Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Scientific paper
1995-11-22
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
14 pages, LaTeX. Four figures available by FAX from repp@dirac.ucdavis.edu
Scientific paper
In the (2+2) formulation of general relativity spacetime is foliated by a two-parameter family of spacelike 2-surfaces (instead of the more usual one-parameter family of spacelike 3-surfaces). In a partially gauge-fixed setting (double-null gauge), I write down the symplectic structure of general relativity in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic quantities associated with these 2-surfaces. This leads to an identification of the reduced phase space degrees of freedom. In particular, I show that the two physical degrees of freedom of general relativity are naturally encoded in a quantity closely related to the twist of the pair of null normals to the 2-surfaces. By considering the characteristic initial-value problem I establish a canonical transformation between these and the more usually quoted conformal 2-metric (or shear) degrees of freedom. (This paper is based on a talk given at the Fifth Midwest Relativity Conference, Milwaukee, USA.)
No associations
LandOfFree
The Symplectic Structure of General Relativity in the Double-Null (2+2) Formalism does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The Symplectic Structure of General Relativity in the Double-Null (2+2) Formalism, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Symplectic Structure of General Relativity in the Double-Null (2+2) Formalism will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-489159