Wave fields in Weyl spaces and conditions for the existence of a preferred pseudo-Riemannian structure

Abstract

Previous axiomatic approaches to general relativity which led to a Weylian structure of space-time are supplemented by a physical condition which implies the existence of a preferred pseudo-Riemannian structure. It is stipulated that the trajectories of the short wave limit of classical massive fields agree with the geodesics of the Weyl connection and it is shown that this is equivalent to the vanishing of the covariant derivative of a “mass function” of nontrivial Weyl type. This in turn is proven to be equivalent to the existence of a preferred metric of the conformal structure such that the Weyl connection is reducible to a connection of the bundle of orthonormal frames belonging to this distinguished metric.