shear and twist defines an optical geometry which is integrable (locally flat) in the sense of the theory of G-structures. The existence of a symmetric linear connection compatible with the optical geometry is another condition equivalent to the integrability of the optical G-structure.     

Inequivalence of Jordan and Einstein Frame: What Is the Low Energy Gravity in String Theory?

It is well-known that any scalar can be promoted to a Jordan-Brans-Dicke type scalar coupling to the Einstein-Hilbert term through a field dependent Weyl transformation of the metric. The Weyl rescaling also transforms mass terms into coupling constants between matter and the scalar. It is pointed out that there exists a distinguished metric where all scalars decouple from an arbitrary fiducial fermion, e.g. the nucleon. If bound states of this fermion are used to define distances and to probe the interior of the forward light cone, it seems reasonable to say that the metric in that particular frame defines the local geometry of space-time at low energies, as probed by experimental gravity and cosmology.     

Logical quantization of differential geometry

In a previous paper we saw that Grothendieck's functorial approach to algebraic geometry and algebraic groups in particular is in consonance with our framework of logical quantization. This paper, as a sequel, consolidates the consonance between functorial geometry and logical quantization by demonstrating that Moerdijk and Reyes' functorial approach to differential geometry can be adequately poised within logical quantization.     

Weyl geometric gravity and electroweak symmetry “breaking”

A Weyl geometric scale covariant approach to gravity due to Omote, Dirac, and Utiyama (1971ff) is reconsidered. It can be extended to the electroweak sector of elementary particle fields, taking into account their basic scaling freedom. Already Cheng (1988) indicated that electroweak symmetry breaking, usually attributed to the Higgs field with a boson expected at 0.1–0.3 TeV, may be due to a coupling between Weyl geometric gravity and electroweak interactions. Weyl geometry seems to be well suited for treating questions of elementary particle physics, which relate to scale invariance and its “breaking”. This setting suggests the existence of a scalar field boson at the surprisingly low energy of ～ 1 eV. That may appear unlikely; but, as a payoff, the acquirement of mass arises as a result of coupling to gravity in agreement with the understanding of mass as the gravitational charge of fields.