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Flat Spacetime Gravitation with a Preferred Foliation

J. Brian Pitts·W. C. Schieve
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Abstract

Paralleling the formal derivation of general relativity as a flat spacetime theory, we introduce in addition a preferred temporal foliation. The physical interpretation of the formalism is considered in the context of 5-dimensional ``parametrized'' and 4-dimensional preferred frame contexts. In the former case, we suggest that our earlier proposal of unconcatenated parametrized physics requires that the dependence on $τ$ be rather slow. In the 4-dimensional case, we consider and tentatively reject several areas of physics that might require a preferred foliation, but find a need for one in the process (``flowing'') theory of time. We then suggest why such a foliation might reasonably be unobservable.

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J. Brian Pitts, W. C. Schieve. 2001-01-25. Flat Spacetime Gravitation with a Preferred Foliation. https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0101099

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