Failure of Standard Conservation Laws at a Classical Change of Signature

Abstract

The Divergence Theorem as usually stated cannot be applied across a change of signature unless it is re-expressed to allow for a finite source term on the signature change surface. Consequently all conservation laws must also be `modified', and therefore insistence on conservation of matter across such a surface cannot be physically justified. The Darmois junction conditions normally ensure conservation of matter via Israel's identities for the jump in the energy-momentum density, but not when the signature changes. Modified identities are derived for this jump when a signature change occurs, and the resulting surface effects in the conservation laws are calculated. In general, physical vector fields experience a jump in at least one component, and a source term may therefore appear in the corresponding conservation law. Thus current is also not conserved. These surface effects are a consequence of the change in the character of physical law. The only way to recover standard conservation laws is to impose restrictions that no realistic cosmological model can satisfy.