Affine connection structure of the charged symplectic 2-form

It is shown that the charged symplectic form in Hamiltonian dynamics of classical charged particles in electromagnetic fields defines a generalized affine connection on an affine frame bundle associated with spacetime. Conversely, a generalized affine connection can be used to construct a symplectic 2-form if the associated linear connection is torsion-free and the antisymmetric part of theR ^4* translational connection is locally derivable from a potential. Hamiltonian dynamics for classical charged particles in combined gravitational and electromagnetic fields can therefore be reformulated as aP(4)=O(1, 3)R ^4* geometric theory with phase space the affine cotangent bundleAT ^* M of spacetime. The sourcefree Maxwell equations are reformulated as a pair of geometrical conditions on the ^4* curvature that are exactly analogous to the source-free Einstein equations.     

The affine geometry of the Lanczos H-tensor formalism

We identify the fiber-bundle-with-connection structure that underlies the Lanczos H-tensor formulation of Riemannian geometrical structure. We consider linear connections to be type (1,2) affine tensor fields, and we sketch the structure of the appropriate fiber bundle that is needed to describe the differential geometry of such affine tensors, namely the affine frame bundleA ₁ ² M with structure groupA ₁ ² (4) =GL(4) T ₁ ^{2 4} over spacetimeM. Generalized affine connections on this bundle are in 1-1 correspondence with pairs(, K) onM, where thegl(4)-component denotes a linear connection and the T ₁ ^{2 4}-componentK is a type (1,3) tensor field onM. We show that the Lanczos H-tensor arises from a gauge fixing condition on this geometrical structure. The resulting translation gauge, theLanczos gauge, is invariant under the transformations found earlier by Lanczos. The other Lanczos variablesQ _mandq are constructed in terms of the translational component of the generalized affine connection in the Lanczos gauge. To complete the geometric reformulation we reconstruct the Lanczos Lagrangian completely in terms of affine invariant quantities. The essential field equations derived from ourA ₁ ² (4)-invariant Lagrangian are the Bianchi and Bach-Lanczos identities for four-dimensional Riemannian geometry.     

Reduction of constrained mechanical systems and stability of relative equilibria

A mechanical system with perfect constraints can be described, under some mild assumptions, as a constrained Hamiltonian system(M, , H, D, W): (M, ) (thephase space) is a symplectic manifold,H (theHamiltonian) a smooth function onM, D (theconstraint submanifold) a submanifold ofM, andW (theprojection bundle) a vector sub-bundle ofT _D M, the reduced tangent bundle alongD. We prove that when these data satisfy some suitable conditions, the time evolution of the system is governed by a well defined differential equation onD. We define constrained Hamiltonian systems with symmetry, and prove a reduction theorem. Application of that theorem is illustrated on the example of a convex heavy body rolling without slipping on a horizontal plane. Two other simple examples show that constrained mechanical systems with symmetry may have an attractive (or repulsive) set of relative equilibria.     

Nonlinear gauge theory of Poincaré gravity

A Poincaré affine frame bundle (M) and its associated bundleÊ are established. Using the connection theory of fiber bundles, nonlinear connections on the bundleÊ are introduced as nonlinear gauge fields. An action and two sets of gauge field equations are presented.     

A method of reduction of Einstein's equations of evolution and a natural symplectic structure on the space of gravitational degrees of freedom

A program is outlined which addresses the problem of thereduction of Einstein's equations, namely, that of writing Einstein's vacuum equations in (3+1)-dimensions as anunconstrained dynamical system where the variables are thetrue degrees of freedom of the gravitational field. Our analysis is applicable for globally hyperbolic Ricci-flat spacetimes that admit constant mean curvature compact orientable spacelike Cauchy hypersurfaces M with degM=0 andM not diffeomorphic toF ₆, the underlying manifold of a certain compact orientable flat affine 3-manifold. We find that for these spacetimes, modulo the extended Poincaré conjecture and the use of local cross-sections rather than a global cross-section, (3+1)-reduction can be completed much as in the (2+1)-dimensional case. In both cases, one gets as the reduced phase space the cotangent bundleT ^* T _M of theTeichmüller space T _M of conformal structures onM, whereM is a given initial constant mean curvature compact orientable spacelike Cauchy hypersurface in a spacetime (V, g _V ), and one gets reduction of the full classical non-reduced Hamiltonian system with constraints to a reduced Hamiltonian system without constraints onT ^* T _M . For these reduced systems, the time parameter is the parameter of a family of monotonically increasing constant mean curvature compact orientable spacelike Cauchy hypersurfaces in a neighborhood of a given initial one. In the (2+1)-dimensional case, the Hamiltonian is the area functional of these hypersurfaces, and in the (3+1)-dimensional case, the Hamiltonian is the volume functional of these hypersurfaces.     

Existence and invariance of twisted products on a symplectic manifold

It is now well-known [1] that the twisted product on the functions defined on a symplectic manifold, play a fundamental role in an invariant approach of quantum mechanics. We prove here a general existence theorem of such twisted products. If a Lie group G acts by symplectomorphisms on a symplectic manifold and if there is a G-invariant symplectic connection, the manifold admits G-invariant Vey twisted products. In particular, if a homogeneous space G/H admits an invariant linear connection, T ^*(G/H) admits a G-invariant Vey twisted product. For the connected Lie group G, the group T ^*G admits a symplectic structure, a symplectic connection and a Vey twisted product which are bi-invariant under G.     

Projectively Equivariant Quantization Map

Let M be a manifold endowed with a symmetric affine connection . The aim of this Letter is to describe a quantization map between the space of second-order polynomials on the cotangent bundle T* M and the space of second-order linear differential operators, both viewed as modules over the group of diffeomorphisms and the Lie algebra of vector fields on M. This map is an isomorphism, for almost all values of certain constants, and it depends only on the projective class of the affine connection .     

Second-order tangent structures

Second-order differential processes have special significance for physics. Two reasonable generalizations of the procedure for constructing a tangent bundle over a smoothn-manifoldM yield different second-order structures, each projecting onto the standard first-order structureTM. One approach, based on the work of Ehresmann generalizes the notion of a tangent vector as a derivation. The other, based on the work of Yano and Ishihara generalizes the notion of a tangent vector as the velocity of a curve. The former leads toJ ² M, the 2-jet vector bundle consisting of second-order derivations, the latter leads toT ⁽²⁾ M, the bundle of curves agreeing up to acceleration. Both project naturally ontoTM because the 1-jet bundle of first-order derivations and the bundle of curves agreeing up to velocity are isomorphs ofTM. Both generalizations admit extension to higher orders but the second-order case illustrates their differences and is important in applications. It is always true thatJ ² M is a vector bundle; butT ⁽²⁾ M is a vector bundle if and only ifM has a linear connection and thenT ⁽²⁾ MTMTM with fiber ²ⁿ, whereasJ ² M always has fiber . We compare these constructions and give some results aboutT ⁽²⁾ M and the principal bundleL ⁽²⁾ M to which it is associated. In a space-time there is a distinguished linear connection induced by the Lorentz metric, so both second-order tangent structures are available and the reduction ofJ ² M toT ⁽²⁾ M is a considerable simplification in the casen=4. We show also that both second-order bundles have applications to the study of space-time boundaries.     

Direct gauging of the Poincaré group

Realization of the Poincaré group as a subgroup ofGL(5,R) that maps an affine set into itself is shown to lead to a well-defined minimal replacement operator when the Poincaré group is allowed to act locally. The minimal replacement operator is obtained by direct application of the Yang-Mills procedure without the explicit introduction of fiber bundle techniques. Its application gives rise to compensating 1-formsW , 1 6, for the local action of the Lorentz groupL(4,R), and to compensating 1-forms ^k , 1k4, for the translation groupT(4). When applied to the basis 1-formsdx ⁱ of Minkowski space, distortion 1-formsB ^k result that define a canonical anholonomic coframe that contains both theT(4) and theL(4,R) compensating fields. When the canonical coframe is considered as a differential system onM ₄, it gives rise to gauge curvature expressions and Cartan torsion, but the latter has important differences from that usually encountered in the associated literature in view of the inclusion of the compensating fields forL(4,R). The standard Yang-Mills minimal coupling construct is used to obtain a total Lagrangian. This leads to a system of field equations for the matter fields, theT(4) compensating fields, and theL(4,R) compensating fields. Part of the current that drives theT(4) compensating fields is the 3-form of gauge momentum energy that obtains directly from the momentum-energy tensor of the matter fields onM ₄ under minimal replacement. Introduction of the Cartan torsion in the free-field Lagrangian is shown to lead to a direct spin decoupling in the sense that the gauge momentum energy (orbital) contribution of the matter fields to the spin current is eliminated. Explicit conservation laws for total momentum energy current and total spin current are obtained.     

Projectively and Conformally Invariant Star-Products

We consider the Poisson algebra S(M) of smooth functions on T ^* M which are fiberwise polynomial. In the case where M is locally projectively (resp. conformally) flat, we seek the star-products on S(M) which are SL(n+1,) (resp. SO(p+1,q+1))-invariant. We prove the existence of such star-products using the projectively (resp. conformally) equivariant quantization, then prove their uniqueness, and study their main properties. We finally give an explicit formula for the canonical projectively invariant star-product.     

Associated symplectic and co-symplectic structures

A co-symplectic structure on the cotangent bundleT ^* X of an arbitrary manifoldX is defined, and the notion of associated symplectic and co-symplectic structures is introduced. By way of example, the two-dimensional case is considered in some detail. The general case is investigated, and some implications of these results for polarizations in geometric quantization are considered.     

On Lax equations arising from Lagrangian foliations

It is shown that Lax equations associated with dynamical systems on T ^*Q of the same dimension as Q arise as local expressions of parallelism of a (1,1)-tensor field along the dynamical vector field if the partial connection defined by the symplectic form admissible for a Lagrangian foliation is considered.     

Hamilton Spaces of Order k ≥ 1

A suitable dual for the k-acceleration bundle(T ^k M, ^k ,M) is the fiberedbundle (T ^k–1 M× _M T*M). The mentioned bundle carries a canonicalpresymplectic structure and k canonical Poisson structures. By means of thisdual we define the notion of Hamilton spaces of orderk, whose total spaceconsists of points x of the configuration spaceM, accelerations of order 1,...,k – 1, y ⁽¹⁾,...,y ^(k–1), and momenta p. Some remarkable Hamiltonian systemsare pointed out. There exists a Legendre mapping from the Lagrange spaces oforder k to the Hamilton space of order k.     

Biframe bundle geometry and an extension of RMW theory: Application to a charged perfect fluid

An extension of the original Rainich-Misner-Wheeler (RMW) theorem to include Einstein-Maxwell spacetimes with geometrical sources has recently been accomplished by generalizing the geometrical arena from the linear frame bundleLM to the bundle of biframesL ² M. The assumptions of a Riemannian connection one-form onLM and a general connection one-form onL ² M necessarily implies the existence of a difference formK. We provide new algebraic and differential conditions on an arbitrary triple (M, g, K), in addition to those already imposed by the generalization of the RMW theorem, which guarantee the form of the coupled Einstein-Maxwell field equations associated with a charged perfect fluid spacetime. All physical quantities associated with these field equations, namely the Maxwell field strength, the mass-energy density, the pressure, the electric and magnetic charge to mass ratios, and the unit four velocity of the fluid, can be recovered from the geometry as they are constructible entirely from the metricg, the difference formK, and their derivatives.     

A Unified Approach to Poisson Reduction

Given any Poisson action G×PP of a Poisson–Lie group G we construct an object =T ^*G*T^* P which has both a Lie groupoid structure and a Lie algebroid structure and which is a half-integrated form of the matched pair of Lie algebroids which J.-H. Lu associated to a Poisson action in her development of Drinfeld's classification of Poisson homogeneous spaces. We use to give a general reduction procedure for Poisson group actions, which applies in cases where a moment map in the usual sense does not exist. The same method may be applied to actions of symplectic groupoids and, most generally, to actions of Poisson groupoids.     

Cauchy boundary andb-incompleteness of space-time

It is shown that if a space-time (M, g) is time-orientable and its Levi-Civita connection [in the bundle of orthonormal frames over (M, g)] is reducible to anO(3) structure, one can naturally select a nonvanishing timelike vector field and a Riemann metricg ⁺ onM. The Cauchy boundary of the Riemann space (M, g ⁺) consists of endpoints ofb-incomplete curves in (M, g); we call it theCauchy singular boundary. We use the space-time of a cosmic string with a conic singularity to test our method. The Cauchy singular boundary of this space-time is explicitly constructed. It turns out to consist of what should be expected.     

An instanton-invariant for 3-manifolds

To an oriented closed 3-dimensional manifoldM withH ₁(M, )=0, we assign a ₈-graded homology groupI _*(M) whose Euler characteristic is twice Casson's invariant. The definition uses a construction on the space of instantons onM×.     

On the Dequantization of Fedosov's Deformation Quantization

To each natural deformation quantization on a Poisson manifold M we associate a Poisson morphism from the formal neighborhood of the zero section of T ^* M to the formal neighborhood of the diagonal of the product M× , where is a copy of M with the opposite Poisson structure. We call it dequantization of the natural deformation quantization. Then we 'dequantize' Fedosov's quantization.     

Bundle of quantizations of a symplectic torus

For a given symplectic torus (M=V/,) we construct a bundle whose base is the space of complex structures onV, and whose fibres are the corresponding quantizations ofM. We prove that there is no trivializations of this bundle which allow us to define a continuous identification of the quantizations.