Kleinian signature change

May, 1994
24 pages
Published in:
  • Class.Quant.Grav. 11 (1994) 2523-2536
Report number:
  • DAMTP-R-94-18

Citations per year

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Abstract: (IOP)
We study the propagation of plane-waves in a fixed flat background spacetime whose metric changes from a Lorentzian signature to a Kleinian signature . When the change of signature is discontinuous there is an apparent difference in wave behaviour depending upon whether the wave describes matter with integer or half-integer spin. A more detailed study of the Dirac equation shows that, while it is possible to decrease this disparity, the two matter classes still do not behave identically. A more consistent picture finally emerges when the same problem is attempted with a metric which changes signature continuously. This leads to the prediction of some surprising physical phenomena.
  • space-time
  • topology: effect
  • Dirac equation: solution
  • Klein-Gordon equation: solution