Related papers: Dynamics of Pure Shape, Relativity and the Problem…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Shape dynamics is an alternative background-independent approach to classical dynamics that implements Leibnizian philosophy and Mach's Principles. It is a formulation of the dynamics of the universe in terms of the intrinsic and relational…
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 is a theory of gravity that waives refoliation invariance in favor of spatial Weyl invariance. It is a canonical theory, constructed from a Hamiltonian, 3+1 perspective. One of the main deficits of Shape Dynamics is that its…
Relational particle dynamics include the dynamics of pure shape and cases in which absolute scale or absolute rotation are additionally meaningful. These are interesting as regards the absolute versus relative motion debate as well as…
Riemann's principle "force equals geometry" provided the basis for Einstein's General Relativity - the geometric theory of gravitation. In this paper, we follow this principle to derive the dynamics for any static, conservative force. The…
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…
Relational formulations of classical mechanics and gravity have been developed by Julian Barbour and collaborators. Crucial to these formulations is the notion of shape space. We indicate here that the metric structure of shape space allows…
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 framework of a theory of gravity from the quantum to the classical regime is presented. The paradigm shift from full spacetime covariance to spatial diffeomorphism invariance, together with clean decomposition of the canonical…
The conventional spacetime formulation of general relativity may be recast as a dynamics of spatial 3-geometries (geometrodynamics). Furthermore, geometrodynamics can be derived from first principles. I investigate two distinct sets of…
If gravity respects quantum mechanics, it is important to identify the essential postulates of a quantum framework capable of incorporating gravitational phenomena. Such a construct likely requires elimination or modification of some of the…
Relativity and classical dynamics, as defined so far, form distinct parts of classical physics and are formulated based on independent principles. We propose that the formalism of classical dynamics can be considered as the theoretical…
We present a Pure Shape Dynamics (PSD) formulation of General Relativity (GR), which implements full relationalism by eliminating absolute scale and external time references from the fundamental description of gravity. Starting from the…
The Einsteinian Theory of Gravitation ("General Theory of Relativity") is founded essentially; on the reception that the geometrical properties of the 4-dimensional space-time continuum are defined from the matter in it. Contrary to this,…
The geometric foundations of General Relativity are revisited, with particular attention to its gauge invariance, as a key to understanding the true nature of spacetime. Beyond the common image of spacetime as a deformable 'fabric' filling…
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…