Spin In Gravity

This book seeks to present a new way of thinking about the interaction of gravitational fields with quantum systems. Despite the massive amounts of research and experimentation, the myriad meetings, seminars and conferences, all of the articles, treatises and books, and the seemingly endless theorization, quantization and just plain speculation that have been engaged in regarding our evolving understanding of the quantum world, that world remains an enigma, even to the experts. The usefulness of general relativity in this regard has proven to be imperfect at best, but there is a new approach. We do not simply have to accept the limitations of Einstein's most celebrated theorem in regard to quantum theory; we can also embrace them, and thereby utilize them, to reveal new facts about the behavior of quantum systems within inertial and gravitational fields, and therefore about the very structure of space–time at the quantum level. By taking existing knowledge of the essential functionality of spin (along with the careful identification of the omnipresent inertial effects) and applying it to the quantum world, the book gives the reader a much clearer picture of the difference between the classical and quantum behaviors of a particle, shows that Einstein's ideas may not be as incompatible within this realm as many have come to believe, sparks new revelations of the way in which gravity affects quantum systems and brings a new level of efficiency—quantum efficiency, if you will—to the study of gravitational theory.

This book gives an exposition of both the old and new results of spin and torsion effects on gravitational interactions with implications for particle physics, cosmology etc. Physical aspects are stressed and measurable effects in relation to other areas of physics are discussed.Among the topics discussed are: alternative ways of unifying gravity with electroweak and strong interactions by an energy dependent spin torsion coupling constant; the idea that all interactions can be understood as originating from spin curvature coupling; the possibility of cosmological models with torsion providing a solution to the cosmological constant problem; and a demonstration that torsion can lead directly to the quantization of space-time itself.

The introduction of spin is believed to be a necessary tool if one wishes to quantize general relativity. Then the main problem is to see if the introduction of spin generalizing the general relativity from a geometric point of view, i.e. through the concept of torsion, can be experimentally verified.The reader can find in this book both theoretical and experimental arguments which show the necessity for the introduction of spin, and then of torsion, in gravity. In fact, torsion constitutes the more natural and simple way to introduce spin in general relativity. For that reason it is of fundamental importance to see if there are some experiences that indicate — if not directly, then at least indirectly — the presence of torsion. This book presents a discussion on experiments with a polarized-mass torsion pendulum, the search for galactic dark matter interacting with a spin pendulum, a description of a space-based method for determination of the gravitational constant and space-based measurements of spin in gravity, as well as a discussion on theoretical arguments, for instance the nature of torsion and nonmetricity, the viability of gravitational theories with spin-torsion and spin-spin interaction, many-dimensional gravitational theories with torsion, spinors on curved spaces, the spinors in real space-time, etc.We know that until now there has been no evidence for torsion, but this fact cannot prevent us from considering in some detail this implement of research that seems to be important from both a geometrical and a physical point of view.

Many new tests of gravity and, in particular, of Einstein's general relativity theory will be carried out in the near future: The Lense--Thirring effect and the equivalence principle will be tested in space; moreover, gravitational waves will be detected, and new atomic interferometers and clocks will be built for measurements in gravitational and inertial fields. New high-precision devices have made these experiments feasible. They will contribute to a better understanding of gravitational physics. Both experimental developments and the theoretical concepts are collected in this volume. Exhaustive reviews give an overall insight into the subject of experimental gravitation.

The introduction of spin is believed to be a necessary tool if one wishes to quantize general relativity. Then the main problem is to see if the introduction of spin generalizing the general relativity from a geometric point of view, i.e. through the concept of torsion, can be experimentally verified. The reader can find in this book both theoretical and experimental arguments which show the necessity for the introduction of spin, and then of torsion, in gravity. In fact, torsion constitutes the more natural and simple way to introduce spin in general relativity. For that reason it is of fundamental importance to see if there are some experiences that indicate -- if not directly, then at least indirectly -- the presence of torsion. This book presents a discussion on experiments with a polarized-mass torsion pendulum, the search for galactic dark matter interacting with a spin pendulum, a description of a space-based method for determination of the gravitational constant and space-based measurements of spin in gravity, as well as a discussion on theoretical arguments, for instance the nature of torsion and nonmetricity, the viability of gravitational theories with spin -- torsion and spin-spin interaction, many-dimensional gravitational theories with torsion, spinors on curved spaces, the spinors in real space -- time, etc. We know that until now there has been no evidence for torsion, but this fact cannot prevent us from considering in some detail this implement of research that seems to be important from both a geometrical and a physical point of view.

A unique graduate textbook that develops powerful approximation methods and their applications to real-life astrophysical systems.

This volume comprises original and review articles on the frontier problems of the gravitation theory, theoretical and mathematical physics. The volume is dedicated to the memory of Professor Dmitri Ivanenko who made the great contribution to the physical science of the twentieth century. Contents:A Gauge-Invariant Theory of Motion of Charged Test Particles (D Chruscinski & J Kijowski)Heisenberg Picture for Quantized Fields Interacting with Nonstationary Electromagnetic or Gravitational Background (A A Lobashov & V M Mostepanenko)General Relativity as a Gauge Theory of Orthogonal Groups in Three Dimensions (M Raiteri et al.)Quantum Spacetime (D Finkelstein et al.)Jacobi's Principle and Hertz' Definition of Time (H-J Treder et al.)Placing Limits on Cartan's Torsion from Non-Riemannian Crystals (L C G de Andrade)Spinors as Differential Forms, and Applications to Electromagnetism and Quantum Mechanics (W A Rodrigues, Jr & J Vaz, Jr)Black Holes, Time Arrow, and Vacuum in Quantum Electrodynamics (M E Gertsenstein)One-Loop Background Calculations in the General Field Theory (P I Pronin & K V Stepanyantz)Energy–Momentum Superpotential in Gravitation Theory (G Giachetta & G Sardanashvily)and other papers Readership: Physicists, astronomists, high energy physicists, cosmologists and astrophysicists. keywords:Gravitation Theory;Riemannian Geometry;Gauge Theory;Spinor Field;Dirac Operator;Clifford Algebra;Torsion;Quantum Field;Black Hole;Conservation Law“… the book properly reflects the state of the art in a sector of current research on gravitation (and, less so, other fundamental interactions) and spacing geometry.”H Goenner Classical and Quantum Gravity