In this paper, we examine the relationship between general relativity and the theory of Einstein algebras. We show that according to a formal criterion for theoretical equivalence recently proposed by Halvorson (2012, 2015) and Weatherall (2015), the two are equivalent theories.
There is significant recent work on coupling matter to Newton-Cartan spacetimes with the aim of investigating certain condensed matter phenomena. To this end, one needs to have a completely general spacetime consistent with local non-relativisitic symmetries which supports massive matter fields. In particular, one can not impose a priori restrictions on the geometric data if one wants to analyze matter response to a perturbed geometry. In this paper we construct such a Bargmann spacetime in complete generality without any prior restrictions on the fields specifying the geometry. The resulting spacetime structure includes the familiar Newton-Cartan structure with an additional gauge field which couples to mass. We illustrate the matter coupling with a few examples. The general spacetime we construct also includes as a special case the covariant description of Newtonian gravity, which has been thoroughly investigated in previous works. We also show how our Bargmann spacetimes arise from a suitable non-relativistic limit of Lorentzian spacetimes. In a companion paper [arXiv:1503.02680] we use this Bargmann spacetime structure to investigate the details of matter couplings, including the Noether-Ward identities, and transport phenomena and thermodynamics of non-relativistic fluids.
A spinless covariant field $phi$ on Minkowski spacetime $M^{d+1}$ obeys the relation $U(a,Lambda)phi(x)U(a,Lambda)^{-1}=phi(Lambda x+a)$ where $(a,Lambda)$ is an element of the Poincare group $Pg$ and $U:(a,Lambda)to U(a,Lambda)$ is its unitary representation on quantum vector states. It expresses the fact that Poincare transformations are being unitary implemented. It has a classical analogy where field covariance shows that Poincare transformations are canonically implemented. Covariance is self-reproducing: products of covariant fields are covariant. We recall these properties and use them to formulate the notion of covariant quantum fields on noncommutative spacetimes. In this way all our earlier results on dressing, statistics, etc. for Moyal spacetimes are derived transparently. For the Voros algebra, covariance and the *-operation are in conflict so that there are no covariant Voros fields compatible with *, a result we found earlier. The notion of Drinfeld twist underlying much of the preceding discussion is extended to discrete abelian and nonabelian groups such as the mapping class groups of topological geons. For twists involving nonabelian groups the emergent spacetimes are nonassociative.
During the First World War, the status of energy conservation in general relativity was one of the most hotly debated questions surrounding Einsteins new theory of gravitation. His approach to this aspect of general relativity differed sharply from another set forth by Hilbert, even though the latter conjectured in 1916 that both theories were probably equivalent. Rather than pursue this question himself, Hilbert chose to charge Emmy Noether with the task of probing the mathematical foundations of these two theories. Indirect references to her results came out two years later when Klein began to examine this question again with Noethers assistance. Over several months, Klein and Einstein pursued these matters in a lengthy correspondence, which culminated with several publications, including Noethers now famous paper Invariante Variationsprobleme. The present account focuses on the earlier discussions from 1916 involving Einstein, Hilbert, and Noether. In these years, a Swiss student named R.J. Humm was studying relativity in Gottingen, during which time he transcribed part of Noethers lost manuscript on Hilberts invariant energy vector. By making use of this 9-page manuscript, it is possible to reconstruct the arguments Noether set forth in response to Hilberts conjecture. Her results turn out to be closely related to the findings Klein published two years later, thereby highlighting, once again, how her work significantly deepened contemporary understanding of the mathematical underpinnings of general relativity.
We describe a quantum limit to measurement of classical spacetimes. Specifically, we formulate a quantum Cramer-Rao lower bound for estimating the single parameter in any one-parameter family of spacetime metrics. We employ the locally covariant formulation of quantum field theory in curved spacetime, which allows for a manifestly background-independent derivation. The result is an uncertainty relation that applies to all globally hyperbolic spacetimes. Among other examples, we apply our method to detection of gravitational waves using the electromagnetic field as a probe, as in laser-interferometric gravitational-wave detectors. Other applications are discussed, from terrestrial gravimetry to cosmology.
This chapter is an up-to-date account of results on globally hyperbolic spacetimes, and serves several purposes. We begin with the exposition of results from a foundational level, where the main tools are order theory and general topology, we continue with results of a more geometric nature, and we conclude with results that are related to current research in theoretical physics. In each case, we list a number of open questions and formulate, for a class of spacetimes, an interesting connection between global hyperbolicity of a manifold and the geodesic completeness of its corresponding space-like surfaces. This connection is substantial for the proof of essential self-adjointness of a class of pseudo differential operators, that stem from relativistic quantum field theory.