English

Would Two Dimensions be World Enough for Spacetime?

History and Philosophy of Physics 2020-05-27 v2 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

We consider various curious features of general relativity, and relativistic field theory, in two spacetime dimensions. In particular, we discuss: the vanishing of the Einstein tensor; the failure of an initial-value formulation for vacuum spacetimes; the status of singularity theorems; the non-existence of a Newtonian limit; the status of the cosmological constant; and the character of matter fields, including perfect fluids and electromagnetic fields. We conclude with a discussion of what constrains our understanding of physics in different dimensions.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1709.07438,
  title  = {Would Two Dimensions be World Enough for Spacetime?},
  author = {Samuel C. Fletcher and John Byron Manchak and Mike D. Schneider and James Owen Weatherall},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1709.07438},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

31 pages, 1 figure

R2 v1 2026-06-22T21:50:59.163Z