The Hamiltonian constraint in the symmetric teleparallel equivalent of general relativity

Abstract

General relativity (GR) admits two alternative formulations with the same dynamics attributing the gravitational phenomena to torsion or nonmetricity of the manifold’s connection. They lead, respectively, to the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity (TEGR) and the symmetric teleparallel equivalent of general relativity (STEGR). In this work, we focus on STEGR and present its differences with the conventional, curvature-based GR. We exhibit the 3+1 decomposition of the STEGR Lagrangian in the coincident gauge and present the Hamiltonian, the Hamiltonian and momenta constraints, and Hamilton’s equations. For a particular case of spherical symmetry, we explicitly show the differences in the Hamiltonian and the Hamiltonian constraint between GR and STEGR. We finally discuss the implications that these differences, which represent genuine different features between the two formulations of gravity, might encompass to numerical relativity.