No Arabic abstract
Within a first-order framework, we comprehensively examine the role played by boundary conditions in the canonical formulation of a completely general two-dimensional gravity model. Our analysis particularly elucidates the perennial themes of mass and energy. The gravity models for which our arguments are valid include theories with dynamical torsion and so-called generalized dilaton theories (GDTs). Our analysis of the canonical action principle (i) provides a rigorous correspondence between the most general first-order two-dimensional Einstein-Cartan model (ECM) and GDT and (ii) allows us to extract in a virtually simultaneous manner the ``true degrees of freedom for both ECMs and GDTs. For all such models, the existence of an absolutely conserved (in vacuo) quantity C is a generic feature, with (minus) C corresponding to the black-hole mass parameter in the important special cases of spherically symmetric four-dimensional general relativity and standard two-dimensional dilaton gravity. The mass C also includes (minimally coupled) matter into a ``universal mass function. We place particular emphasis on the (quite general) class of models within GDT possessing a Minkowski-like groundstate solution (allowing comparison between $C$ and the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner mass for such models).
We discuss reality conditions and the relation between spacetime diffeomorphisms and gauge transformations in Ashtekars complex formulation of general relativity. We produce a general theoretical framework for the stabilization algorithm for the reality conditions, which is different from Diracs method of stabilization of constraints. We solve the problem of the projectability of the diffeomorphism transformations from configuration-velocity space to phase space, linking them to the reality conditions. We construct the complete set of canonical generators of the gauge group in the phase space which includes all the gauge variables. This result proves that the canonical formalism has all the gauge structure of the Lagrangian theory, including the time diffeomorphisms.
A new generalization of the Hawking-Hayward quasilocal energy to scalar-tensor gravity is proposed without assuming symmetries, asymptotic flatness, or special spacetime metrics. The procedure followed is simple but powerful and consists of writing the scalar-tensor field equations as effective Einstein equations and then applying the standard definition of quasilocal mass.
Integrable models of dilaton gravity coupled to electromagnetic and scalar matter fields in dimensions 1+1 and 0+1 are briefly reviewed. The 1+1 dimensional integrable models are either solved in terms of explicit quadratures or reduced to the classically integrable Liouville equation. The 0+1 dimensional integrable models emerge as sectors in generally non integrable 1+1 dimensional models and can be solved in terms of explicit quadratures. The Hamiltonian formulation and the problem of quantizing are briefly discussed. Applications to gravity in any space - time dimension are outlined and a generalization of the so called `no - hair theorem is proven using local properties of the Lagrange equations for a rather general 1+1 dimensional dilaton gravity coupled to matter. This report is based on the paper hep-th/9605008 but some simplifications, corrections and new results are added.
We investigate the initial-boundary value problem for linearized gravitational theory in harmonic coordinates. Rigorous techniques for hyperbolic systems are applied to establish well-posedness for various reductions of the system into a set of six wave equations. The results are used to formulate computational algorithms for Cauchy evolution in a 3-dimensional bounded domain. Numerical codes based upon these algorithms are shown to satisfy tests of robust stability for random constraint violating initial data and random boundary data; and shown to give excellent performance for the evolution of typical physical data. The results are obtained for plane boundaries as well as piecewise cubic spherical boundaries cut out of a Cartesian grid.
We present in this paper a 4-dimensional formulation of the Newton equations for gravitation on a Lorentzian manifold, inspired from the 1+3 and 3+1 formalisms of general relativity. We first show that the freedom on the coordinate velocity of a general time-parametrised coordinate system with respect to a Galilean reference system is similar to the shift freedom in the 3+1-formalism of general relativity. This allows us to write Newtons theory as living in a 4-dimensional Lorentzian manifold $M^N$. This manifold can be chosen to be curved depending on the dynamics of the Newtonian fluid. In this paper, we focus on a specific choice for $M^N$ leading to what we call the textit{1+3-Newton equations}. We show that these equations can be recovered from general relativity with a Newtonian limit performed in the rest frames of the relativistic fluid. The 1+3 formulation of the Newton equations along with the Newtonian limit we introduce also allow us to define a dictionary between Newtons theory and general relativity. This dictionary is defined in the rest frames of the dust fluid, i.e. a non-accelerating observer. A consequence of this is that it is only defined for irrotational fluids. As an example supporting the 1+3-Newton equations and our dictionary, we show that the parabolic free-fall solution in 1+3-Newton exactly translates into the Schwarzschild spacetime, and this without any approximations. The dictionary might then be an additional tool to test the validity of Newtonian solutions with respect to general relativity. It however needs to be further tested for non-vacuum, non-stationary and non-isolated Newtonian solutions, as well as to be adapted for rotational fluids. One of the main applications we consider for the 1+3 formulation of Newtons equations is to define new models suited for the study of backreaction and global topology in cosmology.