Holst action

Summary

In the field of theoretical physics, the Holst action[1] is an equivalent formulation of the Palatini action for General Relativity (GR) in terms of vierbeins (4D space-time frame field) by adding a part of a topological term (Nieh-Yan) which does not alter the classical equations of motion as long as there is no torsion,

where is the tetrad, its determinant (the space-time metric is recovered from the tetrad by the formula where the Minkowski metric), the curvature considered as a function of the connection :

,

a (complex) parameter, and where we recover the Palatini action when . It only works in 4D. To be torsion free means the covariant derivative defined by the connection when acting on the Minkowski metric vanishes, implying the connection is anti-symmetric in its internal indices .

As with the first order tetradic Palatini action where and are taken to be independent variables, variation of the action with respect to the connection (assuming it to be torsion-free) implies the curvature be replaced by the usual (mixed index) curvature tensor (see article tetradic Palatini action for definitions). Variation of the first term of the action with respect to the tetrad gives the (mixed index) Einstein tensor and variation of the second term with respect to the tetrad gives a quantity that vanishes by symmetries of the Riemann tensor (specifically the first Bianchi identity), together these imply Einstein's vacuum field equations hold.

Applications

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The canonical 3+1 Hamiltonian formulation of the Holst action with   happens to correspond to Ashtekar variables which formulates (complex) GR as a special type of Yang-Mills gauge theory. The action was seen simply to be the Palatini action with the curvature tensor replaced by its self-dual part only (see article self-dual Palatini action).

The canonical 3+1 Hamiltonian formulation of the Holst action for real   was shown to have a configuration variable which is still a connection, and the theory still a special kind of Yang-Mills gauge theory, but has the advantage that it is real, as is then the corresponding gauge theory (so we are dealing with real General Relativity). This Hamiltonian formulation is the classical starting point of loop quantum gravity (LQG)[1] which imports non-perturbative techniques from lattice gauge theory.[2] The parameter defined by   is usually referred to as the Barbero-Immirzi parameter[3][4] The Holst action finds application in most recent versions of spin foam models,[5][6] which can be considered path integral versions of LQG.

References

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  1. ^ a b Holst, Sören (15 May 1996). "Barbero's Hamiltonian derived from a generalized Hilbert-Palatini action". Physical Review. 53 (10): 5966–5969. arXiv:gr-qc/9511026. Bibcode:1996PhRvD..53.5966H. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.53.5966. PMID 10019884. S2CID 15959938.
  2. ^ Modern Canonical Quantum General Relativity by Thomas Thiemann
  3. ^ Barbero, J. Fernando G. (1995). "Real Ashtekar Variables for Lorentzian Signature Space-times". Phys. Rev. D51 (10): 5507–5510. arXiv:gr-qc/9410014. Bibcode:1995PhRvD..51.5507B. doi:10.1103/physrevd.51.5507. PMID 10018309. S2CID 16314220.
  4. ^ Immirzi, Giorgio (1997). "Real and complex connections for canonical gravity". Class. Quantum Grav. 14 (10): L177–L181. arXiv:gr-qc/9612030. Bibcode:1997CQGra..14L.177I. doi:10.1088/0264-9381/14/10/002. S2CID 5795181.
  5. ^ Engle J, Pereira R, Rovelli C (2007). "Loop-quantum-gravity vertex amplitude". Phys. Rev. Lett. 99 (16): 161301. arXiv:0705.2388. Bibcode:2007PhRvL..99p1301E. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.161301. PMID 17995233. S2CID 27052383.
  6. ^ Freidal, L. and Krasnov, K. (2008) Clas. Quan. Grav. 25, 125018.
  • Montesinos, Merced; Romero, Jorge; Celada, Mariano (2020). "Canonical analysis of Holst action without second-class constraints". Physical Review D. 101 (8): 084003. arXiv:1911.09690. Bibcode:2020PhRvD.101h4003M. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.101.084003.
  • Montesinos, Merced; Romero, Jorge; Celada, Mariano (2019). "Revisiting the solution of the second-class constraints of the Holst action". Physical Review D. 99 (6): 064029. arXiv:1903.09201. Bibcode:2019PhRvD..99f4029M. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.99.064029. S2CID 85459256.
  • Montesinos, Merced; Romero, Jorge; Escobedo, Ricardo; Celada, Mariano (2018). "SU(1,1) Barbero-like variables derived from Holst action". Physical Review D. 98 (12): 124002. arXiv:1812.02755. Bibcode:2018PhRvD..98l4002M. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.98.124002. S2CID 119679691.
  • Montesinos, Merced; Romero, Jorge; Celada, Mariano (2018). "Manifestly Lorentz-covariant variables for the phase space of general relativity". Physical Review D. 97 (2): 024014. arXiv:1712.00040. Bibcode:2018PhRvD..97b4014M. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.97.024014. S2CID 119151119.
  • Montesinos, Merced; Gonzalez, Diego; Celada, Mariano; Diaz, Bogar (2017). "Reformulation of the symmetries of first-order general relativity". Classical and Quantum Gravity. 34 (20): 205002. arXiv:1704.04248. Bibcode:2017CQGra..34t5002M. doi:10.1088/1361-6382/aa89f3. S2CID 119268222.