We discuss Einstein’s field equations in the presence of signature change using variational methods, obtaining a generalization of the Lanczos equation relating the distributional term in the stress tensor to the discontinuity of the extrinsic curvature. In particular, there is no distributional term in the stress tensor, and hence no...
We examine some of the subtleties inherent in formulating a theory of spinors on a manifold with a smooth degenerate metric. We concentrate on the case where the metric is singular on a hypersurface that partitions the manifold into Lorentzian and Euclidean domains. We introduce the notion of a complex...
We derive conditions for rotating particle detectors to respond in a variety of bounded spacetimes and
compare the results with the folklore that particle detectors do not respond in the vacuum state appropriate to
their motion. Applications involving possible violations of the second law of thermodynamics are briefly
addressed.
We contrast the two approaches to ‘‘classical’’ signature change used by Hayward with the one used by us (Hellaby and Dray). There is (as yet) no rigorous derivation of appropriate distributional field equations. Hayward’s distributional approach is based on a postulated modified form of the field equations. We make an...
A general porous-medium equation is uniquely solved subject to a pair of boundary conditions for the trace of the solution and a second function on the boundary. The use of maximal monotone graphs for the three nonlinearities permits not only the inclusion of the usual boundary conditions of Dirichlet, Neumann,...
A parametric manifold can be viewed as the manifold of orbits of a (regular) foliation of a manifold by means of a family of curves. If the foliation is hypersurface orthogonal, the parametric manifold is equivalent to the one‐parameter family of hypersurfaces orthogonal to the curves, each of which inherits...
A parametric manifold is a manifold on which all tensor fields depend on an additional parameter, such as time, together with a parametric structure, namely a given (parametric) one‐form field. Such a manifold admits natural generalizations of Lie differentiation, exterior differentiation, and covariant differentiation, all based on a nonstandard action...
The divergence theorem in its usual form applies only to suitably smooth vector fields. For vector fields which are merely piecewise smooth, as is natural at a boundary between regions with different physical properties, one must patch together the divergence theorem applied separately in each region. We give an elegant...
The divergence theorem as usually stated cannot be applied across a change of signature unless it is reexpressed to allow for a finite source term on the signature change surface. Consequently all conservation laws must also be ‘‘modified,’’ and therefore insistence on conservation of matter across such a surface cannot...
We consider the (massless) scalar field on a two-dimensional manifold with metric that changes signature from Lorentzian to Euclidean. Requiring a conserved momentum in the spatially homogeneous case leads to a particular choice of propagation rule. The resulting mix of positive and negative frequencies depends only on the total (conformal)...
A system of quasilinear degenerate parabolic equations arising in the modeling of diffusion in a fissured medium is studied. There is one such equation in the local cell coordinates at each point of the medium, and these are coupled through a similar equation in the global coordinates. It is shown...
In four dimensions, two metrics that are conformally related define the same Hodge dual operator on the space of two‐forms. The converse, namely, that two metrics that have the same Hodge dual are conformally related, is established. This is true for metrics of arbitrary (nondegenerate) signature. For Euclidean signature a...
Anderson and DeWitt considered the quantization of a massless scalar field in a spacetime whose spacelike hypersurfaces change topology and concluded that the topology change gives rise to infinite particle and energy production. We show here that their calculations are insufficient and that their propagation rule is unphysical. However, our...
A unified, self‐contained treatment of Wigner D functions, spin‐weighted spherical harmonics, and monopole harmonics is given, both in coordinate‐free language and for a particular choice of coordinates.
Diffusion in a fissured medium with absorption or partial saturation effects leads to a pseudoparabolic equation nonlinear in both the enthalpy and the permeability. The corresponding initial-boundary value problem is shown to have a solution in various Sobolev-Besov spaces, and sufficient conditions are given for the problem to be well-posed.
We compare two independent generalizations of the usual spherical harmonics, namely monopole harmonics and spin‐weighted spherical harmonics, and make precise the sense in which they can be considered to be the same. By analogy with the spin‐gauge language, raising and lowering operators for the monopole index of the monopole harmonics...
The initial-value problem is studied for evolution equations in Hilbert space of the general form d/dt A(u) + B(u) ϶ f, where and are maximal monotone operators. Existence of a solution is proved when A is a subgradient and either is strongly monotone or B is coercive; existence is established...
We give a nonstandard method of integrating the equation Bu" + Cu’ + Au = f in Hilbert space by reducing it to a first order system in which the differentiated term corresponds to energy. Semigroup theory gives existence for hyperbolic and for parabolic cases. When C = εA, ε...