202 research outputs found
Quantization of generally covariant systems with extrinsic time
A generally covariant system can be deparametrized by means of an
``extrinsic'' time, provided that the metric has a conformal ``temporal''
Killing vector and the potential exhibits a suitable behavior with respect to
it. The quantization of the system is performed by giving the well ordered
constraint operators which satisfy the algebra. The searching of these
operators is enlightned by the methods of the BRST formalism.Comment: 10 pages. Definite published versio
Operator ordering for generally covariant systems
The constraint operators belonging to a generally covariant system are found
out within the framework of the BRST formalism. The result embraces quadratic
Hamiltonian constraints whose potential can be factorized as a never null
function times a gauge invariant function. The building of the inner product
between physical states is analyzed for systems featuring either intrinsic or
extrinsic time.Comment: 4 pages. Talk given at the Third Conference on "Constrained Dynamics
and Quantum Gravity" held in Sardinia (Italy), September 1999. Journal
reference:Nucl. Phys. B (Proc. Suppl.) 88 (2000) 322-32
Internal Time Formalism for Spacetimes with Two Killing Vectors
The Hamiltonian structure of spacetimes with two commuting Killing vector
fields is analyzed for the purpose of addressing the various problems of time
that arise in canonical gravity. Two specific models are considered: (i)
cylindrically symmetric spacetimes, and (ii) toroidally symmetric spacetimes,
which respectively involve open and closed universe boundary conditions. For
each model canonical variables which can be used to identify points of space
and instants of time, {\it i.e.}, internally defined spacetime coordinates, are
identified. To do this it is necessary to extend the usual ADM phase space by a
finite number of degrees of freedom. Canonical transformations are exhibited
that identify each of these models with harmonic maps in the parametrized field
theory formalism. The identifications made between the gravitational models and
harmonic map field theories are completely gauge invariant, that is, no
coordinate conditions are needed. The degree to which the problems of time are
resolved in these models is discussed.Comment: 36 pages, Te
Dirac Quantization of Parametrized Field Theory
Parametrized field theory (PFT) is free field theory on flat spacetime in a
diffeomorphism invariant disguise. It describes field evolution on arbitrary
foliations of the flat spacetime instead of only the usual flat ones, by
treating the `embedding variables' which describe the foliation as dynamical
variables to be varied in the action in addition to the scalar field. A formal
Dirac quantization turns the constraints of PFT into functional Schrodinger
equations which describe evolution of quantum states from an arbitrary Cauchy
slice to an infinitesimally nearby one.This formal Schrodinger picture- based
quantization is unitarily equivalent to the standard Heisenberg picture based
Fock quantization of the free scalar field if scalar field evolution along
arbitrary foliations is unitarily implemented on the Fock space. Torre and
Varadarajan (TV) showed that for generic foliations emanating from a flat
initial slice in spacetimes of dimension greater than 2, evolution is not
unitarily implemented, thus implying an obstruction to Dirac quantization.
We construct a Dirac quantization of PFT,unitarily equivalent to the standard
Fock quantization, using techniques from Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) which are
powerful enough to super-cede the no- go implications of the TV results. The
key features of our quantization include an LQG type representation for the
embedding variables, embedding dependent Fock spaces for the scalar field, an
anomaly free representation of (a generalization of) the finite transformations
generated by the constraints and group averaging techniques. The difference
between 2 and higher dimensions is that in the latter, only finite gauge
transformations are defined in the quantum theory, not the infinitesimal ones.Comment: 33 page
Dust as a Standard of Space and Time in Canonical Quantum Gravity
The coupling of the metric to an incoherent dust introduces into spacetime a
privileged dynamical reference frame and time foliation. The comoving
coordinates of the dust particles and the proper time along the dust worldlines
become canonical coordinates in the phase space of the system. The Hamiltonian
constraint can be resolved with respect to the momentum that is canonically
conjugate to the dust time. Imposition of the resolved constraint as an
operator restriction on the quantum states yields a functional Schr\"{o}dinger
equation. The ensuing Hamiltonian density has an extraordinary feature: it
depends only on the geometric variables, not on the dust coordinates or time.
This has three important consequences. First, the functional Schr\"{o}dinger
equation can be solved by separating the dust time from the geometric
variables. Second, the Hamiltonian densities strongly commute and therefore can
be simultaneously defined by spectral analysis. Third, the standard constraint
system of vacuum gravity is cast into a form in which it generates a true Lie
algebra. The particles of dust introduce into space a privileged system of
coordinates that allows the supermomentum constraint to be solved explicitly.
The Schr\"{o}dinger equation yields a conserved inner product that can be
written in terms of either the instantaneous state functionals or the solutions
of constraints. Examples of gravitational observables are given, though neither
the intrinsic metric nor the extrinsic curvature are observables. Disregarding
factor--ordering difficulties, the introduction of dust provides a satisfactory
phenomenological approach to the problem of time in canonical quantum gravity.Comment: 56 pages (REVTEX file + 3 postscipt figure files
Covariant perturbations of domain walls in curved spacetime
A manifestly covariant equation is derived to describe the perturbations in a
domain wall on a given background spacetime. This generalizes recent work on
domain walls in Minkowski space and introduces a framework for examining the
stability of relativistic bubbles in curved spacetimes.Comment: 15 pages,ICN-UNAM-93-0
Dualism between Physical Frames and Time in Quantum Gravity
In this work we present a discussion of the existing links between the
procedures of endowing the quantum gravity with a real time and of including in
the theory a physical reference frame. More precisely, as first step, we
develop the canonical quantum dynamics, starting from the Einstein equations in
presence of a dust fluid and arrive to a Schroedinger evolution. Then, by
fixing the lapse function in the path integral of gravity, we get a
Schroedinger quantum dynamics, of which eigenvalues problem provides the
appearance of a dust fluid in the classical limit. The main issue of our
analysis is to claim that a theory, in which the time displacement invariance,
on a quantum level, is broken, is indistinguishable from a theory for which
this symmetry holds, but a real reference fluid is included.Comment: 9 pages, submitted to Mod. Phys. Lett. A, major replacements in
section 3 and
Embedding variables in finite dimensional models
Global problems associated with the transformation from the Arnowitt, Deser
and Misner (ADM) to the Kucha\v{r} variables are studied. Two models are
considered: The Friedmann cosmology with scalar matter and the torus sector of
the 2+1 gravity. For the Friedmann model, the transformations to the Kucha\v{r}
description corresponding to three different popular time coordinates are shown
to exist on the whole ADM phase space, which becomes a proper subset of the
Kucha\v{r} phase spaces. The 2+1 gravity model is shown to admit a description
by embedding variables everywhere, even at the points with additional symmetry.
The transformation from the Kucha\v{r} to the ADM description is, however,
many-to-one there, and so the two descriptions are inequivalent for this model,
too. The most interesting result is that the new constraint surface is free
from the conical singularity and the new dynamical equations are linearization
stable. However, some residual pathology persists in the Kucha\v{r}
description.Comment: Latex 2e, 29 pages, no figure
Dirac Constraint Quantization of a Dilatonic Model of Gravitational Collapse
We present an anomaly-free Dirac constraint quantization of the
string-inspired dilatonic gravity (the CGHS model) in an open 2-dimensional
spacetime. We show that the quantum theory has the same degrees of freedom as
the classical theory; namely, all the modes of the scalar field on an auxiliary
flat background, supplemented by a single additional variable corresponding to
the primordial component of the black hole mass. The functional Heisenberg
equations of motion for these dynamical variables and their canonical
conjugates are linear, and they have exactly the same form as the corresponding
classical equations. A canonical transformation brings us back to the physical
geometry and induces its quantization.Comment: 37 pages, LATEX, no figures, submitted to Physical Review
Partial and Complete Observables for Hamiltonian Constrained Systems
We will pick up the concepts of partial and complete observables introduced
by Rovelli in order to construct Dirac observables in gauge systems. We will
generalize these ideas to an arbitrary number of gauge degrees of freedom.
Different methods to calculate such Dirac observables are developed. For
background independent field theories we will show that partial and complete
observables can be related to Kucha\v{r}'s Bubble Time Formalism. Moreover one
can define a non-trivial gauge action on the space of complete observables and
also state the Poisson brackets of these functions.
Additionally we will investigate, whether it is possible to calculate Dirac
observables starting with partially invariant partial observables, for instance
functions, which are invariant under the spatial diffeomorphism group.Comment: 38 page
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