Symmetry Doubling: Doubly General Relativity

Abstract

Using a BRST treatment, we show that the equivalence of General Relativity and Shape Dynamics can be extended to a theory that respects the BRST-symmetries of General Relativity as well as the ones of an extended version of Shape Dynamics. This version of Shape Dynamics implements local spatial Weyl transformations as well as a local and abstract analogue of special conformal transformations. Standard effective field theory arguments suggest that the definition of a gravity theory should implement this duality between General Relativity and Shape Dynamics, thus the name "Doubly General Relativity." We briefly discuss several consequences: bulk/bulk- duality in classical gravity, experimental falsification of Doubly General Relativity and possible implications for the renormalization of quantum gravity in the effective field theory framework.