Cosmological and Black Hole Spacetimes in Twisted Noncommutative Gravity

We derive noncommutative Einstein equations for abelian twists and their solutions in consistently symmetry reduced sectors, corresponding to twisted FRW cosmology and Schwarzschild black holes. While some of these solutions must be rejected as models for physical spacetimes because they contradict observations, we find also solutions that can be made compatible with low energy phenomenology, while exhibiting strong noncommutativity at very short distances and early times.Comment: LaTeX 12 pages, JHEP.st

Noncommutative Symmetries and Gravity

Spacetime geometry is twisted (deformed) into noncommutative spacetime geometry, where functions and tensors are now star-multiplied. Consistently, spacetime diffeomorhisms are twisted into noncommutative diffeomorphisms. Their deformed Lie algebra structure and that of infinitesimal Poincare' transformations is defined and explicitly constructed. This allows to construct a noncommutative theory of gravity.Comment: 26 pages. Lectures given at the workshop `Noncommutative Geometry in Field and String Theories', Corfu Summer Institute on EPP, September 2005, Corfu, Greece. Version 2: Marie Curie European Reintegration Grant MERG-CT-2004-006374 acknowledge

Noncommutative gravity coupled to fermions: second order expansion via Seiberg-Witten map

We use the Seiberg-Witten map (SW map) to expand noncommutative gravity coupled to fermions in terms of ordinary commuting fields. The action is invariant under general coordinate transformations and local Lorentz rotations, and has the same degrees of freedom as the commutative gravity action. The expansion is given up to second order in the noncommutativity parameter {\theta}. A geometric reformulation and generalization of the SW map is presented that applies to any abelian twist. Compatibility of the map with hermiticity and charge conjugation conditions is proven. The action is shown to be real and invariant under charge conjugation at all orders in {\theta}. This implies the bosonic part of the action to be even in {\theta}, while the fermionic part is even in {\theta} for Majorana fermions.Comment: 27 pages, LaTeX. Revised version with proof of charge conjugation symmetry of the NC action and its parity under theta --> - theta (see new sect. 2.6, sect. 6 and app. B). References added. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:0902.381

Reality in Noncommutative Gravity

We study the problem of reality in the geometric formalism of the 4D noncommutative gravity using the known deformation of the diffeomorphism group induced by the twist operator with the constant deformation parameters \vt^{mn}. It is shown that real covariant derivatives can be constructed via $\star$-anticommutators of the real connection with the corresponding fields. The minimal noncommutative generalization of the real Riemann tensor contains only \vt^{mn}-corrections of the even degrees in comparison with the undeformed tensor. The gauge field $h_{mn}$ describes a gravitational field on the flat background. All geometric objects are constructed as the perturbation series using $\star$-polynomial decomposition in terms of $h_{mn}$. We consider the nonminimal tensor and scalar functions of $h_{mn}$ of the odd degrees in \vt^{mn} and remark that these pure noncommutative objects can be used in the noncommutative gravity.Comment: Latex file, 14 pages, corrected version to be publised in CQ

Star Product Geometries

We consider noncommutative geometries obtained from a triangular Drinfeld twist. This allows to construct and study a wide class of noncommutative manifolds and their deformed Lie algebras of infinitesimal diffeomorphisms. This way symmetry principles can be implemented. We review two main examples [15]-[18]: a) general covariance in noncommutative spacetime. This leads to a noncommutative gravity theory. b) Symplectomorphims of the algebra of observables associated to a noncommutative configuration space. This leads to a geometric formulation of quantization on noncommutative spacetime, i.e., we establish a noncommutative correspondence principle from *-Poisson brackets to *-commutators. New results concerning noncommutative gravity include the Cartan structural equations for the torsion and curvature tensors, and the associated Bianchi identities. Concerning scalar field theories the deformed algebra of classical and quantum observables has been understood in terms of a twist within the algebra.Comment: 27 pages. Based on the talk presented at the conference "Geometry and Operators Theory," Ancona (Italy), September 200

Unified Theories from Fuzzy Extra Dimensions

We combine and exploit ideas from Coset Space Dimensional Reduction (CSDR) methods and Non-commutative Geometry. We consider the dimensional reduction of gauge theories defined in high dimensions where the compact directions are a fuzzy space (matrix manifold). In the CSDR one assumes that the form of space-time is M^D=M^4 x S/R with S/R a homogeneous space. Then a gauge theory with gauge group G defined on M^D can be dimensionally reduced to M^4 in an elegant way using the symmetries of S/R, in particular the resulting four dimensional gauge is a subgroup of G. In the present work we show that one can apply the CSDR ideas in the case where the compact part of the space-time is a finite approximation of the homogeneous space S/R, i.e. a fuzzy coset. In particular we study the fuzzy sphere case.Comment: 6 pages, Invited talk given by G. Zoupanos at the 36th International Symposium Ahrenshoop, Wernsdorf, Germany, 26-30 Aug 200

Twist as a Symmetry Principle and the Noncommutative Gauge Theory Formulation

Based on the analysis of the most natural and general ansatz, we conclude that the concept of twist symmetry, originally obtained for the noncommutative space-time, cannot be extended to include internal gauge symmetry. The case is reminiscent of the Coleman-Mandula theorem. Invoking the supersymmetry may reverse the situation.Comment: 13 pages, more accurate motivation adde

Fuzzy Extra Dimensions: Dimensional Reduction, Dynamical Generation and Renormalizability

We examine gauge theories defined in higher dimensions where theextra dimensions form a fuzzy (finite matrix) manifold. First we reinterpret these gauge theories as four-dimensional theories with Kaluza-Klein modes and then we perform a generalized \`a la Forgacs-Manton dimensional reduction. We emphasize some striking features emerging in the later case such as (i) the appearance of non-abelian gauge theories in four dimensions starting from an abelian gauge theory in higher dimensions, (ii) the fact that the spontaneous symmetry breaking of the theory takes place entirely in the extra dimensions and (iii) the renormalizability of the theory both in higher as well as in four dimensions. Then reversing the above approach we present a renormalizable four dimensional SU(N) gauge theory with a suitable multiplet of scalar fields, which via spontaneous symmetry breaking dynamically develops extra dimensions in the form of a fuzzy sphere. We explicitly find the tower of massive Kaluza-Klein modes consistent with an interpretation as gauge theory on $M^4 \times S^2$, the scalars being interpreted as gauge fields on $S^2$. Depending on the parameters of the model the low-energy gauge group can be of the form $SU(n_1) \times SU(n_2) \times U(1)$.Comment: 18 pages, Based on invited talks presented at various conferences, Minor corrections, Acknowledgements adde

Algebraic approach to quantum field theory on a class of noncommutative curved spacetimes

In this article we study the quantization of a free real scalar field on a class of noncommutative manifolds, obtained via formal deformation quantization using triangular Drinfel'd twists. We construct deformed quadratic action functionals and compute the corresponding equation of motion operators. The Green's operators and the fundamental solution of the deformed equation of motion are obtained in terms of formal power series. It is shown that, using the deformed fundamental solution, we can define deformed *-algebras of field observables, which in general depend on the spacetime deformation parameter. This dependence is absent in the special case of Killing deformations, which include in particular the Moyal-Weyl deformation of the Minkowski spacetime.Comment: LaTeX 14 pages, no figures, svjour3.cls style; v2: clarifications and references added, compatible with published versio

Hidden Quantum Group Structure in Einstein's General Relativity

A new formal scheme is presented in which Einstein's classical theory of General Relativity appears as the common, invariant sector of a one-parameter family of different theories. This is achieved by replacing the Poincare` group of the ordinary tetrad formalism with a q-deformed Poincare` group, the usual theory being recovered at q=1. Although written in terms of noncommuting vierbein and spin-connection fields, each theory has the same metric sector leading to the ordinary Einstein-Hilbert action and to the corresponding equations of motion. The Christoffel symbols and the components of the Riemann tensor are ordinary commuting numbers and have the usual form in terms of a metric tensor built as an appropriate bilinear in the vierbeins. Furthermore we exhibit a one-parameter family of Hamiltonian formalisms for general relativity, by showing that a canonical formalism a` la Ashtekar can be built for any value of q. The constraints are still polynomial, but the Poisson brackets are not skewsymmetric for q different from 1.Comment: LaTex file, 21 pages, no figure