No Arabic abstract
The constraint structure of 2D-gravity with the Weyl and area-preserving diffeomorphism invariances is analysed in the ADM formulation. It is found that when the area-preserving diffeomorphism constraints are kept, the usual conformal gauge does not exist, whereas there is the possibility to choose the so-called ``quasi-light-cone gauge, in which besides the area-preserving diffeomorphism invariance, the reduced Lagrangian also possesses the SL(2,R) residual symmetry. The string-like approach is applied to quantise this model, but a fictitious non-zero central charge in the Virasoro algebra appears. When a set of gauge-independent SL(2,R) current-like fields is introduced instead of the string-like variables, a consistent quantum theory is obtained.
We construct a Weyl transverse diffeomorphism invariant theory of symmetric teleparallel gravity by employing the Weyl compensator formalism. The low-energy dynamics has a single spin two gravition without a scalar degree of freedom. By construction, it is equivalent to the unimodular gravity (as well as the Einstein gravity) at the non-linear level.
Theories with spontaneous local Lorentz and diffeomorphism violation contain massless Nambu-Goldstone modes, which arise as field excitations in the minimum of the symmetry-breaking potential. If the shape of the potential also allows excitations above the minimum, then an alternative gravitational Higgs mechanism can occur in which massive modes involving the metric appear. The origin and basic properties of the massive modes are addressed in the general context involving an arbitrary tensor vacuum value. Special attention is given to the case of bumblebee models, which are gravitationally coupled vector theories with spontaneous local Lorentz and diffeomorphism violation. Mode expansions are presented in both local and spacetime frames, revealing the Nambu-Goldstone and massive modes via decomposition of the metric and bumblebee fields, and the associated symmetry properties and gauge fixing are discussed. The class of bumblebee models with kinetic terms of the Maxwell form is used as a focus for more detailed study. The nature of the associated conservation laws and the interpretation as a candidate alternative to Einstein-Maxwell theory are investigated. Explicit examples involving smooth and Lagrange-multiplier potentials are studied to illustrate features of the massive modes, including their origin, nature, dispersion laws, and effects on gravitational interactions. In the weak static limit, the massive mode and Lagrange-multiplier fields are found to modify the Newton and Coulomb potentials. The nature and implications of these modifications are examined.
In this paper we use the covariant Peierls bracket to compute the algebra of a sizable number of diffeomorphism-invariant observables in classical Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity coupled to fairly arbitrary matter. We then show that many recent results, including the construction of traversable wormholes, the existence of a family of $SL(2,mathbb{R})$ algebras acting on the matter fields, and the calculation of the scrambling time, can be recast as simple consequences of this algebra. We also use it to clarify the question of when the creation of an excitation deep in the bulk increases or decreases the boundary energy, which is of crucial importance for the typical state
Modified theories of gravity that explicitly break diffeomorphism invariance have been used for over a decade to explore open issues related to quantum gravity, dark energy, and dark matter. At the same time, the Standard-Model Extension (SME) has been widely used as a phenomenological framework in investigations of spacetime symmetry breaking. Until recently, it was thought that the SME was suitable only for theories with spontaneous spacetime symmetry breaking due to consistency conditions stemming from the Bianchi identities. However, it has recently been shown that, particularly with matter couplings included, the consistency conditions can also be satisfied in theories with explicit breaking. An overview of how this is achieved is presented, and two examples are examined. The first is massive gravity, which includes a nondynamical background tensor. The second is a model based on a low-energy limit of Hov rava gravity, where spacetime has a physically preferred foliation. In both cases, bounds on matter--gravity interactions that explicitly break diffeomorphisms are obtained using the SME.
Weyl conformal geometry may play a role in early cosmology where effective theory at short distances becomes conformal. Weyl conformal geometry also has a built-in geometric Stueckelberg mechanism: it is broken spontaneously to Riemannian geometry after a Weyl gauge transformation (of gauge fixing) while Stueckelberg mechanism re-arranges the degrees of freedom, conserving their number ($n_{df}$). The Weyl gauge field ($omega_mu$) of local scale transformations acquires a mass after absorbing a compensator (dilaton), decouples, and Weyl connection becomes Riemannian. Mass generation has thus a dynamic origin, as a transition from Weyl to Riemannian geometry. We show that a gauge fixing symmetry transformation of the original Weyl quadratic gravity action in its Weyl geometry formulation immediately gives the Einstein-Proca action for the Weyl gauge field and a positive cosmological constant, plus matter action (if present). As a result, the Planck scale is an {it emergent} scale, where Weyl gauge symmetry is spontaneously broken and Einstein action is the broken phase of Weyl action. This is in contrast to local scale invariant models (no gauging) where a negative kinetic term (ghost dilaton) remains present and $n_{df}$ is not conserved when this symmetry is broken. The mass of $omega_mu$, setting the non-metricity scale, can be much smaller than $M_text{Planck}$, for ultraweak values of the coupling ($q$). If matter is present, a positive contribution to the Planck scale from a scalar field ($phi_1$) vev induces a negative (mass)$^2$ term for $phi_1$ and spontaneous breaking of the symmetry under which it is charged. These results are immediate when using a Weyl geometry formulation of an action instead of its Riemannian picture. Briefly, Weyl gauge symmetry is physically relevant and its role in high scale physics should be reconsidered.