A Lorentz-Poincaré Type Interpretation of the Weak Equivalence Principle

The validity of the Weak Equivalence Principle relative to a local inertial frame is detailed in a scalar-vector gravitation model with Lorentz-Poincaré type interpretation. Given the previously established first Post-Newtonian concordance of dynamics with General Relativity, the principle is to this order compatible with GRT. The gravitationally modified Lorentz transformations, on which the observations in physical coordinates depend, are shown to provide a physical interpretation of parallel transport. A development of ‘geodesic’ deviation in terms of the present model is given as well. PACS subject classifications. 04.20.-q, 04.50.+h     

On the cosmological constant problem and brane-world geometry

The cosmological constant problem is examined within the context of the covariant brane-world gravity, based on Nash’s embedding theorem for Riemannian geometries. We show that the vacuum structure of the brane-world is more complex than General Relativity’s because it involves extrinsic elements, in specific, the extrinsic curvature. In other words, the shape (or local curvature) of an object becomes a relative concept, instead of the “absolute shape” of General Relativity. We point out that the immediate consequence is that the cosmological constant and the energy density of the vacuum quantum fluctuations have different physical meanings: while the vacuum energy density remains confined to the four-dimensional brane-world, the cosmological constant is a property of the bulk’s gravitational field that leads to the conclusion that these quantities cannot be compared, as it is usually done in General Relativity. Instead, the vacuum energy density contributes to the extrinsic curvature, which in turn generates Nash’s perturbation of the gravitational field. On the other hand, the cosmological constant problem ceases to be in the brane-world geometry, reappearing only in the limit where the extrinsic curvature vanishes.     

Republication of: A theorem on Petrov types

This is a republication of the paper “A Theorem on Petrov Types” by Goldberg and Sachs, Acta Phys. Pol. 22 (supplement), 13 (1962), in which they proved the Goldberg-Sachs theorem. The article has been selected for publication in the Golden Oldies series of General Relativity and Gravitation. Typographical errors of the original publication were corrected by the editor. The paper is accompanied by a Golden Oldie Editorial containing an editorial note written by Andrzej Krasiński and Maciej Przanowski and Goldberg’s brief autobiography. The editorial note explains some difficult parts of the proof of the theorem and discusses the influence of results of the paper on later research. Original paper: J. N. Goldberg and R. K. Sachs, Acta Phys. Pol. 22 (supplement), 13 (1962). Reprinted with the kind permission of the Editorial Board of Acta Physica Polonica and of both authors. An editorial note to this paper and a biography can be found via doi:.     

Charge Without Charge,Regular Spherically Symmetric Solutions and the Einstein-Born-Infeld Theory

The aim of this paper is to continue the research (J. Math. Phys. 46:042501, 2005) of regular static spherically symmetric spacetimes in Einstein-Born-Infeld theories from the point of view of the spacetime geometry and the electromagnetic structure. The energy conditions, geodesic completeness and the main features of the horizons of this spacetime are explicitly shown. A new static spherically symmetric dyonic solution in Einstein-Born-Infeld theory with similar good properties as in the regular pure electric and magnetic cases of our previous work, is presented and analyzed. Also, the circumvention of a version of “no go” theorem claiming the non existence of regular electric black holes and other electromagnetic static spherically configurations with regular center is explained by dealing with a more general statement of the problem.     

A two-point boundary value problem on a Lorentz manifold arising in A. Poltorak’s concept of reference frame

Abstract

In A. Poltorak’s concept, the reference frame in General Relativity is a certain manifold equipped with a connection. The question under consideration here is whether it is possible to join two events in the space-time by a time-like geodesic if they are joined by a geodesic of the reference frame connection that has a time-like initial vector. This question is interpreted as whether an event belongs to the proper future of another event in the space-time in case it is so in the reference frame. For reference frames of two special types some geometric conditions are found under which the answer is positive.     

The parametric transition of strange matter rings to a black hole

It is shown numerically that strange matter rings permit a continuous transition to the extreme Kerr black hole. The multipoles as defined by Geroch and Hansen are studied and suggest a universal behaviour for bodies approaching the extreme Kerr solution parametrically. The appearance of a ‘throat region’, a distinctive feature of the extreme Kerr spacetime, is observed. With regard to stability, we verify for a large class of rings, that a particle sitting on the surface of the ring never has enough energy to escape to infinity along a geodesic.     

Extended Birkhoff’s theorem in <Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis>) gravity

f(T) theory, a generally modified teleparallel gravity, has been proposed as an alternative gravity model to account for the dark energy phenomena. Following our previous work [Xin-he Meng and Ying-bin Wang, Eur. Phys. J. (2011), ], we prove that Birkhoff’s theorem holds in a more general context, specifically with the off diagonal tetrad case, in this communication letter. Then, we discuss, respectively, the results of the external vacuum and internal gravitational field in the f(T) gravity framework, as well as the extended meaning of this theorem. We also investigate the validity of Birkhoff’s theorem in the frame of f(T) gravity via a conformal transformation by regarding the Brans–Dicke-like scalar as effective matter, and study the equivalence between both Einstein frame and Jordan frame.     

Symmetry of the Unsteady Linearized Boltzmann Equation in a Fixed Bounded Domain

A symmetric relation between time-dependent problems described by the linearized Boltzmann equation is obtained for a gas in a fixed bounded domain. General representations of the total mass, momentum, and energy in the domain, as well as their fluxes through the boundary, in terms of an appropriate Green function are derived from that relation. Several application examples are presented. Similarities to the fluctuation–dissipation theorem in the linear response theory and its generalization to gas systems of arbitrary Knudsen numbers are also discussed. The present paper is an extension of the previous work of the author (Takata in J. Stat. Phys. 136: 751–784, 2009) to time-dependent problems.     

Republication of: Relativistic cosmology

This is a republication of a paper by G.F.R. Ellis first published in Proceedings of the International School of Physics: General Relativity and Cosmology, 1971, in which he formulated the framework for relativistic cosmology with an arbitrary background geometry. The article has been selected for publication in the Golden Oldies series of General Relativity and Gravitation. The paper is accompanied by a Golden Oldie Editorial comprising an editorial note written by Bill Stoeger and Ellis’ brief autobiography. Original paper: G. F. R. Ellis: Relativistic cosmology, In: Sachs, R.K. (ed.) Proceedings of the International School of Physics “Enrico Fermi”, Course 47: General relativity and cosmology, pp. 104–182. Academic Press, New York and London (1971). Reprinted with the kind permission of Elsevier Ltd, the current owner of the Academic Press copyright, and of the author.     

Phase Separation in Random Cluster Models III: Circuit Regularity

We study the droplet that results from conditioning the subcritical Fortuin-Kasteleyn random cluster model on the presence of an open circuit Γ encircling the origin and enclosing an area of at least (or exactly) n ². In this paper, we prove that the resulting circuit is highly regular: we define a notion of a regeneration site in such a way that, for any such site v∈Γ, the circuit Γ cuts through the radial line segment through v only at v. We show that, provided that the conditioned circuit is centred at the origin in a natural sense, the set of regeneration sites reaches into all parts of the circuit, with maximal distance from one such site to the next being at most logarithmic in n with high probability. The result provides a flexible control on the conditioned circuit that permits the use of surgical techniques to bound its fluctuations, and, as such, it plays a crucial role in the derivation of bounds on the local fluctuation of the circuit carried out in Hammond (, 2009; , 2009).     

Extended theories of gravity and their cosmological and astrophysical applications

Astrophysical observations are pointing out huge amounts of “dark matter” and “dark energy” needed to explain the observed large scale structure and cosmic dynamics. The emerging picture is a spatially flat, homogeneous Universe undergoing the today observed accelerated phase. Despite of the good quality of astrophysical surveys, commonly addressed as Precision Cosmology, the nature and the nurture of dark energy and dark matter, which should constitute the bulk of cosmological matter-energy, are still unknown. Furthermore, up to now, no experimental evidence has been found, at fundamental level, to explain such mysterious components. The problem could be completely reversed considering dark matter and dark energy as “shortcomings” of General Relativity in its simplest formulation (a linear theory in the Ricci scalar R, minimally coupled to the standard perfect fluid matter) and claiming for the “correct” theory of gravity as that derived by matching the largest number of observational data, without imposing any theory a priori. As a working hypothesis, accelerating behavior of cosmic fluid, large scale structure, potential of galaxy clusters, rotation curves of spiral galaxies could be reproduced by means of extending the standard theory of General Relativity. In other words, gravity could acts in different ways at different scales and the above “shortcomings” could be due to incorrect extrapolations of the Einstein gravity, actually tested at short scales and low energy regimes. After a survey of what is intended for Extended Theories of Gravity in the so called “metric” and “Palatini” approaches, we discuss some cosmological and astrophysical applications where the issues related to the dark components are addressed by enlarging the Einstein theory to more general f (R) Lagrangians, where f (R) is a generic function of Ricci scalar R, not assumed simply linear. Obviously, this is not the final answer to the problem of “dark-components” but it can be considered as an operative scheme whose aim is to avoid the addition of unknown exotic ingredients to the cosmic pie.     

Research of Gravitation in Flat Minkowski Space

In this paper it is introduced and studied an alternative theory of gravitation in flat Minkowski space. Using an antisymmetric tensor φ, which is analogous to the tensor of electromagnetic field, a non-linear connection is introduced. It is very convenient for studying the perihelion/periastron shift, deflection of the light rays near the Sun and the frame dragging together with geodetic precession i.e. effects where angles are involved. Although the corresponding results are obtained in rather different way, they are the same as in the General Relativity. The results about the barycenter of two bodies are also the same as in the General Relativity. Comparing the derived equations of motion for the n-body problem with the Einstein-Infeld-Hoffmann equations, it is found that they differ from the EIH equations by Lorentz invariant terms of order c ⁻².     

Holographic Dark Energy in Brans-Dicke Cosmology with Granda-Oliveros Cut-off

Motivated by the recent works of one of us (Karami and Fehri, Int. J. Theor. Phys. 49:1118, 2010; Phys. Lett. B 684:61, 2010), we study the holographic dark energy in Brans-Dicke gravity with the Granda-Oliveros cut-off proposed recently in literature. We find out that when the present model is combined with Brans-Dicke field the transition from normal state where w _D >−1 to the phantom regime where w _D <−1 for the equation of state of dark energy can be more easily achieved for than when resort to the Einstein field equations is made. Furthermore, the phantom crossing is more easily achieved when the matter and the holographic dark energy undergo an exotic interaction. We also calculate some relevant cosmological parameters and their evolution.     

Sufficient and Necessary Conditions of Entanglement Transformations Between Mixed States

Based on a new measure of entanglement for finite-dimensional bi-particle pure states, we give sufficient and necessary conditions that a bi-particle mixed state ρ can be transformed into another mixed state σ by local operations and classical communication (LOCC). This result can be regarded as a generalization of Nielsen’s theorem (Nielsen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 83:436, 1999). However, we find that it is more difficult to determine the entanglement transformations between mixed states than to do between pure ones.     

Formulations of the 3+1 evolution equations in curvilinear coordinates

Following Brown (Phys Rev D79:104029, 2009), in this paper we give an overview of how to modify standard hyperbolic formulations of the 3+1 evolution equations of General Relativity in such a way that all auxiliary quantities are true tensors, thus allowing for these formulations to be used with curvilinear sets of coordinates such as spherical or cylindrical coordinates. After considering the general case for both the Nagy–Ortiz–Reula and the Baumgarte–Shapiro–Shibata–Nakamura (BSSN) formulations, we specialize to the case of spherical symmetry and also discuss the issue of regularity at the origin. Finally, we show some numerical examples of the modified BSSN formulation at work in spherical symmetry.     

Neutrino Oscillation in the Space-Time with a Global Monopole

The mass neutrino interference phase in a global monopole space time along the null trajectory and the geodesic is studied, and we find that the conserved energy changes a factor when a particle travels along the geodesic, if compared with the energy in the space time without the global monopole. The oscillation phase is increased by a factor due to the correction of the global monopole, comparing with the case in Schwarzschild space time. We obtain that the type-I phase along both the null and geodesic has a difference of a factor of 1−8π η ², and that the phase along the geodesic is the double of that along the null.     

Linear Statistics of Point Processes via Orthogonal Polynomials

For arbitrary β>0, we use the orthogonal polynomials techniques developed in (Killip and Nenciu in , 2005; Killip and Nenciu in Int. Math. Res. Not. 50: 2665–2701, 2004) to study certain linear statistics associated with the circular and Jacobi β ensembles. We identify the distribution of these statistics then prove a joint central limit theorem. In the circular case, similar statements have been proved using different methods by a number of authors. In the Jacobi case these results are new.     

On Superluminal Particles and the Extended Relativity Theories

Superluminal particles are studied within the framework of the Extended Relativity theory in Clifford spaces (C-spaces). In the simplest scenario, it is found that it is the contribution of the Clifford scalar component π of the poly-vector-valued momentum which is responsible for the superluminal behavior in ordinary spacetime due to the fact that the effective mass is imaginary (tachyonic). However, from the point of view of C-space, there is no superluminal (tachyonic) behavior because the true physical mass still obeys M ²>0. Therefore, there are no violations of the Clifford-extended Lorentz invariance and the extended Relativity principle in C-spaces. It is also explained why the charged muons (leptons) are subluminal while its chargeless neutrinos may admit superluminal propagation. A Born’s Reciprocal Relativity theory in Phase Spaces leads to modified dispersion relations involving both coordinates and momenta, and whose truncations furnish Lorentz-violating dispersion relations which appear in Finsler Geometry, rainbow-metrics models and Double (deformed) Special Relativity. These models also admit superluminal particles. A numerical analysis based on the recent OPERA experimental findings on alleged superluminal muon neutrinos is made. For the average muon neutrino energy of 17 GeV, we find a value for the magnitude that, coincidentally, is close to the mass of the muon m _μ =105.7 MeV.     

Kinematics in matrix gravity

We develop the kinematics in Matrix Gravity, which is a modified theory of gravity obtained by a non-commutative deformation of General Relativity. In this model the usual interpretation of gravity as Riemannian geometry is replaced by a new kind of geometry, which is equivalent to a collection of Finsler geometries with several Finsler metrics depending both on the position and on the velocity. As a result the Riemannian geodesic flow is replaced by a collection of Finsler flows. This naturally leads to a model in which a particle is described by several mass parameters. If these mass parameters are different then the equivalence principle is violated. In the non-relativistic limit this also leads to corrections to the Newton’s gravitational potential. We find the first and second order corrections to the usual Riemannian geodesic flow and evaluate the anomalous nongeodesic acceleration in a particular case of static spherically symmetric background.