English

Torsion and Chern-Simons gravity in 4D space-times from a Geometrodynamical four-form

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2025-01-28 v4

Abstract

The space-time geometry in any inertial frame is described by the line-element ds2=ημνdxμdxνds^2= \eta_{\mu \nu} dx^\mu dx^\nu. Now, not only the Minkowski metric ημν\eta_{\mu \nu} is invariant under proper Lorentz transformations, the totally antisymmetric Levi-Civita tensor eμναβe_{\mu \nu \alpha \beta} too is. In general relativity (GR), ημν\eta_{\mu \nu} of the flat space-time gets generalized to a dynamical, space-time dependent metric tensor gμν g_{\mu \nu} that characterizes a curved space-time geometry. In the present study, it is put forward that the flat space-time Levi-Civita tensor gets elevated to a dynamical four-form field w~\tilde {w} in curved space-time manifolds, i.e. eμναβwμναβ(x)=ϕ(x) eμναβe_{\mu \nu \alpha \beta} \rightarrow w_{\mu \nu \alpha \beta} (x) = \phi (x) \ e_{\mu \nu \alpha \beta} , so that w~=14! wμνρσ d~xμd~xνd~xρd~xσ\tilde {w} = {1\over {4!}} \ w_{\mu \nu \rho \sigma} \ \tilde{d} x^\mu \wedge \tilde{d} x^\nu \wedge \tilde{d} x^\rho \wedge \tilde{d} x^\sigma. It is shown that this geometrodynamical four-form field extends GR by leading naturally to a torsion in the theory as well as to a Chern-Simons gravity. It is demonstrated that the scalar-density ϕ(x)\phi (x) associated with w~\tilde {w} may be used to construct a generalized exterior derivative that converts a p-form density to a (p+1)-form density of identical weight. It is argued that the scalar-density ϕ(x)\phi (x) associated with w~\tilde {w} corresponds to an axion-like pseudo-scalar field in the Minkowski space-time, and that it can also masquerade as dark matter. Thereafter, we provide a simple semi-classical analysis in which a self-gravitating Bose-Einstein condensate of such ultra-light pseudo-scalars leads to the formation of a supermassive black hole. A brief analysis of propagation of weak gravitational waves in the presence of w~\tilde{w} is also considered in this article.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2404.17798,
  title  = {Torsion and Chern-Simons gravity in 4D space-times from a Geometrodynamical four-form},
  author = {Patrick Das Gupta},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.17798},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

Appeared in the Proceedings of the Third Minkowski Meeting that was held at Albena (Bulgaria) in September, 2023