arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to James T. Wheeler.
We extend 2n-dim biconformal gauge theory by including Lorentz-scalar matter fields of arbitrary conformal weight. We show that for a massless scalar field of conformal weight zero in a torsion-free biconformal geometry, the solution is determined by the Einstein equation on an n-dim submanifold, with the stress-energy tensor of the scalar field as source. The matter field satisfies the n-dim Klein-Gordon equation.
The zero-signature Killing metric of a new, real-valued, 8-dimensional gauging of the conformal group accounts for the complex character of quantum mechanics. The new gauge theory gives manifolds which generalize curved, relativistic phase space. The difference in signature between the usual momentum space metric and the Killing metric of the new geometry gives rise to an imaginary proportionality constant connecting the momentumlike variables of the two spaces. Path integral quantization becomes an average over dilation factors, with the integral of the Weyl vector taking the role of the action. Minimal U(1) electromagnetic coupling is predicted.
A new 8-dimensional conformal gauging avoids the unphysical size change, third order gravitational field equations, and auxiliary fields that prevent taking the conformal group as a fundamental symmetry. We give the structure equations, gauge transformations and intrinsic metric structure for the new biconformal spaces. We prove that a torsion-free biconformal space with exact Weyl form, closed dilational curvature and trace-free spacetime curvature admits a sub-bundle of vanishing Weyl form homeomorphic to the Whitney sum bundle of the tangent bundle and the bundle of orthonormal Lorentz frames over 4-dimensional spacetime. Conversely, any 4-dimensional spacetime extends uniquely to such a normal biconformal space. The Einstein equation holds if and only if the biconformal basis is orthonormal. Unconstrained antisymmetric trace of the spacetime curvature provides a closed 2-form, independent of the Weyl vector, consistently interpretable as the electromagnetic field. The trace of the spacetime co-torsion decouples from gravitational sources and serves as electromagnetic source.
A new 8-dim conformal gauging solves the auxiliary field problem and eliminates unphysical size change from Weyl's electromagnetic theory. We derive the Maurer-Cartan structure equations and find the zero curvature solutions for the conformal connection. By showing that every one-particle Hamiltonian generates the structure equations we establish a correspondence between phase space and the 8-dim base space, and between the action and the integral of the Weyl vector. Applying the correspondence to generic flat solutions yields the Lorentz force law, the form and gauge dependence of the electromagnetic vector potential and minimal coupling. The dynamics found for these flat solutions applies locally in generic spaces. We then provide necessary and sufficient curvature constraints for general curved 8-dimensional geometries to be in 1-1 correspondence with 4-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell spacetimes, based on a vector space isomorphism between the extra four dimensions and the Riemannian tangent space. Despite part of the Weyl vector serving as the electromagnetic vector potential, the entire class of geometries has vanishing dilation, thereby providing a consistent unified geometric theory of gravitation and electromagnetism. In concluding, we discuss the observability of the extra dimensions.
Scale invariance provides a principled reason for the physical importance of Hilbert space, the Virasoro algebra, the string mode expansion, canonical commutators and Schroedinger evolution of states, independent of the assumptions of string theory and quantum theory. The usual properties of dimensionful fields imply an infinite, projective tower of conformal weights associated with the tangent space to scale-invariant spacetimes. Convergence and measurability on this tangent tower are guaranteed using a scale-invariant norm, restricted to conformally self-dual vectors. Maps on the resulting Hilbert space are correspondingly restricted to semi-definite conformal weight. We find the maximally- and minimally-commuting, complete Lie algebras of definite-weight operators. The projective symmetry of the tower gives these algebras central charges, giving the canonical commutator and quantum Virasoro algebras, respectively. Using a continuous, m-parameter representation for rank-m tower tensors, we show that the parallel transport equation for the momentum vector of a particle is the Schroedinger equation, while the associated definite-weight operators obey canonical commutation relations. Generalizing to the set of integral curves of general timelike, self-dual vector-valued weight maps gives a lifting such that the action of the curves parallel transports arbitrary tower vectors. We prove that the full set of Schroedinger-lifted integral curves of a general self-dual map gives an immersion of its 2-dim parameter space into spacetime, inducing a Lorentzian metric on the parameter space. The immersion is shown to satisfy the variational equations of open string.
The dimensional properties of fields in classical general relativity lead to a tangent tower structure which gives rise directly to quantum mechanical and quantum field theory structures without quantization. We derive all of the fundamental elements of quantum mechanics from the tangent tower structure, including fundamental commutation relations, a Hilbert space of pure and mixed states, measurable expectation values, Schroedinger time evolution, collapse of a state and the probability interpretation. The most central elements of string theory also follow, including an operator valued mode expansion like that in string theory as well as the Virasoro algebra with central charges.
The gauge bundle of the 4-dim conformal group over an 8-dim base space, called biconformal space, is shown have a consistent interpretation as a scale-invariant phase space. Specifically, we show that a classical Hamiltonian system generates a differential geometry which is necessarily biconformal, and that the classical Hamiltonian dynamics of a point particle is equivalent to the specification of a 7-dim hypersurface in flat biconformal space together with the consequent necessary existence of a set of preferred curves. The result is centrally important for establishing the physical interpretation of conformal gauging.
Within the 4-dimensional conformal algebra, the presence of two translation operators implies the existence of 3 distinct metrics of definite Weyl weight constructible from the translational gauge fields. If we demand that each of these metrics give rise to a gauge theory of gravity, we are led to extend the symmetry so that each of these three metrics has a corresponding translation operator. Assigning a vierbein to each of these three translations, a different spacetime metric arises for every choice of inner product of the vierbeins. The covering group of the compact part of the minimal transitive group classifying these inner products is $SU(4)$. An additional $SU(2)$ symmetry classifies the antisymmetric parts of the vierbein product. If the metric is chosen as the gauge field of the translations in the standard way, the SU(4) part of this symmetry is broken to the semidirect product of $SU(3)$ with $U(1)$.