A vielbein formalism for SHP general relativity

Abstract

Abstract The 4+1 formalism in general relativity expresses the Einstein equations as a manifestly covariant initial value problem, resulting in a pair of first order evolution equations for the metric γμv and intrinsic curvature Kμv of spacetime geometry (μ, v = 0, 1, 2, 3). This approach extends the Stueckelberg-Horwitz-Piron (SHP) framework, a covariant approach to canonical particle mechanics and field theory employing a Lorentz scalar Hamiltonian K and an external chronological parameter τ. The SHP Hamiltonian generates τ-evolution of spacetime events xμ (τ) or ψ (x, τ) in an a priori unconstrained phase space; standard relativistic dynamics can be recovered a posteriori by imposing symmetries that express the usual mass shell constraint for individual particles and fields as conservation laws. As a guide to posing field equations for the evolving metric, we generalize the structure of SHP electrodynamics, with particular attention to O(3,1) covariance. Thus, the 4+1 method first defines a 5D pseudo-spacetime as a direct product of spacetime geometry and chronological evolution, poses 5D field equations whose symmetry must be broken to 4D, and then implements the implied 4+1 foliation to obtain evolution equations. In this paper, we sharpen and clarify the interpretation of this decomposition by introducing a fixed orthonormal quintrad frame and a 5D vielbein field that by construction respects the preferred 4+1 foliation. We show that for any diagonal metric, this procedure enables the evolution equation for the metric to be replaced by an evolution equation for the vielbein field itself, simplifying calculation of the spin connection and curvature.