617 research outputs found
The Simplicial Ricci Tensor
The Ricci tensor (Ric) is fundamental to Einstein's geometric theory of
gravitation. The 3-dimensional Ric of a spacelike surface vanishes at the
moment of time symmetry for vacuum spacetimes. The 4-dimensional Ric is the
Einstein tensor for such spacetimes. More recently the Ric was used by Hamilton
to define a non-linear, diffusive Ricci flow (RF) that was fundamental to
Perelman's proof of the Poincare conjecture. Analytic applications of RF can be
found in many fields including general relativity and mathematics. Numerically
it has been applied broadly to communication networks, medical physics,
computer design and more. In this paper, we use Regge calculus (RC) to provide
the first geometric discretization of the Ric. This result is fundamental for
higher-dimensional generalizations of discrete RF. We construct this tensor on
both the simplicial lattice and its dual and prove their equivalence. We show
that the Ric is an edge-based weighted average of deficit divided by an
edge-based weighted average of dual area -- an expression similar to the
vertex-based weighted average of the scalar curvature reported recently. We use
this Ric in a third and independent geometric derivation of the RC Einstein
tensor in arbitrary dimension.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figure
Simplicial Ricci Flow
We construct a discrete form of Hamilton's Ricci flow (RF) equations for a
d-dimensional piecewise flat simplicial geometry, S. These new algebraic
equations are derived using the discrete formulation of Einstein's theory of
general relativity known as Regge calculus. A Regge-Ricci flow (RRF) equation
is naturally associated to each edge, L, of a simplicial lattice. In defining
this equation, we find it convenient to utilize both the simplicial lattice, S,
and its circumcentric dual lattice, S*. In particular, the RRF equation
associated to L is naturally defined on a d-dimensional hybrid block connecting
with its (d-1)-dimensional circumcentric dual cell, L*. We show that
this equation is expressed as the proportionality between (1) the simplicial
Ricci tensor, Rc_L, associated with the edge L in S, and (2) a certain volume
weighted average of the fractional rate of change of the edges, lambda in L*,
of the circumcentric dual lattice, S*, that are in the dual of L. The inherent
orthogonality between elements of S and their duals in S* provide a simple
geometric representation of Hamilton's RF equations. In this paper we utilize
the well established theories of Regge calculus, or equivalently discrete
exterior calculus, to construct these equations. We solve these equations for a
few illustrative examples.Comment: 34 pages, 10 figures, minor revisions, DOI included: Commun. Math.
Phy
The rings of n-dimensional polytopes
Points of an orbit of a finite Coxeter group G, generated by n reflections
starting from a single seed point, are considered as vertices of a polytope
(G-polytope) centered at the origin of a real n-dimensional Euclidean space. A
general efficient method is recalled for the geometric description of G-
polytopes, their faces of all dimensions and their adjacencies. Products and
symmetrized powers of G-polytopes are introduced and their decomposition into
the sums of G-polytopes is described. Several invariants of G-polytopes are
found, namely the analogs of Dynkin indices of degrees 2 and 4, anomaly numbers
and congruence classes of the polytopes. The definitions apply to
crystallographic and non-crystallographic Coxeter groups. Examples and
applications are shown.Comment: 24 page
Procedural function-based modelling of volumetric microstructures
We propose a new approach to modelling heterogeneous objects containing internal volumetric structures with size of details orders of magnitude smaller than the overall size of the object. The proposed function-based procedural representation provides compact, precise, and arbitrarily parameterised models of coherent microstructures, which can undergo blending, deformations, and other geometric operations, and can be directly rendered and fabricated without generating any auxiliary representations (such as polygonal meshes and voxel arrays). In particular, modelling of regular lattices and cellular microstructures as well as irregular porous media is discussed and illustrated. We also present a method to estimate parameters of the given model by fitting it to microstructure data obtained with magnetic resonance imaging and other measurements of natural and artificial objects. Examples of rendering and digital fabrication of microstructure models are presented
Coupling Non-Gravitational Fields with Simplicial Spacetimes
The inclusion of source terms in discrete gravity is a long-standing problem.
Providing a consistent coupling of source to the lattice in Regge Calculus (RC)
yields a robust unstructured spacetime mesh applicable to both numerical
relativity and quantum gravity. RC provides a particularly insightful approach
to this problem with its purely geometric representation of spacetime. The
simplicial building blocks of RC enable us to represent all matter and fields
in a coordinate-free manner. We provide an interpretation of RC as a discrete
exterior calculus framework into which non-gravitational fields naturally
couple with the simplicial lattice. Using this approach we obtain a consistent
mapping of the continuum action for non-gravitational fields to the Regge
lattice. In this paper we apply this framework to scalar, vector and tensor
fields. In particular we reconstruct the lattice action for (1) the scalar
field, (2) Maxwell field tensor and (3) Dirac particles. The straightforward
application of our discretization techniques to these three fields demonstrates
a universal implementation of coupling source to the lattice in Regge calculus.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, Latex, fixed typos and minor corrections
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