Action and observer dependence in Euclidean quantum gravity

DOI10.1088/1361-6382/AA9FDFMaRDI QIDQ4607290zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Dawood Kothawala

Publication date 13 March 2018

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

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.02504

zbMATH Keywords

Wick rotationEuclidean spacetimesFLRW spacetimesfreely falling framesGibbons-Hawking-York boundary timeobserver dependence in quantum gravity

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Applications of differential geometry to physics (53Z05) Quantum measurement theory, state operations, state preparations (81P15) Einstein's equations (general structure, canonical formalism, Cauchy problems) (83C05) Quantization of the gravitational field (83C45) Relativistic cosmology (83F05)

Abstract: Given a Lorentzian spacetime $(M,g)$ and a non-vanishing timelike vector field $u(lambda)$ with level surfaces $Sigma$, one can construct on $M$ a Euclidean metric $g_E^{ab}=g^{ab}+2u^a{u}^b$. Motivated by this, we consider a class of metrics $hat{g}^{ab}=g^{ab}-Theta(lambda),u^a{u}^b$ with an arbitrary function $Theta$ that interpolates between the Euclidean ($Theta=-2$) and Lorentzian ($Theta=0$) regimes. The Euclidean regime is in general different from that obtained from Wick rotation $tightarrow-it$. For example, if $g_{ab}$ is the $k=0$ Lorentzian de Sitter metric corresponding to $Lambda>0$, the Euclidean regime of $hat{g}_{ab}$ is the $k=0$ Euclidean anti-de Sitter space with $Lambda<0$. We analyze the curvature tensors associated with $hatg$ for arbitrary Lorentzian metrics $g$ and timelike geodesic fields $u^a$, and show that they have interesting and remarkable mathematical structures: (i) Additional terms arise in the Euclidean regime $Thetao-2$ of $hat{g}_{ab}$. (ii) For the simplest choice of a step profile for $Theta$, the Ricci scalar Ric$[widehatg]$ of $hat{g}_{ab}$ reduces, in the Lorentzian regime $Thetao0$, to the complete Einstein-Hilbert lagrangian with the correct Gibbons-Hawking-York boundary term; the latter arises as a delta-function of strength $2K$ supported on $Sigm{a}_0$. (iii) In the Euclidean regime $Thetao-2$, Ric$[hatg]$ also has an extra term $2,{}^{3}R$ of the $u$-foliation. We highlight similar foliation dependent terms in the full Riemann tensor. We present some explicit examples and briefly discuss implications of the results for Euclidean quantum gravity and quantum cosmology.

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Cites work

• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1068048 (Why is no real title available?)
• Intrinsic and extrinsic curvatures in Finsler \textit{esque} spaces
• Lifting general relativity to observer space
• Quantum Fields in Curved Space
• The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time
• Wick rotation in the tangent space

Cited in

(8)

• Quantum metric for null separated events and spacetime atoms
• First-order action and Euclidean quantum gravity
• Probing the Planck scale: the modification of the time evolution operator due to the quantum structure of spacetime
• Overall signature of the metric and the cosmological constant
• On the Existence of a Kazantzis--Kravaris/Luenberger Observer
• Parisi-Sourlas-like dimensional reduction of quantum gravity in the presence of observers
• Information content and minimum-length metric: a drop of light
• Feynman's \(i\epsilon\) prescription, almost real spacetimes, and acceptable complex spacetimes

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