Related papers: Singularities and diffeomorphisms
Comparing and recognizing metrics can be extraordinarily difficult because of the group of diffeomorphisms. Two metrics, that could even be the same, could look completely different in different coordinates. This is the gauge problem. The…
We will examine the issue of diffeomorphism symmetry in simplicial models of (quantum) gravity, in particular for Regge calculus. We find that for a solution with curvature there do not exist exact gauge symmetries on the discrete level.…
Deformed generalized gauge groups, whch were created from physical considerations and made it possible to clarify some long-standing problems in physics, such as the problem of motion and the problem of the energy of the gravitational…
A general diffeomorphism invariant SU(2) gauge theory is a gravity theory with two propagating polarizations of the graviton. We develop this description of gravity, in particular for future applications to the perturbative quantization.…
In General Relativity and gauge field theory, one often encounters a claim, which may be called the boundary problem, according to which "boundaries break diffeomorphism and gauge symmetries". We argue that this statement has the same…
The following questions are germane to our understanding of gauge-(in)variant quantities and physical possibility: how are gauge transformations and spacetime diffeomorphisms understood as symmetries, in which ways are they similar, and in…
Gauge symmetries emerge from a redundant description of the effective action for light degrees of freedom after the decoupling of heavy modes. This redundant description avoids the use of explicit constraints in configuration space. For…
General Relativity is usually formulated as a theory with gauge invariance under the diffeomorphism group, but there is a 'dilaton' formulation where it is in addition invariant under Weyl transformations, and a 'unimodular' formulation…
In the geometrodynamical setting of general relativity in Lagrangian form, the objects of study are the {\it Riemannian} metrics (and their time derivatives) over a given 3-manifold $M$. It is our aim in this paper to study the gauge…
The application of the notion of `observable' from gauge theory to diffeomorphism-invariant theories -- most relevantly to general relativity -- has led to numerous conceptual and technical issues when interpreting classical theories with…
The following questions are germane to our understanding of gauge-(in)variant quantities and physical possibility: how are gauge transformations and spacetime diffeomorphisms understood as symmetries, in which ways are they similar, and in…
We discuss the fate of diffeomorphism symmetry in discrete gravity. Diffeomorphism symmetry is typically broken by the discretization. This has repercussions for the observable content and the canonical formulation of the theory. It might…
A new analysis of the gauge invariances and their unity with diffeomorphism invariances in second order metric gravity is presented which strictly follows Dirac's constrained Hamiltonian approach.
Gauge symmetries are often highlighted as a fundamental cornerstone of modern physics. But at the same time, it is commonly emphasized that gauge symmetries are not a fundamental feature of nature but merely redundancies in our description.…
The geometric structure of theories with gauge fields of spins two and higher should involve a higher spin generalisation of Riemannian geometry. Such geometries are discussed and the case of $W_\infty$-gravity is analysed in detail. While…
We introduce a new theory of generalised solutions which applies to fully nonlinear PDE systems of any order and allows for merely measurable maps as solutions. This approach bypasses the standard problems arising by the application of…
We examine the metrics that arise when a finite set of points is embedded in the real line, in such a way that the distance between each pair of points is at least 1. These metrics are closely related to some other known metrics in the…
We analyze how gauge fixing, which is required by any practical continuum approach to gauge systems, can interfere with the physical symmetries of such systems. In principle, the gauge fixing procedure, which deals with the (unphysical)…
In pregeometry a metric arises as a composite object at large distances. We investigate if its signature, which distinguishes between time and space, could be a result of the dynamics rather than being built in already in the formulation of…
Starting from the De Witt supermetric and limiting ourselves to a family of geometries characterized by a finite number of geometric invariants we extract the unique integration measure. Such a measure turns out to be a geometric invariant,…