Action and Energy of the Gravitational Field

We present a detailed examination of the variational principle for metric general relativity as applied to a ``quasilocal'' spacetime region \M (that is, a region that is both spatially and temporally bounded). Our analysis relies on the Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity, and thereby assumes a foliation of \M into spacelike hypersurfaces $\Sigma$. We allow for near complete generality in the choice of foliation. Using a field--theoretic generalization of Hamilton--Jacobi theory, we define the quasilocal stress-energy-momentum of the gravitational field by varying the action with respect to the metric on the boundary \partial\M. The gravitational stress-energy-momentum is defined for a two--surface $B$ spanned by a spacelike hypersurface in spacetime. We examine the behavior of the gravitational stress-energy-momentum under boosts of the spanning hypersurface. The boost relations are derived from the geometrical and invariance properties of the gravitational action and Hamiltonian. Finally, we present several new examples of quasilocal energy--momentum, including a novel discussion of quasilocal energy--momentum in the large-sphere limit towards spatial infinity.Comment: To be published in Annals of Physics. This final version includes two new sections, one giving examples of quasilocal energy and the other containing a discussion of energy at spatial infinity. References have been added to papers by Bose and Dadhich, Anco and Tun

Spacelike radial graphs of prescribed mean curvature in the Lorentz-Minkowski space

In this paper we investigate the existence and uniqueness of spacelike radial graphs of prescribed mean curvature in the Lorentz-Minkowski space $\mathbb{L}^{n+1}$, for $n\geq 2$, spanning a given boundary datum lying on the hyperbolic space $\mathbb{H}^n$

The holographic principle

There is strong evidence that the area of any surface limits the information content of adjacent spacetime regions, at 10^(69) bits per square meter. We review the developments that have led to the recognition of this entropy bound, placing special emphasis on the quantum properties of black holes. The construction of light-sheets, which associate relevant spacetime regions to any given surface, is discussed in detail. We explain how the bound is tested and demonstrate its validity in a wide range of examples. A universal relation between geometry and information is thus uncovered. It has yet to be explained. The holographic principle asserts that its origin must lie in the number of fundamental degrees of freedom involved in a unified description of spacetime and matter. It must be manifest in an underlying quantum theory of gravity. We survey some successes and challenges in implementing the holographic principle.Comment: 52 pages, 10 figures, invited review for Rev. Mod. Phys; v2: reference adde

Simplicial Flat Norm with Scale

We study the multiscale simplicial flat norm (MSFN) problem, which computes flat norm at various scales of sets defined as oriented subcomplexes of finite simplicial complexes in arbitrary dimensions. We show that the multiscale simplicial flat norm is NP-complete when homology is defined over integers. We cast the multiscale simplicial flat norm as an instance of integer linear optimization. Following recent results on related problems, the multiscale simplicial flat norm integer program can be solved in polynomial time by solving its linear programming relaxation, when the simplicial complex satisfies a simple topological condition (absence of relative torsion). Our most significant contribution is the simplicial deformation theorem, which states that one may approximate a general current with a simplicial current while bounding the expansion of its mass. We present explicit bounds on the quality of this approximation, which indicate that the simplicial current gets closer to the original current as we make the simplicial complex finer. The multiscale simplicial flat norm opens up the possibilities of using flat norm to denoise or extract scale information of large data sets in arbitrary dimensions. On the other hand, it allows one to employ the large body of algorithmic results on simplicial complexes to address more general problems related to currents.Comment: To appear in the Journal of Computational Geometry. Since the last version, the section comparing our bounds to Sullivan's has been expanded. In particular, we show that our bounds are uniformly better in the case of boundaries and less sensitive to simplicial irregularit