Related papers: Coupling Shape Dynamics to Matter Gives Spacetime
Shape Dynamics (SD) is a theory dynamically equivalent to vacuum General Relativity (GR), which has a different set of symmetries. It trades refoliation invariance, present in GR, for local 3-dimensional conformal invariance. This…
Shape Dynamics is a gauge theory based on spatial diffeomorphism- and Weyl-invariance which is locally indistinguishable form classical General Relativity. If taken seriously, it suggests that the spacetime--geometry picture that underlies…
Barbour's interpretation of Mach's principle led him to postulate that gravity should be formulated as a dynamical theory of spatial conformal geometry, or in his terminology, "shapes." Recently, it was shown that the dynamics of General…
The dynamics of gravity can be described by two different systems. The first is the familiar spacetime picture of General Relativity, the other is the conformal picture of Shape Dynamics. We argue that the bulk equivalence of General…
General Relativity can be reformulated as a geometrodynamical theory, called Shape Dynamics, that is not based on spacetime (in particular refoliation) symmetry but on spatial diffeomorphism and local spatial conformal symmetry. This leads…
Shape dynamics is a classical theory of gravity which agrees with general relativity in many important cases, but possesses different gauge symmetries and constraints. Rather than spacetime diffeomorphism invariance, shape dynamics takes…
In this conceptual paper we construct a local version of Shape Dynamics that is equivalent to General Relativity in the sense that the algebras of Dirac observables weakly coincide. This allows us to identify Shape Dynamics observables with…
We show that one can construct two equivalent gauge theories from a linking theory and give a general construction principle for linking theories which we use to construct a linking theory that proves the equivalence of General Relativity…
Shape Dynamics (SD) is a new theory of gravity that is based on fewer and more fundamental first principles than General Relativity (GR). The most important feature of SD is the replacement of GR's relativity of simultaneity with a more…
Shape Dynamics is a 3D conformally invariant theory of gravity which possesses a large set of solutions in common with General Relativity. When looked closely, these solutions are found to behave in surprising ways, so in order to probe the…
The absence of unique time evolution in Einstein's spacetime description of gravity leads to the hitherto unresolved `problem of time' in quantum gravity. Shape Dynamics is an objectively equivalent representation of gravity that trades…
This thesis consists of two parts, connected by one central theme: the dynamics of the "shape of space". The first part of the thesis concerns the construction of a theory of gravity dynamically equivalent to general relativity (GR) in 3+1…
Shape dynamics is a completely background-independent universal framework of dynamical theories from which all absolute elements have been eliminated. For particles, only the variables that describe the shapes of the instantaneous particle…
A new approach to the dynamics of the universe based on work by O Murchadha, Foster, Anderson and the author is presented. The only kinematics presupposed is the spatial geometry needed to define configuration spaces in purely relational…
In this PhD thesis, we develop a new approach to classical gravity starting from Mach's principles and the idea that the local shape of spatial configurations is fundamental. This new theory, "shape dynamics", is equivalent to general…
Shape Dynamics is a formulation of General Relativity where refoliation invariance is traded for local spatial conformal invariance. In this paper we explicitly construct Shape Dynamics for a torus universe in 2+1 dimensions through a…
Shape dynamics is a classical theory of gravity which agrees with general relativity in many important aspects, but which possesses different gauge symmetries and can present some fundamental global differences with respect to Einstein…
Space-Time in general relativity is a dynamical entity because it is subject to the Einstein field equations. The space-time metric provides different geometrical structures: conformal, volume, projective and linear connection. A deep…
Shape dynamics is a reformulation of general relativity, locally equivalent to Einstein's theory, in which the refoliation invariance of the older theory is traded for local scale invariance. Shape dynamics is here derived in a formulation…
The purpose of this contribution is to elucidate some of the properties of Shape Dynamics (SD) and is largely based on a recent longer article. We shall point out some of the key differences between SD and related theoretical constructions,…