Related papers: Pure Shape Dynamics: Relational General Relativity
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 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…
Pure shape dynamics (PSD) is a novel implementation of the relational framework originally proposed by Julian Barbour and Bruno Bertotti. PSD represents a Leibnizian/Machian approach to physics in that it completely describes the dynamical…
Shape Dynamics is a metric theory of pure gravity, equivalent to General Relativity, but formulated as a gauge theory of spatial diffeomporphisms and local spatial conformal transformations. In this paper we extend the construction of Shape…
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…
We present GRAMSES, a new pipeline for nonlinear cosmological $N$-body simulations in General Relativity (GR). This code adopts the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) formalism of GR, with constant mean curvature and minimum distortion gauge…
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…
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…
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…
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…
We discuss the total collision singularities of the gravitational N-body problem on shape space. Shape space is the relational configuration space of the system obtained by quotienting ordinary configuration space with respect to the…
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…
In general relativity, the Einstein equations provide spherically symmetric static spacetimes with dynamics defined as an evolution along the radial coordinate $r$. The geometrical sector becomes a one-dimensional mechanical system, with…
We extend to three dimensions the proposal of a completely relativistic positioning system (rPS). The system does not rely on approximations, in fact, it works at a few Schwarzschild radii from a black hole, and it does not rely on…
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…
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…
Like Euclid, Riemann and Lobachevsky geometries on an almost equal footing, based on the principle of relativity of maximum symmetry proposed by Lu and the postulate on invariant universal constants, dS/AdS SR can be set up on an almost…
A set of new exact analytical General Relativity (GR) solutions with time-dependent and spatially inhomogeneous quintessence demonstrate 1) a static non-empty space-time with a horizon-type singular surface; 2) time-dependent spatially…