1,458 research outputs found
Einstein's Equations in the Presence of Signature Change
We discuss Einstein's field equations in the presence of signature change
using variational methods, obtaining a generalization of the Lanczos equation
relating the distributional term in the stress tensor to the discontinuity of
the extrinsic curvature. In particular, there is no distributional term in the
stress tensor, and hence no surface layer, precisely when the extrinsic
curvature is continuous, in agreement with the standard result for constant
signature.Comment: REVTeX, 8 pages; to appear in JM
Note on Signature Change and Colombeau Theory
Recent work alludes to various `controversies' associated with signature
change in general relativity. As we have argued previously, these are in fact
disagreements about the (often unstated) assumptions underlying various
possible approaches. The choice between approaches remains open.Comment: REVTex, 3 pages; to appear in GR
Gravity and Signature Change
The use of proper ``time'' to describe classical ``spacetimes'' which contain
both Euclidean and Lorentzian regions permits the introduction of smooth
(generalized) orthonormal frames. This remarkable fact permits one to describe
both a variational treatment of Einstein's equations and distribution theory
using straightforward generalizations of the standard treatments for constant
signature.Comment: Plain TeX, 6 pages; to appear in GR
The Effect of Negative-Energy Shells on the Schwarzschild Black Hole
We construct Penrose diagrams for Schwarzschild spacetimes joined by massless
shells of matter, in the process correcting minor flaws in the similar diagrams
drawn by Dray and 't Hooft, and confirming their result that such shells
generate a horizon shift. We then consider shells with negative energy density,
showing that the horizon shift in this case allows for travel between the
heretofore causally separated exterior regions of the Schwarzschild geometry.
These drawing techniques are then used to investigate the properties of
successive shells, joining multiple Schwarzschild regions. Again, the presence
of negative-energy shells leads to a causal connection between the exterior
regions, even in (some) cases with two successive shells of equal but opposite
total energy.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure
Comment on `Smooth and Discontinuous Signature Type Change in General Relativity'
Kossowski and Kriele derived boundary conditions on the metric at a surface
of signature change. We point out that their derivation is based not only on
certain smoothness assumptions but also on a postulated form of the Einstein
field equations. Since there is no canonical form of the field equations at a
change of signature, their conclusions are not inescapable. We show here that a
weaker formulation is possible, in which less restrictive smoothness
assumptions are made, and (a slightly different form of) the Einstein field
equations are satisfied. In particular, in this formulation it is possible to
have a bounded energy-momentum tensor at a change of signature without
satisfying their condition that the extrinsic curvature vanish.Comment: Plain TeX, 6 pages; Comment on Kossowski and Kriele: Class. Quantum
Grav. 10, 2363 (1993); Reply by Kriele: Gen. Rel. Grav. 28, 1409-1413 (1996
The Construction of Spinor Fields on Manifolds with Smooth Degenerate Metrics
We examine some of the subtleties inherent in formulating a theory of spinors
on a manifold with a smooth degenerate metric. We concentrate on the case where
the metric is singular on a hypersurface that partitions the manifold into
Lorentzian and Euclidean domains. We introduce the notion of a complex spinor
fibration to make precise the meaning of continuity of a spinor field and give
an expression for the components of a local spinor connection that is valid in
the absence of a frame of local orthonormal vectors. These considerations
enable one to construct a Dirac equation for the discussion of the behavior of
spinors in the vicinity of the metric degeneracy. We conclude that the theory
contains more freedom than the spacetime Dirac theory and we discuss some of
the implications of this for the continuity of conserved currents.Comment: 24 pages, LaTeX (RevTeX 3.0, no figures), To appear in J. Math. Phy
The symplectic origin of conformal and Minkowski superspaces
Supermanifolds provide a very natural ground to understand and handle
supersymmetry from a geometric point of view; supersymmetry in and
dimensions is also deeply related to the normed division algebras.
In this paper we want to show the link between the conformal group and
certain types of symplectic transformations over division algebras. Inspired by
this observation we then propose a new\,realization of the real form of the 4
dimensional conformal and Minkowski superspaces we obtain, respectively, as a
Lagrangian supermanifold over the twistor superspace and a
big cell inside it.
The beauty of this approach is that it naturally generalizes to the 6
dimensional case (and possibly also to the 10 dimensional one) thus providing
an elegant and uniform characterization of the conformal superspaces.Comment: 15 pages, references added, minor change
Reply Comment: Comparison of Approaches to Classical Signature Change
We contrast the two approaches to ``classical" signature change used by
Hayward with the one used by us (Hellaby and Dray). There is (as yet) no
rigorous derivation of appropriate distributional field equations. Hayward's
distributional approach is based on a postulated modified form of the field
equations. We make an alternative postulate. We point out an important
difference between two possible philosophies of signature change --- ours is
strictly classical, while Hayward's Lagrangian approach adopts what amounts to
an imaginary proper ``time" on one side of the signature change, as is
explicitly done in quantum cosmology. We also explain why we chose to use the
Darmois-Israel type junction conditions, rather than the Lichnerowicz type
junction conditions favoured by Hayward. We show that the difference in results
is entirely explained by the difference in philosophy (imaginary versus real
Euclidean ``time"), and not by the difference in approach to junction
conditions (Lichnerowicz with specific coordinates versus Darmois with general
coordinates).Comment: 10 pages, latex, no figures. Replying to - "Comment on `Failure of
Standard Conservation Laws at a Classical Change of Signature'", S.A.
Hayward, Phys. Rev. D52, 7331-7332 (1995) (gr-qc/9606045
Stochastic Tachyon Fluctuations, Marginal Deformations and Shock Waves in String Theory
Starting with exact solutions to string theory on curved spacetimes we obtain
deformations that represent gravitational shock waves. These may exist in the
presence or absence of sources. Sources are effectively induced by a tachyon
field that randomly fluctuates around a zero condensate value. It is shown that
at the level of the underlying conformal field theory (CFT) these deformations
are marginal and moreover all \a'-corrections are taken into account. Explicit
results are given when the original undeformed 4-dimensional backgrounds
correspond to tensor products of combinations of 2-dimensional CFT's, for
instance SL(2,R)/R \times SU(2)/U(1).Comment: 26 pages, harvmac, no figures. Very minor modifications, and in
addition conditions (B.3) and (B.4) were also obtained using beta-function
equations. Version to appear in Phys. Rev.
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