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Phys. Rev. D 79, 024023 (2009) [5 pages]

Explicit form of the Mann-Marolf surface term in (3+1) dimensions

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Matt Visser*
School of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand

Received 2 September 2008; revised 28 October 2008; published 23 January 2009

The Mann-Marolf surface term is a specific candidate for the “reference background term” that is to be subtracted from the Gibbons-Hawking surface term in order make the total gravitational action of asymptotically flat spacetimes finite. That is, the total gravitational action is taken to be: (Einstein-Hilbert   bulk   term)+(Gibbons-Hawking   surface   term)-(Mann-Marolf   surface   term). As presented by Mann and Marolf, their surface term is specified implicitly in terms of the Ricci tensor of the boundary. Herein, I demonstrate that, for the physically interesting case of a (3+1)-dimensional bulk spacetime, the Mann-Marolf surface term can be specified explicitly in terms of the Einstein tensor of the (2+1)-dimensional boundary.

© 2009 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.79.024023
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevD.79.024023
PACS:
04.60.−m, 04.20.Ha, 04.62.+v

*matt.visser@mcs.vuw.ac.nz