München 2009 – scientific programme

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GR: Fachverband Gravitation und Relativitätstheorie

GR 1: Grundlegende Probleme und allgemeiner Formalismus

GR 1.2: Talk

Monday, March 9, 2009, 17:20–17:40, A214

The physics of higher order equations of motion — •Patricia Rademaker and Claus Lämmerzahl — ZARM, University Bremen, 28359 Bremen

On the classical level interactions are explored through the observation of the dynamics of particles. The basic underlying assumption in that scheme is that Newton's second law holds. We relax the validity of this axiom by assuming higher order time derivatives in the equation of motion. We discuss the physics emerging from such higher order equations of motion and derive the structure of interactions which can be deduced from a gauge principle. One main result is that modifications in the particle motion due to higher order derivatives induce a zitterbewegung. As a consequence the main motion resulting from the second order equation of motion is rather robust against such modifications. Higher order equations of motion also allow for a more general structure of interactions. In particular, this approach also serves as a novel scheme to introduce the Riemannian space-time metric on a gauge level. We confront this general scheme with experimental data.