Related papers: MacDowell-Mansouri gravity and Cartan geometry
Motivated by the study of physical models associated with General Relativity, we review some finite-dimensional, geometric and covariant formulations that allow us to characterize in a simple manner the symmetries for classical field theory…
The role of space-time torsion in general relativity is reviewed in accordance with some recent results on the subject. It is shown that, according to the connection compatibility condition, the usual Riemannian volume element is not…
In Ashtekar's Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity, and in loop quantum gravity, Lorentz covariance is a subtle issue that has been strongly debated. Maintaining manifest Lorentz covariance seems to require introducing either…
In gravity, breaking symmetry from a group G to a group H plays the role of describing geometry in relation to the geometry the homogeneous space G/H. The deep reason for this is Cartan's "method of equivalence," giving, in particular, an…
The Covariant Canonical Gauge theory of Gravity is generalized by including at the Lagrangian level all possible quadratic curvature invariants. In this approach, the covariant Hamiltonian principle and the canonical transformation…
Using the Cartan formulation of General Relativity, we construct a well defined lattice-regularized theory capable to describe large non-perturbative quantum fluctuations of the frame field (or the metric) and of the spin connection. To…
First-order general relativity in $n$ dimensions ($n \geq 3$) has an internal gauge symmetry that is the higher-dimensional generalization of three-dimensional local translations. We report the extension of this symmetry for $n$-dimensional…
Spin Foam and Loop approaches to Quantum Gravity reformulate Einstein's theory of relativity in terms of connection variables. The metric properties are encoded in face bivectors/conjugate fluxes that are required to satisfy certain…
We review the application of torsion in field theory. First we show how the notion of torsion emerges in differential geometry. In the context of a Cartan circuit, torsion is related to translations similar as curvature to rotations.…
The crucial but undocumented Dolan-McCrea variational method is richly applied. Using the said method, we analytically derived a field equation comprising entirely of geometric structures and we investigate how effectively it describes…
We discuss new models of an `affine' theory of gravity in multidimensional space-times with symmetric connections. We use and develop ideas of Weyl, Eddington, and Einstein, in particular, Einstein's proposal to specify the space - time…
The "metric" structure of nonrelativistic spacetimes consists of a one-form (the absolute clock) whose kernel is endowed with a positive-definite metric. Contrarily to the relativistic case, the metric structure and the torsion do not…
We briefly discuss new models of an `affine' theory of gravity in multidimensional space-times with symmetric connections. We use and generalize Einstein's proposal to specify the space-time geometry by use of the Hamilton principle to…
The geometrical formulation of gravity is not unique and can be set up in a variety of spacetimes. Even though the gravitational sector enjoys this freedom of different geometrical interpretations, consistent matter couplings have to be…
The geometro-stochastic method of quantization provides a framework for quantum general relativity, in which the principal frame bundles of local Lorentz frames that underlie the fibre-theoretical approach to classical general relativity…
Many theories of gravity admit formulations in different, conformally related manifolds, known as the Jordan and Einstein conformal frames. Among them are various scalar-tensor theories of gravity and high-order theories with the Lagrangian…
It is well known that the geometrical framework of Riemannian geometry that underlies general relativity and its torsionful extension to Riemann-Cartan geometry can be obtained from a procedure known as gauging the Poincare algebra.…
In the general relativity theory the basic ingredient to describe gravity is the geometry, which interacts with all forms of matter and energy, and as such, the metric could be interpreted as a true physical quantity. However the metric is…
We present a geometric formulation of the mechanics of a field that takes values in a homogeneous space \mathbb{X} on which a Lie group G acts transitively. This generalises the mechanics of Cosserat media where \mathbb{X} is the frame…
The advent of general relativity settled it once and for all that a theory of spacetime is inextricably linked to the theory of gravity. From the point of view of the gauge principle of Weyl and Yang-Mills-Utiyama, it became manifest around…