Jordan-like invariant representations of scalar-tensor gravity and the return of imperfect-fluid thermodynamics

Abstract

It has been shown that the thermodynamics of frame-invariant scalar-tensor gravity admits an Einstein-frame-like invariant representation, in which the scalar sector is minimally coupled and behaves as a perfect fluid with vanishing temperature. We show that this is not the only invariant thermodynamic organization available. Using instead the invariant matter metric, we construct a Jordan-frame-like invariant representation in which matter is minimally coupled and the gravitational action takes the Brans-Dicke-Bergmann-Wagoner form with invariant fields $\Psi ={\mathcal{I}}_1^{-1}$, $\mathcal{U}(\Psi )$, and ${\omega }_{\mathrm{inv}}(\Psi )$. In this representation the metric field equations retain the Hessian sector characteristic of Jordan-frame scalar-tensor gravity. A $1+3$ decomposition of the corresponding effective stress tensor yields nonvanishing heat flux and anisotropic stress in a generic congruence. In the $\Psi$-comoving frame, the usual first-order thermodynamic identifications are recovered in invariant form, including $K_{\mathrm{J}}{T}_{\mathrm{J}}=-\dot{\Psi }/({\kappa }^2\Psi )$ and ${\eta }_{\mathrm{J}}=\dot{\Psi }/(2{\kappa }^2\Psi )$, with the bulk channel obtained in homogeneous and isotropic sectors. Thus, frame-invariant scalar-tensor thermodynamics is not intrinsically restricted to an Einstein-frame-like perfect-fluid description: it also admits a Jordan-frame-like invariant formulation in which the effective imperfect-fluid interpretation is manifest.

9 pages