5,293 research outputs found
Quantisation, Representation and Reduction; How Should We Interpret the Quantum Hamiltonian Constraints of Canonical Gravity?
Hamiltonian constraints feature in the canonical formulation of general
relativity. Unlike typical constraints they cannot be associated with a
reduction procedure leading to a non-trivial reduced phase space and this means
the physical interpretation of their quantum analogues is ambiguous. In
particular, can we assume that `quantisation commutes with reduction' and treat
the promotion of these constraints to operators annihilating the wave function,
according to a Dirac type procedure, as leading to a Hilbert space equivalent
to that reached by quantisation of the problematic reduced space? If not, how
should we interpret Hamiltonian constraints quantum mechanically? And on what
basis do we assert that quantisation and reduction commute anyway? These
questions will be refined and explored in the context of modern approaches to
the quantisation of canonical general relativity.Comment: 18 Page
Symplectic reduction and the problem of time in nonrelativistic mechanics
The deep connection between the interpretation of theories invariant under local symmetry transformations (i.e. gauge theories) and the philosophy of space and time can be illustrated nonrelativistically via the investigation of reparameterisation invariant reformulations of Newtonian mechanics, such as Jacobi's theory. Like general relativity, the canonical formulation of such theories feature Hamiltonian constraints; and like general relativity, the interpretation of these constraints along conventional Dirac lines is highly problematic in that it leads to a nonrelativistic variant of the infamous problem of time. I argue that, nonrelativistically at least, the source of the problem can be found precisely within the symplectic reduction that goes along with strict adherence to the Dirac view. Avoiding reduction, two viable alternative strategies for dealing with Hamiltonian constraints are available. Each is found to lead us to a novel and interesting re-conception of time and change within nonrelativistic mechanics. Both these strategies and the failure of reduction have important implications for the debate concerning the relational or absolute status of time within physical theory
Geometrization of metric boundary data for Einstein's equations
The principle part of Einstein equations in the harmonic gauge consists of a
constrained system of 10 curved space wave equations for the components of the
space-time metric. A well-posed initial boundary value problem based upon a new
formulation of constraint-preserving boundary conditions of the Sommerfeld type
has recently been established for such systems. In this paper these boundary
conditions are recast in a geometric form. This serves as a first step toward
their application to other metric formulations of Einstein's equations.Comment: Article to appear in Gen. Rel. Grav. volume in memory of Juergen
Ehler
Comment on "Control landscapes are almost always trap free: a geometric assessment"
We analyze a recent claim that almost all closed, finite dimensional quantum
systems have trap-free (i.e., free from local optima) landscapes (B. Russell
et.al. J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 50, 205302 (2017)). We point out several errors
in the proof which compromise the authors' conclusion.
Interested readers are highly encouraged to take a look at the "rebuttal"
(see Ref. [1]) of this comment published by the authors of the criticized work.
This "rebuttal" is a showcase of the way the erroneous and misleading
statements under discussion will be wrapped up and injected in their future
works, such as R. L. Kosut et.al, arXiv:1810.04362 [quant-ph] (2018).Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur
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