- #36
Careful
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Hi Vanesch,
I thought the latter was your version (and I have some comments which might be useful):
**
1) there is a 4-dim manifold, called spacetime, and I have a way of describing a finite patch around me, with 4 coordinates. I can of course consider different ways to describe these coordinates and then there is of course a smooth mapping between these two sets of coordinates (4 functions of 4 variables).
2) concerning gravity, all I need to know is given by the metric tensor expressed in my 4 coordinates, over this finite patch. All what is "in gravity" is encoded in this metric. As this is a tensor, its transformation under a smooth coordinate transformation is given by the normal rules.
**
The equivalence principle rather consists out of many more parts :
(a) inertial mass = passive gravitational mass, or : the motion of a (electrically) neutral test particle is independent upon the internal structure of the particle (although this version is open for obvious criticism)
(b) covariance principle : the laws of nature have to be written in tensorial form (criticism : no spinors )
(a) + (b) = weak equivalence principle
(c) the result of a local, non gravitational experiment is independent of the speed of the free falling reference system in which it is done (local Lorentz invariance)
(d) the result of a local and non - gravitational experiment is independent of the place and time in which it is performed (local position invariance).
All four together form the strong equivalence principle (or Einstein equivalence principle) which is broken in many ``gravitational´´ theories. For abbreviation, let's speak about WEP and SEP and let me show how violation of SEP - but not of WEP - has some bearing upon your point (2).
For example (d) is very strong and practically restricts severely the coupling of matter to gravitation (no coupling to the curvature tensor). Take the simple case of a point particle, with the standard lagrangian:
m int( dt sqrt( g( dx/dt , dx/dt ) )
one could change this to
int (dt m sqrt( 1 + a R( x(t) ) ) sqrt( g( dx/dt , dx/dt ) )
with the dimension of a = length^2. Actually, in this way you can get the one particle schroedinger equation out of Weyl geometry. The latter lagrangian violates (d) but not WEP. SEP is also violated by the inflaton for example.
Another way to violate (d) would be the addition of a torsion field to the connection (this again was one of the old geometric attempts to incoorporate QM / there were of course other attempts by adding an anti symmetric part to the metric tensor). Both examples violate your second principle : the former since it is not sufficient to know just the metric to determine the coupling to the gravitational field while no other physical field is present, the latter since we add an extra physical field.
Now, torsion does not contribute to the geodesic equation, hence I thought in the beginning she might have added some curvature form to the action of the anti gravitating particle. But of course, she does none of these : basically what happens in the paper is that a rather unconventional isomorphism (that shuffles through contractions and so on) is set up between the two bundles (hence nothing changes).
Furthermore, it needs to be said that such changes (involving the curvature) in the equation of the free particle will involve violations of causality (cfr the de Broglie mass problem). Anyway, I hope I added something here to your understanding of the different versions of the equivalence principle.
I thought the latter was your version (and I have some comments which might be useful):
**
1) there is a 4-dim manifold, called spacetime, and I have a way of describing a finite patch around me, with 4 coordinates. I can of course consider different ways to describe these coordinates and then there is of course a smooth mapping between these two sets of coordinates (4 functions of 4 variables).
2) concerning gravity, all I need to know is given by the metric tensor expressed in my 4 coordinates, over this finite patch. All what is "in gravity" is encoded in this metric. As this is a tensor, its transformation under a smooth coordinate transformation is given by the normal rules.
**
The equivalence principle rather consists out of many more parts :
(a) inertial mass = passive gravitational mass, or : the motion of a (electrically) neutral test particle is independent upon the internal structure of the particle (although this version is open for obvious criticism)
(b) covariance principle : the laws of nature have to be written in tensorial form (criticism : no spinors )
(a) + (b) = weak equivalence principle
(c) the result of a local, non gravitational experiment is independent of the speed of the free falling reference system in which it is done (local Lorentz invariance)
(d) the result of a local and non - gravitational experiment is independent of the place and time in which it is performed (local position invariance).
All four together form the strong equivalence principle (or Einstein equivalence principle) which is broken in many ``gravitational´´ theories. For abbreviation, let's speak about WEP and SEP and let me show how violation of SEP - but not of WEP - has some bearing upon your point (2).
For example (d) is very strong and practically restricts severely the coupling of matter to gravitation (no coupling to the curvature tensor). Take the simple case of a point particle, with the standard lagrangian:
m int( dt sqrt( g( dx/dt , dx/dt ) )
one could change this to
int (dt m sqrt( 1 + a R( x(t) ) ) sqrt( g( dx/dt , dx/dt ) )
with the dimension of a = length^2. Actually, in this way you can get the one particle schroedinger equation out of Weyl geometry. The latter lagrangian violates (d) but not WEP. SEP is also violated by the inflaton for example.
Another way to violate (d) would be the addition of a torsion field to the connection (this again was one of the old geometric attempts to incoorporate QM / there were of course other attempts by adding an anti symmetric part to the metric tensor). Both examples violate your second principle : the former since it is not sufficient to know just the metric to determine the coupling to the gravitational field while no other physical field is present, the latter since we add an extra physical field.
Now, torsion does not contribute to the geodesic equation, hence I thought in the beginning she might have added some curvature form to the action of the anti gravitating particle. But of course, she does none of these : basically what happens in the paper is that a rather unconventional isomorphism (that shuffles through contractions and so on) is set up between the two bundles (hence nothing changes).
Furthermore, it needs to be said that such changes (involving the curvature) in the equation of the free particle will involve violations of causality (cfr the de Broglie mass problem). Anyway, I hope I added something here to your understanding of the different versions of the equivalence principle.
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