1992/05/29 by Arlen Anderson, Anderson, Arlen · 1 citation
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Algebraic and Geometric Analysis #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.hep-th/9205112
8 pp., McGill 92-15
arxiv created 1992/05/29 · openalex publication_date 1992/05/29 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Time does not obviously appear amongst the coordinates on the constrained phase space of general relativity in the Hamiltonian formulation. Recent work in finite-dimensional models claims that topological obstructions generically make the global definition of time impossible. It is shown here that a time coordinate can be globally defined on a constrained phase space by patching together local time coordinates, just as coordinates are defined on topologically non-trivial manifolds.