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Flat Spacetime Gravitation with a Preferred Foliation

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Abstract

Paralleling the formal derivation of general relativity as a flat spacetime theory, we introduce in addition a preferred temporal foliation. The physical interpretation of the formalism is considered in the context of 5-dimensional “parametrized” and 4-dimensional preferred frame contexts. In the former case, we suggest that our earlier proposal of unconcatenated parametrized physics requires that the dependence on τ be rather slow. In the 4-dimensional case, we consider and tentatively reject several areas of physics that might require a preferred foliation, but find a need for one in the process (“flowing”) theory of time. We then suggest why such a foliation might reasonably be unobservable.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ilya Prigogine Center for Studies in Statistical Mechanics and Complex Systems, Department of Physics, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas, 78712

    J. B. Pitts

  2. Ilya Prigogine Center for Studies in Statistical Mechanics and Complex Systems, Department of Physics, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas, 78712

    W. C. Schieve

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Pitts, J.B., Schieve, W.C. Flat Spacetime Gravitation with a Preferred Foliation. Foundations of Physics 31, 1083–1104 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017578424131

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