On variational principle and canonical structure of gravitational theory in double-foliation formalism

DOI10.1088/1361-6382/AAEF9EzbMATH Open1475.83005arXiv1808.07352OpenAlexW3100600453WikidataQ128991444 ScholiaQ128991444MaRDI QIDQ3383549FDOQ3383549

Authors: Sajad Aghapour, Ghadir Jafari, Mehdi Golshani 

Publication date: 24 September 2021

Published in: Classical and Quantum Gravity (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: In this paper, we analyze the variation of the gravitational action on a bounded region of spacetime whose boundary contains segments with various characters, including null. We develop a systematic approach to decompose the derivative of metric variations into orthogonal and tangential components with respect to the boundary and express them in terms of variations of geometric objects associated with the boundary hypersurface. We suggest that a double-foliation of spacetime provides a natural and useful set-up for treating the general problem and clarifies the assumptions and results in specialized ones. In this set-up, we are able to obtain the boundary action necessary for the variational principle to become well-posed, beside the canonical structure of the theory, while keeping the variations quite general. Especially, we show how one can remove the restrictions imposed on the metric variations in previous works due to the assumption that the boundary character is kept unaltered. As a result, we find that on null boundaries a new canonical pair which is related to the change in character of the boundary. This set-up and the calculation procedure are stated in a way that can be applied to other more generalized theories of gravity.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1808.07352

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zbMATH Keywords

canonical structuregeneral relativityvariational principlegravitational actionboundary term

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Sensitivity, stability, well-posedness (49K40) Foliations (differential geometric aspects) (53C12) Einstein's equations (general structure, canonical formalism, Cauchy problems) (83C05) Relativistic gravitational theories other than Einstein's, including asymmetric field theories (83D05) Hypersurfaces and algebraic geometry (14J70) Boundary value problems for nonlinear higher-order PDEs (35G30)

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Cited In (6)

• Null boundary terms for Lanczos-Lovelock gravity
• Gravitational stress tensor and current at null infinity in three dimensions
• Anomalies in gravitational charge algebras of null boundaries and black hole entropy
• Renormalization of conformal infinity as a stretched horizon
• Perturbations of classical fields by gravitational shockwaves
• Brown-York charges at null boundaries

Uses Software

• xPerm
• xTras

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