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D. -E. Liebscher

Publications and source records attributed to D. -E. Liebscher.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2016

On constructing purely affine theories with matter

We explore ways to obtain the very existence of a space-time metric from an action principle that does not refer to it a priori. Although there are reasons to believe that only a non-local theory can viably achieve this goal, we investigate here local theories that start with Schroedinger's purely affine theory [21], where he gave reasons to set the metric proportional to the Ricci curvature aposteriori. When we leave the context of unified field theory, and we couple the non-gravitational matter using some weak equivalence principle, we can show that the propagation of shock waves does not define a lightcone when the purely affine theory is local and avoids the explicit use of the Ricci tensor in realizing the weak equivalence principle. When the Ricci tensor is substituted for the metric, the equations seem to have only a very limited set of solutions. This backs the conviction that viable purely affine theories have to be non-local.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2012

Confinement in Einstein's unified field theory

After recalling the mathematical structure of Einstein's Hermitian extension of the gravitational theory of 1915, the problem, whether its field equations should admit of phenomenological sources at their right-hand sides, and how this addition should be done, is expounded by relying on a thread of essential insights and achievements by Schrödinger, Kursunoglu, Lichnerowicz, Hély and Borchsenius. When sources are appended to all the field equations, from the latter and from the contracted Bianchi identities a sort of gravoelectrodynamics appears, that totally departs from the so called Einstein-Maxwell theory, since its constitutive equation, that rules the link between inductions and fields, is a very complicated differential relation that allows for a much wider, still practically unexplored range of possible occurrences. In this sort of theory one can allow for both an electric and a magnetic four-current, which are not a physically wrong replica of each other, like it would occur if both these currents were allowed in Maxwell's vacuum. Particular static exact solutions show that, due to the peculiar constitutive equation, while electric charges with a pole structure behave according to Coulomb's law, magnetic charges with a pole structure interact with forces not depending on their mutual distance. The latter behaviour was already discovered by Treder in 1957 with an approximate calculation, while looking for ordinary electromagnetism in the theory. He also showed that in the Hermitian theory magnetic charges of unlike sign mutually attract, hence they are permanently confined entities. The exact solutions confirm this finding, already interpreted in 1980 by Treder in a chromodynamic sense.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2007

Hans-Juergen Treder and the discovery of confinement in Einstein's unified field theory

In the year 1957, when interest in Einstein's unified field theory was fading away for lack of understanding of its physical content, Treder performed a momentous critical analysis of the possible definitions of the electric four-current in the theory. As an outcome of this scrutiny he was able to prove by the E.I.H. method that properly defined point charges, appended at the right-hand side of the field equation $R_{[[μν],λ]}=0$, interact mutually with Coulomb-like forces, provided that a mutual force independent of distance is present too. This unwanted, but unavoidable addition, could not but lay further disbelief on the efforts initiated by Einstein and Schroedinger one decade earlier. However in 1980 Treder himself recalled that the potential $ϕ=a/r+cr$, found by him in 1957, was the one used by particle physicists to account phenomenologically for the spectrum of bound quark systems like mesons. Exact solutions have later confirmed beyond any doubt that Einstein's unified field theory does account in a simple way, already in classical form, for the confinement of pole charges defined by the four-current first availed of by Treder. In the present paper it is proposed, ad memoriam, a thorough recollection of the article published by Treder in 1957, showing the way kept by him to find what would have been later recognized as confinement in Einstein's unified field theory.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2005

The topology of Schwarzschild's solution and the Kruskal metric

Kruskal's extension solves the problem of the arrow of time of the ``Schwarzschild solution'' through combining two Hilbert manifolds by a singular coordinate transformation. We discuss the implications for the singularity problem and the definition of the mass point. The analogy set by Rindler between the Kruskal metric and the Minkowski spacetime is investigated anew. The question is answered, whether this analogy is limited to a similarity of the chosen "Bildräume'', or can be given a deeper, intrinsic meaning. The conclusion is reached by observing a usually neglected difference: the left and right quadrants of Kruskal's metric are endowed with worldlines of absolute rest, uniquely defined through each event by the manifold itself, while such worldlines obviously do not exist in the Minkowski spacetime.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2005

The physical meaning of the "boost-rotation symmetric" solutions within the general interpretation of Einstein's theory of gravitation

The answer to the question, what physical meaning should be attributed to the so-called boost-rotation symmetric exact solutions to the field equations of general relativity, is provided within the general interpretation scheme for the ``theories of relativity'', based on group theoretical arguments, and set forth by Erich Kretschmann already in the year 1917.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2005

The Electrostatics of Einstein's Unified Field Theory

When sources are added at their right-hand sides, and g_{(ik)} is a priori assumed to be the metric, the equations of Einstein's Hermitian theory of relativity were shown to allow for an exact solution that describes the general electrostatic field of n point charges. Moreover, the injunction of spherical symmetry of g_{(ik)} in the infinitesimal neighbourhood of each of the charges was proved to yield the equilibrium conditions of the n charges in keeping with ordinary electrostatics. The tensor g_{(ik)}, however, cannot be the metric of the theory, since it enters neither the eikonal equation nor the equation of motion of uncharged test particles. A physically correct metric that rules both the behaviour of wave fronts and of uncharged matter is the one indicated by Hély. In the present paper it is shown how the electrostatic solution predicts the structure of the n charged particles and their mutual positions of electrostatic equilibrium when Hély's physically correct metric is adopted.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2003

Gravitational singularities via acceleration: the case of the Schwarzschild solution and Bach's gamma metric

The so called gamma metric corresponds to a two-parameter family of axially symmetric, static solutions of Einstein's equations found by Bach. It contains the Schwarzschild solution for a particular value of one of the parameters, that rules a deviation from spherical symmetry. It is shown that there is invariantly definable singular behaviour beyond the one displayed by the Kretschmann scalar when a unique, hypersurface orthogonal, timelike Killing vector exists. In this case, a particle can be defined to be at rest when its world-line is a corresponding Killing orbit. The norm of the acceleration on such an orbit proves to be singular not only for metrics that deviate from Schwarzschild's metric, but also on approaching the horizon of Schwarzschild metric itself, in contrast to the discontinuous behaviour of the curvature scalar.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2001

Revisiting Weyl's calculation of the gravitational pull in Bach's two-body solution

When the mass of one of the two bodies tends to zero, Weyl's definition of the gravitational force in an axially symmetric, static two-body solution can be given an invariant formulation in terms of a force four-vector. The norm of this force is calculated for Bach's two-body solution, that is known to be in one-to-one correspondence with Schwarzschild's original solution when one of the two masses l, l' is made to vanish. In the limit when, say, l' goes to zero, the norm of the force divided by l' and calculated at the position of the vanishing mass is found to coincide with the norm of the acceleration of a test body kept at rest in Schwarzschild's field. Both norms happen thus to grow without limit when the test body (respectively the vanishing mass l') is kept at rest in a position closer and closer to Schwarzschild's two-surface.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2001

Reconsidering Schwarzschild's original solution

We analyse the Schwarzschild solution in the context of the historical development of its present use, and explain the invariant definition of a singular surface at the Schwarzschild's radius, that can be applied to the Kerr-Newman solution too.

gr-qc↗
arXiv1997

The third way to quantum mechanics is the forgotten first

Quantum mechanics can be formulated in three ways, as Heisenberg, Schrödinger and Feynman did respectively. For the last way, an unknown (i.e. forgotten) forerunner exists, that we have found in a paper by Gregor Wentzel, published before the famous works by Heisenberg and Schrödinger, and contemporary with the fundamental works of L. de Broglie. In that paper, one can find the basic formulae and their interpretation as they were adopted by Feynman twenty years later. We believe that Wentzel's work was forgotten for several reasons: (I) Schrödinger's equation was much simpler to deal with (Wentzel himself contributed to its development in the same way as L.Brillouin and H.Kramers did). (II) The first application was rejected by Heisenberg and Kramers. (III) The approximation used by Wentzel was too na\"ıve and failed. Nevertheless, the foundation laid by Wentzel was sound, as it has been shown by Feynman's work. Therefore, Wentzel has to be considered as one of the founders of quantum mechanics.

physics.hist-ph↗