corner
corner

Phys. Rev. D 47, 3275–3280 (1993)

Gravitational action for spacetimes with nonsmooth boundaries

Download: PDF (332 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

Geoff Hayward*
Department of Physics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 2A6

Received 30 November 1992; published in the issue dated 15 April 1993

In this paper, I examine the gravitational action for spacetimes with nonsmooth boundaries. By two independent techniques, I derive the contribution to the gravitational action of spacelike and timelike two-surfaces on the boundary at which the unit normal changes discontinuously. I discuss the relationship between constraints imposed at such two-surfaces and their contribution to the gravitational action. I derive the form of the action and the juncture conditions appropriate to cases in which a spacetime includes a singular matter distribution whose world history corresponds to a timelike two-dimensional surface.

© 1993 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.47.3275
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevD.47.3275
PACS:
04.20.Fy

*Electronic address: ghayward@physics.ubc.ca