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Shape Dynamics is a radical yet soundly based reinterpretation of Einstein's theory of gravity that has opened up new approaches to gravity research. This text offers both a brief introduction and a detailed walk-through of the motivations for the theory, its development from first principles and an in-depth look at its present status.
List of contents
- 1: Introduction
- I. Historical Motivation
- 2: Newton's bucket
- 3: Origins of the Mach-Poincare Principle
- II. Relational Particle Dynamics
- 4: Barbour-Bertotti best matching
- 5: Best matching: Technical details
- 6: Hamiltonian formulation
- III. Relational Field Theory
- 7: Relativity without Relativity
- 8: York's solution to the initial-value problem
- 9: A derivation of Shape Dynamics
- 10: Cotton-squared theory
- IV. Shape Dynamics
- 11: Historical interlude
- 12: Shape Dynamics and the Linking Theory
- 13: Solutions of Shape Dynamics
- V. Appendices
- A: Arnowitt-Deser-Misner Gravity
- B: Other appendices
About the author
Flavio Mercati completed his Ph.D. at the University of Rome `La Sapienza' in 2011 with a thesis on experimental tests of quantum gravity and on effective models of quantum gravity based on noncommutative field theory. He spent one year at the University of Zaragoza in Spain as a postdoctoral fellow, and another 7 months visiting the University of Nottingham in the UK. Since 2012 he has been a postdoctoral fellow at the Perimeter Institute in Ontario, Canada. Mercati has published around 30 scientific articles and three essays. In 2015 he won the Buchalter Prize for Cosmology for his research on the arrow of time. This work has received considerable attention by the media, leading to interviews by popular science journals like Wired, Scientific American, Le Scienze and Discovery News.
Summary
Shape Dynamics is a radical yet soundly based reinterpretation of Einstein's theory of gravity that has opened up new approaches to gravity research. This text offers both a brief introduction and a detailed walk-through of the motivations for the theory, its development from first principles and an in-depth look at its present status.
Additional text
Shape Dynamics is a new theory of gravity based on fewer and arguably more fundamental principles than the general theory of relativity. It reproduces all of the hitherto confirmed predictions of Einstein's theory but is much more restrictive in the solutions that it allows. Besides being therefore a more strongly predictive theory, it also reveals new aspects of gravity that have the potential to transform our understanding of the Big Bang and black holes. Flavio Mercati has been actively involved with the recent exciting developments of Shape Dynamics. His monograph includes a valuable account of the historical background to the theory and its conceptual underpinnings. It is an excellent introduction suitable for readers of a wide range of abilities: from physics and mathematics undergraduates, to active gravitational and cosmological researchers.
