Related papers: A Shape Dynamics Tutorial
Classical gravity can be described as a relational dynamical system without ever appealing to spacetime or its geometry. This description is the so-called shape dynamics description of gravity. The existence of relational first principles…
Shape dynamics is a reframing of canonical general relativity in which time reparametrization invariance is "traded" for a local conformal invariance. We explore the emergence of Lorentz invariance in this model in three contexts: as a…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
Shape Theory, together with Shape-and-Scale Theory, comprise Relational Theory. This consists of $N$-point models on a manifold $M$, for which some geometrical automorphism group $G$ is regarded as meaningless and is thus quotiented out…
Synthetic Differential Geometry (SDG) is a categorical version of differential geometry based on enriching the real line with infinitesimals and weakening of classical logic to intuitionistic logic. We show that SDG provides an effective…
Spontaneous scalarization is an interesting mechanism for modification of gravity by nonminimal coupling of a scalar field to matter or curvature invariants in the context of scalar-tensor theories, and its onset is signaled by linear…
We present a scale-invariant theory, conformal gravity, which closely resembles the geometrodynamical formulation of general relativity (GR). While previous attempts to create scale-invariant theories of gravity have been based on Weyl's…
Using a BRST treatment, we show that the equivalence of General Relativity and Shape Dynamics can be extended to a theory that respects the BRST-symmetries of General Relativity as well as the ones of an extended version of Shape Dynamics.…
We present here a relativistic theory of gravity in which the spacetime metric is derived from a single scalar field $\Phi$. The field equation, derived from a simple variational principle, is a non-linear flat-space four-dimensional wave…
General relativity is a covariant theory of two transverse, traceless graviton degrees of freedom. According to a theorem of Hojman, Kuchar, and Teitelboim, modifications of general relativity must either introduce new degrees of freedom or…
This work may be defined as a modern philosophical approach to theoretical physics. Since ancient times science and philosophy evolved in parallel, thus renewing from time to time the epochal paradigms of human thought. We could not…
In earlier works on Shape Dynamics (SD), a linear method of solving a particular set of Lichnerowicz-type equations through the implicit function theorem was developed in order to implicitly construct SD's global Hamiltonian and eliminate…
Kendall's Shape Theory covers shapes formed by $N$ points in $\mathbb{R}^d$ upon quotienting out the similarity transformations. This theory is based on the geometry and topology of the corresponding configuration space: shape space.…
Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have become a prevailing tool for learning physical dynamics. However, they still encounter several challenges: 1) Physical laws abide by symmetry, which is a vital inductive bias accounting for model…
Isometrodynamics (ID), the gauge theory of the group of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms of an "inner" D-dimensional flat space, is tentatively interpreted as a fundamental theory of gravity. Dimensional analysis shows that the Planck…