Local continuity laws on the phase space of Einstein equations with sources

Abstract

Local continuity equations involving background fields and variantions of the fields, are obtained for a restricted class of solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell and Einstein-Weyl theories using a new approach based on the concept of the adjoint of a differential operator. Such covariant conservation laws are generated by means of decoupled equations and their adjoints in such a way that the corresponding covariantly conserved currents possess some gauge-invariant properties and are expressed in terms of Debye potentials. These continuity laws lead to both a covariant description of bilinear forms on the phase space and the existence of conserved quantities. Differences and similarities with other approaches and extensions of our results are discussed.