Dynamics of a self-gravitating shell of matter

Dynamics of a self-gravitating shell of matter is derived from the Hilbert variational principle and then described as an (infinite dimensional, constrained) Hamiltonian system. A method used here enables us to define singular Riemann tensor of a non-continuous connection {\em via} standard formulae of differential geometry, with derivatives understood in the sense of distributions. Bianchi identities for the singular curvature are proved. They match the conservation laws for the singular energy-momentum tensor of matter. Rosenfed-Belinfante and Noether theorems are proved to be still valid in case of these singular objects. Assumption about continuity of the four-dimensional spacetime metric is widely discussed.Comment: publishe

Dynamics of a self gravitating light-like matter shell: a gauge-invariant Lagrangian and Hamiltonian description

A complete Lagrangian and Hamiltonian description of the theory of self-gravitating light-like matter shells is given in terms of gauge-independent geometric quantities. For this purpose the notion of an extrinsic curvature for a null-like hypersurface is discussed and the corresponding Gauss-Codazzi equations are proved. These equations imply Bianchi identities for spacetimes with null-like, singular curvature. Energy-momentum tensor-density of a light-like matter shell is unambiguously defined in terms of an invariant matter Lagrangian density. Noether identity and Belinfante-Rosenfeld theorem for such a tensor-density are proved. Finally, the Hamiltonian dynamics of the interacting system: ``gravity + matter'' is derived from the total Lagrangian, the latter being an invariant scalar density.Comment: 20 pages, RevTeX4, no figure

Charge Superselection Sectors for Scalar QED on the Lattice

The lattice model of scalar quantum electrodynamics (Maxwell field coupled to a complex scalar field) in the Hamiltonian framework is discussed. It is shown that the algebra of observables ${\cal O}({\Lambda})$ of this model is a $C^*$-algebra, generated by a set of gauge-invariant elements satisfying the Gauss law and some additional relations. Next, the faithful, irreducible and non-degenerate representations of ${\cal O}({\Lambda})$ are found. They are labeled by the value of the total electric charge, leading to a decomposition of the physical Hilbert space into charge superselection sectors. In the Appendices we give a unified description of spinorial and scalar quantum electrodynamics and, as a byproduct, we present an interesting example of weakly commuting operators, which do not commute strongly

Gauge Invariant Formulation and Bosonisation of the Schwinger Model

The functional integral of the massless Schwinger model in $(1+1)$ dimensions is reduced to an integral in terms of local gauge invariant quantities. It turns out that this approach leads to a natural bosonisation scheme, yielding, in particular the famous `bosonisation rule'' and giving some deeper insight into the nature of the bosonisation phenomenon. As an application, the chiral anomaly is calculated within this formulation.Comment: LaTeX, 8 page

Energy-minimizing two black holes initial data

An attempt to construct the ``ground state'' vacuum initial data for the gravitational field surrounding two black holes is presented. The ground state is defined as the gravitational initial data minimizing the ADM mass within the class of data for which the masses of the holes and their distance are fixed. To parameterize different geometric arrangements of the two holes (and, therefore, their distance) we use an appropriately chosen scale factor. A method for analyzing the variations of the ADM mass and the masses (areas) of the horizons in terms of gravitational degrees of freedom is proposed. The Misner initial data are analyzed in this context: it is shown that they do not minimize the ADM mass.Comment: Minor corrections, 2 references adde