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Pietro Menotti

Publications and source records attributed to Pietro Menotti.

51 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Hamiltonian structure and quantization of 2+1 dimensional gravity coupled to particles

It is shown that the reduced particle dynamics of 2+1 dimensional gravity in the maximally slicing gauge has hamiltonian form. This is proved directly for the two body problem and for the three body problem by using the Garnier equations for isomonodromic transformations. For a number of particles greater than three the existence of the hamiltonian is shown to be a consequence of a conjecture by Polyakov which connects the auxiliary parameters of the fuchsian differential equation which solves the SU(1,1) Riemann-Hilbert problem, to the Liouville action of the conformal factor which describes the space-metric. We give the exact diffeomorphism which transforms the expression of the spinning cone geometry in the Deser, Jackiw, 't Hooft gauge to the maximally slicing gauge. It is explicitly shown that the boundary term in the action, written in hamiltonian form gives the hamiltonian for the reduced particle dynamics. The quantum mechanical translation of the two particle hamiltonian gives rise to the logarithm of the Laplace-Beltrami operator on a cone whose angular deficit is given by the total energy of the system irrespective of the masses of the particles thus proving at the quantum level a conjecture by 't Hooft on the two particle dynamics. The quantum mechanical Green's function for the two body problem is given.

hep-th↗

ADM approach to 2+1 dimensional gravity

The canonical ADM equations are solved in terms of the conformal factor in the instantaneous York gauge. A simple derivation is given for the solution of the two body problem. A geometrical characterization is given for the apparent singularities occurring in the N-body problem and it is shown how the Garnier hamiltonian system arises in the ADM treatment by considering the time development of the conformal factor at the locations where the extrinsic curvature tensor vanishes. The equations of motion for the position of the particles and of the apparent singularities and also the time dependence of the linear residues at such singularities are given by the transformation induced by an energy momentum tensor of a conformal Liouville theory. Such an equation encodes completely the dynamics of the system.

hep-th↗

ADM approach to 2+1 dimensional gravity coupled to particles

We develop the canonical ADM approach to 2+1 dimensional gravity in presence of point particles. The instantaneous York gauge can be applied for open universes or universes with the topology of the sphere. The sequence of canonical ADM equations is solved in terms of the conformal factor. A simple derivation is given for the solution of the two body problem. A geometrical characterization is given for the apparent singularities occurring in the N-body problem and it is shown how the Garnier hamiltonian system arises in the ADM treatment by considering the time development of the conformal factor at the locations where the extrinsic curvature tensor vanishes.

hep-th↗

Super Liouville action for Regge surfaces

We compute the super Liouville action for a two dimensional Regge surface by exploiting the invariance of the theory under the superconformal group for sphere topology and under the supermodular group for torus topology. For sphere topology and torus topology with even spin structures, the action is completely fixed up to a term which in the continuum limit goes over to a topological invariant, while the overall normalization of the action can be taken from perturbation theory. For the odd spin structure on the torus, due to the presence of the fermionic supermodulus, the action is fixed up to a modular invariant quadratic polynomial in the fermionic zero modes.

hep-th↗

The role of diffeomorphisms in the integration over a finite dimensional space of geometries

Starting from the De Witt supermetric and limiting ourselves to a family of geometries characterized by a finite number of geometric invariants we extract the unique integration measure. Such a measure turns out to be a geometric invariant, i.e. independent of the gauge fixed metric used for describing the geometries. The measure is also invariant in form under an arbitrary change of parameters describing the geometries. The additional functional integration on the conformal factor makes the measure independent of the free parameter intervening in the De Witt supermetric. The differences between the case D=2 and $D>2$ are evidenced.

hep-lat↗

Group theoretical derivation of Liouville action for Regge surfaces

We show that the structure of the Liouville action on a two dimensional Regge surface of the topology of the sphere and of the torus is determined by the invariance under the transformations induced by the conformal Killing vector fields and under modular transformations.

gr-qc↗

Functional integration on Regge geometries

We adopt the standard definition of diffeomorphism for Regge gravity in D=2 and give an exact expression of the Liouville action in the discretized case. We also give the exact form of the integration measure for the conformal factor. In D>2 we extend the approach to any family of geometries described by a finite number of parameters. The ensuing measure is a geometric invariant and it is also invariant in form under an arbitrary change of parameters.

hep-lat↗

Diffeomorphism invariant measure for finite dimensional geometries

We consider families of geometries of D--dimensional space, described by a finite number of parameters. Starting from the De Witt metric we extract a unique integration measure which turns out to be a geometric invariant, i.e. independent of the gauge fixed metric used for describing the geometries. The measure is also invariant in form under an arbitrary change of parameters describing the geometries. We prove the existence of geometries for which there are no related gauge fixing surfaces orthogonal to the gauge fibers. The additional functional integration on the conformal factor makes the measure independent of the free parameter intervening in the De Witt metric. The determinants appearing in the measure are mathematically well defined even though technically difficult to compute.

hep-th↗

Functional integration on two dimensional Regge geometries

By adopting the standard definition of diffeomorphisms for a Regge surface we give an exact expression of the Liouville action both for the sphere and the torus topology in the discretized case. The results are obtained in a general way by choosing the unique self--adjoint extension of the Lichnerowicz operator satisfying the Riemann--Roch relation. We also give the explicit form of the integration measure for the conformal factor. For the sphere topology the theory is exactly invariant under the $SL(2,C)$ transformations, while for the torus topology we have exact translational and modular invariance. In the continuum limit the results flow into the well known expressions.

hep-th↗

Conformal gauge fixing and Faddeev-Popov determinant in 2-dimensional Regge gravity

By regularizing the conical singularities by means of a segment of a sphere or pseudosphere and then taking the regulator to zero, we compute exactly the Faddeev--Popov determinant related to the conformal gauge fixing for a piece-wise flat surface with the topology of the sphere. The result is analytic in the opening angles of the conical singularities in the interval ($π$, $4π$) and in the smooth limit goes over to the continuum expression. The Riemann-Roch relation on the dimensions of ker$(L^†L)$ and ker$(LL^†)$ is satisfied.

hep-th↗

2-dimensional Regge gravity in the conformal gauge

By restricting the functional integration to the Regge geometries, we give the discretized version of the well known path integral formulation of 2--dimensional quantum gravity in the conformal gauge. We analyze the role played by diffeomorphisms in the Regge framework and we give an exact expression for the Faddeev--Popov determinant related to a Regge surface; such an expression in the smooth limit goes over to the correct continuum result.

hep-lat↗

Faddeev-Popov determinant in 2-dimensional Regge gravity.

By regularizing the singularities appearing in the two dimensional Regge calculus by means of a segment of a sphere or pseudo-sphere and then taking the regulator to zero, we obtain a simple formula for the gauge volume which appears in the functional integral. Such a formula is an analytic function of the opening of the conic singularity in the interval from $π$ to $4π$ and in the continuum limit it goes over to the correct result.

hep-th↗

Fermi-Walker gauge in 2+1 dimensional gravity.

It is shown that the Fermi-Walker gauge allows the general solution of determining the metric given the sources, in terms of simple quadratures. We treat the general stationary problem providing explicit solving formulas for the metric and explicit support conditions for the energy momentum tensor. The same type of solution is obtained for the time dependent problem with circular symmetry. In both cases the solutions are classified in terms of the invariants of the Wilson loops outside the sources. The Fermi-Walker gauge, due to its physical nature, allows to exploit the weak energy condition and in this connection it is proved that, both for open and closed universes with rotational invariance, the energy condition imply the total absence of closed time like curves. The extension of this theorem to the general stationary problem, in absence of rotational symmetry is considered. At present such extension is subject to some assumptions on the behavior of the determinant of the dreibein in this gauge. PACS number: 0420

gr-qc↗