Prospects of detecting spacetime torsion

Abstract

How to detect spacetime torsion? In this essay we provide the theoretical basis for an answer to this question. Multipolar equations of motion for a very general class of gravitational theories with nonminimal coupling in spacetimes admitting torsion are given. Our findings provide a framework for the systematic testing of whole classes of theories with the help of extended test bodies. One surprising feature of nonminimal theories turns out to be their potential sensitivity to torsion of spacetime even in experiments with ordinary (not microstructured) test matter.

6 pages, this essay received a honorable mention in the 2014 essay competition of the Gravity Research Foundation

References in corpus (6)

• Constraints on Torsion from Lorentz Violation
• Constraining Torsion with Gravity Probe B
• Covariant equations of motion for test bodies in gravitational theories with general nonminimal coupling
• Motion of test bodies in theories with nonminimal coupling
• Conservation laws in gravitational theories with general nonminimal coupling
• Constraining spacetime torsion with the Moon and Mercury

Cited by in corpus (13)

• General Relativity and Cosmology: Unsolved Questions and Future Directions
• Equations of motion in metric-affine gravity: A covariant unified framework
• Non-zero torsion and late cosmology
• Nonminimally coupled scalar field in teleparallel gravity: boson stars
• Weitzenböck's Torsion, Fermi Coordinates and Adapted Frames
• The Spin Tensor of Dark Matter and the Hubble Parameter Tension
• Einstein-Proca theory from the Einstein-Cartan formulation
• Mapping Poincaré gauge cosmology to Horndeski theory for emergent dark energy
• Signature of Einstein-Cartan theory
• Cosmological Dark Matter Amplification through Dark Torsion
• Geometric multipliers and partial teleparallelism in Poincaré gauge theory
• Quantum hydrodynamics of spinning particles in electromagnetic and torsion fields
• The Role of Torsion in Trans-Planckian Physics