Variational principles for gravity and fluids (Q1175574)

Variational principles for general relativity are reviewed in terms of differential forms. A chapter on gravity as a Poincaré gauge field theory (Riemann-Cartan theory) discusses possible choices of Lagrangians for the field and of matter-gravity interacting Lagrangians. A chapter on special cases describes metric and metric-teleparallel (tetrad) theories. A chapter on fluids contains a variational principle for Stachel's perfect fluid of multidimensional objects (particles, strings, membranes etc.) The final chapter includes multidimensional objects with spin. The paper is written in local coordinate notation.