N. Zinnato | Searcharxiv

arXiv2020

Non-Riemannian gravity actions from double field theory

Non-Riemannian gravitational theories suggest alternative avenues to understand properties of quantum gravity and provide a concrete setting to study condensed matter systems with non-relativistic symmetry. Derivation of an action principle for these theories generally proved challenging for various reasons. In this technical note, we employ the formulation of double field theory to construct actions for a variety of such theories. This formulation helps removing ambiguities in the corresponding equations of motion. In particular, we embed Torsional Newton-Cartan gravity, Carrollian gravity and String Newton-Cartan gravity in double field theory, derive their actions and compare with the previously obtained results in literature.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Torsional Newton Cartan gravity from non-relativistic strings

We study propagation of closed bosonic strings in torsional Newton-Cartan geometry based on a recently proposed Polyakov type action derived by dimensional reduction of the ordinary bosonic string along a null direction. We generalize the Polyakov action proposal to include matter, i.e. the 2-form and the 1-form that originates from the Kalb-Ramond field and the dilaton. We determine the conditions for Weyl invariance which we express as the beta-function equations on the worldsheet, in analogy with the usual case of strings propagating on a pseudo-Riemannian manifold. The critical dimension of the TNC space-time turns out to be 25. We find that Newton's law of gravitation follows from the requirement of quantum Weyl invariance in the absence of torsion. Presence of the 1-form requires torsion to be non vanishing. Torsion has interesting consequences, in particular it yields a mass term and an advection term in the generalized Newton's law. U(1) mass invariance of the theory is an important ingredient in deriving the beta functions.

hep-th↗