Weak gauge principle and electric charge quantization

Starting from a weak gauge principle we give a new and critical revision of the argument leading to charge quantization on arbitrary spacetimes. The main differences of our approach with respect to previous works appear on spacetimes with non trivial torsion elements on its second integral cohomology group. We show that in these spacetimes there can be topologically non-trivial configurations of charged fields which do not imply charge quantization. However, the existence of a non-exact electromagnetic field always implies the quantization of charges. Another consequence of the theory for spacetimes with torsion is the fact that it gives rise to two natural quantization units that could be identified with the electric quantization unit (realized inside the quarks) and with the electron charge. In this framework the color charge can have a topological origin, with the number of colors being related to the order of the torsion subgroup. Finally, we discuss the possibility that the quantization of charge may be due to a weak non-exact component of the electromagnetic field extended over cosmological scales.Comment: Latex2e, 24 pages, no figure

Electromagnetic Fields in Kerr-Shild Space-Times

Making use of twistor structures and the Kerr theorem for shear-free null geodesic congruences, an infinite family of electromagnetic fields satisfying the homogeneous Maxwell equations in flat Minkowski and the associated curved Kerr-Schild backgrounds is obtained for any such congruence in a purely algebraic way. Simple examples of invariant axisymmetric Maxwell fields are presented.Comment: 3 pages, twocolumn. Talk given at the International conference on General Relativity and Cosmology, June-July 2010, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Mosco