Teleparallel Spin Connection

A new expression for the spin connection of teleparallel gravity is proposed, given by minus the contorsion tensor plus a zero connection. The corresponding minimal coupling is covariant under local Lorentz transformation, and equivalent to the minimal coupling prescription of general relativity. With this coupling prescription, therefore, teleparallel gravity turns out to be fully equivalent to general relativity, even in the presence of spinor fields.Comment: 2 pages, RevTeX, to appear in Phys. Rev D (Brief Report

Gravitation and Duality Symmetry

By generalizing the Hodge dual operator to the case of soldered bundles, and working in the context of the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity, an analysis of the duality symmetry in gravitation is performed. Although the basic conclusion is that, at least in the general case, gravitation is not dual symmetric, there is a particular theory in which this symmetry shows up. It is a self dual (or anti-self dual) teleparallel gravity in which, due to the fact that it does not contribute to the interaction of fermions with gravitation, the purely tensor part of torsion is assumed to vanish. The ensuing fermionic gravitational interaction is found to be chiral. Since duality is intimately related to renormalizability, this theory may eventually be more amenable to renormalization than teleparallel gravity or general relativity.Comment: 7 pages, no figures. Version 2: minor presentation changes, references added. Accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Gravitomagnetic Moments of the Fundamental Fields

The quadratic form of the Dirac equation in a Riemann spacetime yields a gravitational gyromagnetic ratio \kappa_S = 2 for the interaction of a Dirac spinor with curvature. A gravitational gyromagnetic ratio \kappa_S = 1 is also found for the interaction of a vector field with curvature. It is shown that the Dirac equation in a curved background can be obtained as the square--root of the corresponding vector field equation only if the gravitational gyromagnetic ratios are properly taken into account.Comment: 8 pages, RevTeX Style, no figures, changed presentation -- now restricted to fields of spin 0, 1/2 and 1 -- some references adde

Mass Generation from Lie Algebra Extensions

Applied to the electroweak interactions, the theory of Lie algebra extensions suggests a mechanism by which the boson masses are generated without resource to spontaneous symmetry breaking. It starts from a gauge theory without any additional scalar field. All the couplings predicted by the Weinberg-Salam theory are present, and a few others which are nevertheless consistent within the model.Comment: 11 pages; revtex; title and PACS have been changed; comments included in the manuscrip

Calculation of the separation streamlines of barchans and transverse dunes

We use FLUENT to calculate the wind profile over barchans and transverse dunes. The form of the streamlines of flow separation at the lee side of the dunes is determined for a symmetric barchan dune in three dimensions, and for the height profile of a measured transverse dune field in the Len\c{c}\'ois Maranhenses.Comment: 6 pages including 5 figures. Proceedings of PSIS 200