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Phys. Rev. D 79, 064028 (2009) [13 pages]

Formal framework for a nonlocal generalization of Einstein’s theory of gravitation

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Friedrich W. Hehl*
Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Cologne, 50923 Köln, Germany and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA

Bahram Mashhoon
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA

Received 3 February 2009; published 26 March 2009

The analogy between electrodynamics and the translational gauge theory of gravity is employed in this paper to develop an ansatz for a nonlocal generalization of Einstein’s theory of gravitation. Working in the linear approximation, we show that the resulting nonlocal theory is equivalent to general relativity with “dark matter.” The nature of the predicted dark matter, which is the manifestation of the nonlocal character of gravity in our model, is briefly discussed. It is demonstrated that this approach can provide a basis for the Tohline-Kuhn treatment of the astrophysical evidence for dark matter.

© 2009 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.79.064028
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevD.79.064028
PACS:
04.50.Kd, 04.20.Cv, 11.10.Lm

*hehl@thp.uni-koeln.de

mashhoonb@missouri.edu