English

Reduced phase space formalism for spherically symmetric geometry with a massive dust shell

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2014-11-17 v3

Abstract

We perform a Hamiltonian reduction of spherically symmetric Einstein gravity with a thin dust shell of positive rest mass. Three spatial topologies are considered: Euclidean (R^3), Kruskal (S^2 x R), and the spatial topology of a diametrically identified Kruskal (RP^3 - {a point at infinity}). For the Kruskal and RP^3 topologies the reduced phase space is four-dimensional, with one canonical pair associated with the shell and the other with the geometry; the latter pair disappears if one prescribes the value of the Schwarzschild mass at an asymptopia or at a throat. For the Euclidean topology the reduced phase space is necessarily two-dimensional, with only the canonical pair associated with the shell surviving. A time-reparametrization on a two-dimensional phase space is introduced and used to bring the shell Hamiltonians to a simpler (and known) form associated with the proper time of the shell. An alternative reparametrization yields a square-root Hamiltonian that generalizes the Hamiltonian of a test shell in Minkowski space with respect to Minkowski time. Quantization is briefly discussed. The discrete mass spectrum that characterizes natural minisuperspace quantizations of vacuum wormholes and RP^3-geons appears to persist as the geometrical part of the mass spectrum when the additional matter degree of freedom is added.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.gr-qc/9706051,
  title  = {Reduced phase space formalism for spherically symmetric geometry with a massive dust shell},
  author = {John L. Friedman and Jorma Louko and Stephen N. Winters-Hilt},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:gr-qc/9706051},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

36 pages, REVTeX v3.1 with amsfonts. (References updated; minor typos corrected.)