Generalized Einstein manifolds

Local differential geometry of Finsler spaces and generalizations (areal metrics) (53B40) Special Riemannian manifolds (Einstein, Sasakian, etc.) (53C25) Einstein's equations (general structure, canonical formalism, Cauchy problems) (83C05) Relativistic gravitational theories other than Einstein's, including asymmetric field theories (83D05)

Review text

The geometrization of physics, especially regarding the equations of electromagnetism and gravitation in general relativity, has been a vital problem of investigation for a long time. A. Einstein himself devoted the last several years of his life to realize this dream without success. However, taking grant of two axioms proposed by \textit{D. Hilbert} [Die Grundlagen der Physik, Gött. Nachr. 1915, 395-407; JFM 45.1111.01] and using the powerful tool of the variational principle due to \textit{E. Noether} [Invariante Variationsprobleme, Gött. Nachr. 1918, 235-257; JFM 46.0770.01] to the action functional defined on the 4-dimensional spacetime manifold \(M_4\) and on the 5-dimensional Kaluza-Klein model \((M_4\times T)\), the equations of Einstein-Maxwell were derived. When the stress-energy tensor \(T\) represents the case of pure electromagnetic field, the solution proposed in \textit{P. A. M. Dirac} [General theory of relativity, Princeton Univ. Press (1996; Zbl 0844.53061); the original ed. (1975) was not reviewed] and in \textit{A. Lichnerowicz} [Théories relativistes de la gravitation et de l'électromagnétisme, Paris (1955; Zbl 0065.20704)] do not seem satisfactory. That is why the author poses the problem as follows: To find a geometric space and an action functional depending on the curvature of this space such that the critical point of the deformed total action functional is a solution of the Einstein-Maxwell equations. Let \(M\) be a connected, paracompact, \(n\)-dimensional Finsler manifold endowed with a fundamental function \(F(x^i,v^i)\), \(v=v^i{\partial\over\partial x^i}\), which is positive definite and of degree one in \(v\), \(T(M)\) be the tangent bundle on \(M\), \(V(M)\) the tangent bundle of nonzero vectors of \(T(M)\) and let \(W(M)\) be the fibre bundle of unitary tangent vectors to \(M\). Under a one parameter group of infinitesimal transformations with parameter \(t\in[-\varepsilon,\varepsilon]\), \(\varepsilon\) being a small positive number, let \(F^0(M,g_t)\) be a deformation of a compact, \(n\)-dimensional Finsler manifold preserving the volume of the unitary fibre bundle \(W(M)\). In this paper, delineating some of the particulars from the foundations of Finsler geometry, the author studies the variations of the volume element of the unitary fibre bundle \(W(M)\), the Finslerian connection, the Finslerian curvature tensors and the Finslerian scalar curvature tensors, and investigates several results thereof in the form of lemmas. Subsequently, the author discusses generalized Einstein manifolds (GEM) (a Finsler manifold is called a GEM if the Ricci directional curvature is independent of the direction, i.e., \(\widetilde H_{jk}=c(x)g_{ij}(x,v)\), where \(c(x)\) is a function on \(M\)) and proves: The Finsler metric \(g_0\in F^0(g_t)\) at the critical point \([t=0, g_0=g(0)]\) of the integral \(I(g_t)\) on \(W(M)\) of the Finslerian scalar curvature and certain functions of the scalar curvature define a GEM. The author further goes on to study the variations of Finslerian total scalar curvature and finds a nice result: Let \((M,g_t)\) be a deformation of a compact Finslerian manifold; the Finslerian metric \(g_0\in F^0(g_t)\) which renders extremal the Finslerian total scalar curvature \(I_3(g_t)\) defined by \(I_3(g_t)=\int_{W(M)}R_t\eta_t\), \(\int_{W(M)}\eta_t=1\), \(R_t=g^{ik}R_{jk}\), defines at this point \((t=0, g_0)\) a GEM. In Section 3, firstly the author studies Finsler manifolds whose fibres are totally geodesic (or minima) and obtains the following beautiful result of high geometrical significance: In order that the fibres of \(p:V(M)\to M\) be totally geodesic (resp. minima) it is necessary and sufficient (resp. necessary) that the second curvature tensor \(P\) of the Finsler connection \(\omega\) (resp. \(\nabla_0T_i=0\), where \(T_i\) is the trace of the torsion tensor of Finsler manifold) is zero everywhere. Secondly, the author determines an estimate of the eigenvalues \(\lambda\) of the Laplacian \(\Delta\) defined on \(W(M)\) operating on the functions coming from the base when \((M,g)\) is of minima fibration with constant scalar curvature \(\widetilde H\) admitting a conformal infinitesimal deformation (CID) and shows that \(\lambda>\widetilde H/(n-1)\), \((\Delta f=\lambda f)\). Moreover, if \(M\) is simply connected and \(\lambda=\widetilde H/(n-1)\), then \((M,g)\) is Riemannian and isometric to the sphere. In Section 4, the author discusses the second variation of the integral \(I(g_t)\) first and then studies the CID case; he proves that on a certain compact Finslerian manifold, there exists a GEM for which the second variation of \(I(g_t)\) is positive. Finally, the last Section 5 is devoted chiefly to applications to gravitation and electromagnetism in general relativity. It is shown that the spaces characterized by Einstein-Maxwell equations are GEM.

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