Related papers: General relativity histories theory II: Invariance…
We describe a class of modified gravity theories that deform general relativity in a way that breaks time reversal invariance and, very mildly, locality. The algebra of constraints, local physical degrees of freedom, and their linearized…
It is well known that in a generally covariant gravitational theory the choice of spacetime scalars as coordinates yields phase-space observables (or "invariants"). However their relation to the symmetry group of diffeomorphism…
In its canonical formulation, general relativity is subject to gauge transformations that are equivalent to space-time coordinate changes of general covariance only when the gauge generators, given by the Hamiltonian and diffeomorphism…
Diffeomorphism-induced symmetry transformations and time evolution are distinct operations in generally covariant theories formulated in phase space. Time is not frozen. Diffeomorphism invariants are consequently not necessarily constants…
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…
(Abridged Abstract) This paper deals with a number of technical achievements that are instrumental for a dis-solution of the so-called {\it Hole Argument} in general relativity. The work is carried through in metric gravity for the class of…
We study spacetime diffeomorphisms in Hamiltonian and Lagrangian formalisms of generally covariant systems. We show that the gauge group for such a system is characterized by having generators which are projectable under the Legendre map.…
Diffeomorphism invariance is often considered to be a hallmark of the theory of general relativity (GR). But closer analysis reveals that this cannot be what makes GR distinctive. The concept of diffeomorphism invariance can be defined in…
A conventional wisdom often perpetuated in the literature states that: (i) a 3+1 decomposition of space-time into space and time is synonymous with the canonical treatment and this decomposition is essential for any Hamiltonian formulation…
In order to test the canonical quantization programme for general relativity we introduce a reduced model for a real sector of complexified Ashtekar gravity which captures important properties of the full theory. While it does not…
Diffeomorphism invariance is a feature that gets sometimes highlighted as something with profound implications in the physics of spacetime. Moreover, it is often wrongly associated exclusively with General Relativity. The fact that…
We present a quantization of the Hamiltonian and diffeomorphism constraint of canonical quantum gravity in the spin network representation. The novelty consists in considering a space of wavefunctions based on the Vassiliev knot invariants.…
We show that the relativistic analogue of the two types of time translation in a non-relativistic history theory is the existence of two distinct Poincar\'{e} groups. The `internal' Poincar\'{e} group is analogous to the one that arises in…
This article presents a precise description of the interplay between the symmetries of a quantum or classical theory with spacetime interpretation, and some of its physical properties relating to causality, horizons and positive energy. Our…
In this work we will consider the concepts of partial and complete observables for canonical general relativity. These concepts provide a method to calculate Dirac observables. The central result of this work is that one can compute Dirac…
We give an SU(2) covariant representation of the constraints of Euclidean general relativity in the Ashtekar variables. The guiding principle is the use of triads to transform all free spatial indices into SU(2) indices. A central role is…
We introduce a gauge and diffeomorphism invariant theory on Yang-Mills phase space. The theory is well defined for an arbitrary gauge group with an invariant bilinear form, it contains only first class constraints, and the spacetime metric…
Classical background independence is reflected in Lagrangian general relativity through covariance under the full diffeomorphism group. We show how this independence can be maintained in a Hamilton-Jacobi approach that does not accord…
In this work we use generalized deformed gauge groups for investigation of symmetry of general relativity (GR). GR is formulated in generalized reference frames, which are represented by (anholonomic in general case) affine frame fields.…
Observed physical phenomena can be described well by quantum mechanics or general relativity. People may try to find an unified fundamental theory which mainly aims to merge gravity with quantum theory. However, difficulty in merging those…