Spacetimes with Torsion

Explore the intricacies of gravitational theories in this thought-provoking talk by Helen Meskhidze from Harvard University. Delve into the complexities of General Relativity and its empirically equivalent counterpart, Teleparallel Gravity (TPG). Examine the fundamental questions raised by TPG regarding the nature of gravitational influence and the concept of torsional forces. Learn how torsion can be incorporated into classical spacetimes to create a classical theory of gravity with closed temporal metric and spacetime torsion. Discover the analogies between this approach and the Trautman degeometrization theorem. Investigate the non-relativistic limit of Teleparallel Gravity using the tetrad formalism and understand how it relates to standard Newtonian Gravity. Compare this result to the classical limit of General Relativity and gain insights into how taking the classical limit affects spatial curvature and torsion in these gravitational theories. This 1-hour 13-minute lecture, part of the Foundations of Physics @Harvard Seminar Series, offers a deep dive into advanced concepts in physics and spacetime theory.