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# Vector field mediated models of dynamical light velocity

## 1. Introduction

In previous work , we have introduced a new kind of vector-tensor and scalar-tensor theory of gravity, which exhibits a bimetric structure and contains two or more light cones. This type of model has attracted some interest recently , and similar effects have been noted elsewhere . The motivation for considering these models is derived form earlier work of one of the present authors , which provided a scenario in which some of the outstanding issues in cosmology can be resolved. The present line of work provides a specific class of models that realize these ideas, for it provides a fundamental dynamical mechanism for varying speed of light theories and generates a new mechanism for an inflationary epoch that could solve the initial value problems  of early universe cosmology.

In this article, we focus on clarifying the role that these models can play in the early universe, demonstrating how matter that satisfies the strong energy condition can nevertheless contribute to the cosmic acceleration. Recently, an analysis of a similar class of theories has appeared  which, while introducing some interesting ideas, unfortunately claimed that we had made an algebraic error in our previous work . This can be attributed to a misunderstanding of part of the construction that was perhaps not dealt with in sufficient detail in our initial publication. We will rectify this situation here, developing the model in additional detail and showing explicitly that the error attributed to us in  is in fact an error on their part. We will also show that our cosmological model can be mapped to a model with varying fundamental constants , albeit not uniquely and requiring some care in the interpretation of the varying constants that appear.

It is hoped that the models can shed some light on the new observational data that suggests the expansion of the universe at present is undergoing an acceleration . Although there has been some success in understanding the latter problem by the inclusion of a class of very particular scalar field potentials , it is fair to say that not all issues have been resolved. In this article, we will not have much to say about this issue since, as we shall see, the vector field that produces a superluminary expansion in the early universe must vanish at some scale, and standard cosmology results afterwards. Using the scalar field version of the model, we expect that not only will we be able to generate sufficient inflation, but that a quintessence-like solution should be achieveable. We shall concentrate our efforts on the vector-tensor model by providing a more detailed analysis of its consequences and postpone a fuller analysis of the scalar-tensor model to a future article.

## 2. The vector mediated model

We shall be considering models wth an action of the form

$$S=\overline{S}_{\mathrm{gr}}[\overline{\mathrm{g}}]+S[\mathrm{g},\psi ]+\widehat{S}[\widehat{\mathrm{g}},\widehat{\varphi }^I].$$
(1)
The first term is the usual Einstein-Hilbert action for general relativity constructed from a metric $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$, and the final term is the contribution from the non-gravitational (matter) fields in spacetime $`\widehat{\varphi }^I`$, and is built from a different but related metric $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$. One motivation for constructing the action (1) is simplicity: it allows us to build models in a modular way with additional matter fields introduced as necessary, and it requires only fairly well-known variational results. The other benefit is that it makes fairly clear what metrics will be of physical relevance.

The contribution $`S[\mathrm{g},\psi ]`$ is constructed from a metric $`\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }`$ and includes kinetic terms for a field or fields (unspecified as yet) $`\psi `$ that may be considered to be part of the gravitational sector, modifying the reaction of spacetime to the presence of the matter fields in $`\widehat{S}[\widehat{\mathrm{g}},\widehat{\varphi }^I]`$. The manner in which that $`\psi `$ accomplishes this is by modifying the metric that appears in each of the actions. For example, in  $`\psi `$ was a vector field, $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }`$ and $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }+b\psi _\mu \psi _\nu `$, whereas in  $`\psi `$ was a scalar field, $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }`$ and $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }+b_\mu \psi _\nu \psi `$. These relations imply that matter and gravitational fields propagate at different velocities if $`\psi `$ is nonvanishing. In this work we will explore the first of these possibilities in more detail than was possible in our previous publication , clarifying some misinterpretations that have appeared in recent work .

Since the matter action $`\widehat{S}`$ is built using only $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$, it is the null surfaces of $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ along which matter fields propagate. If we assume that other than the presence of a “composite” metric the matter action is otherwise a conventional form (perfect fluid, scalar field, Maxwell, etc.), then variation of the matter action

$$\delta \widehat{S}[\widehat{g},\widehat{\varphi }^I]=𝑑\widehat{\mu }\left(\widehat{F}_I\delta \widehat{\varphi }^I\frac{1}{2}\widehat{T}^{\mu \nu }\delta \widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }\right),$$
(2)
provides the matter energy-momentum tensor $`\widehat{T}^{\mu \nu }`$, which will be conserved

$$\widehat{}_\nu \widehat{T}^{\mu \nu }=0,$$
(3)
by virtue of the matter field equations $`\widehat{F}_I=0`$. Throughout we will write, for example, $`\widehat{}_\nu `$ for the covariant derivative constructed from the Levi-Civita connection of $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$. Since we also assume that the matter fields satisfy the dominant energy condition, we therefore know (assuming appropriate smoothness of $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$) that matter fields cannot travel faster than the speed of light as determined by $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ .

The gravitational action is written

$$\overline{S}_{\mathrm{gr}}[\overline{\mathrm{g}}]=\frac{1}{\kappa }𝑑\overline{\mu }\overline{R},$$
(4)
where we use a metric with ($`+`$$``$$``$$``$) signature and have defined $`\kappa =16\pi G/c^4`$. We will denote the metric densities by, e.g., $`\overline{\mu }=\sqrt{det(\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu })}`$ and in addition write $`d\overline{\mu }=\overline{\mu }dtd^3x`$. The variation of (4) is

$$\delta \overline{S}_{\mathrm{gr}}[\overline{\mathrm{g}}]=\frac{1}{\kappa }𝑑\overline{\mu }\overline{G}^{\mu \nu }\delta \overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }.$$
(5)
We will not consider a cosmological constant—it is a trivial matter to include it later. Provided the resulting field equation for $`\overline{G}^{\mu \nu }`$ has nothing in it that disturbs the principal part of the field equations and the constraints remain constraints, then we can identify the metric $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ as providing the light cone for the gravitational system.

It remains to connect these two pieces with specific models for $`S`$, $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$. We will generalize and provide more details on the vector field model that we presented in . The choice of this model over a scalar field mediated model is due to the fact that the vector field models do not have any remaining degrees of freedom in an FRW universe and are therefore simpler to analyze.

Keeping in mind the dangers involved in coupling vector fields to gravity , we begin with a Proca model with arbitrary potential

$$S[\mathrm{g},\psi ]=\frac{1}{\kappa }𝑑\mu \left(\frac{1}{4}B^2V(X)\right),$$
(6)
where we will use the definition

$$X=\frac{1}{2}\psi ^2,$$
(7)
and $`V^{}(X)=V(X)/X`$. We will also use $`B_{\mu \nu }=_\mu \psi _\nu _\nu \psi _\mu `$, $`\psi ^2=\mathrm{g}^{\mu \nu }\psi _\mu \psi _\nu `$ and $`B^2=\mathrm{g}^{\alpha \mu }\mathrm{g}^{\beta \nu }B_{\alpha \beta }B_{\mu \nu }`$. We will assume that as $`\psi _\mu 0`$ we have $`V(X)m^2X`$ and therefore the linearized (in $`\psi _\mu `$) limit of our model is identical to Einstein-Proca field equations coupled to matter.

Using the standard energy-momentum tensor for the vector field

$$T^{\mu \nu }=B^{\mu \alpha }B_{}^{\nu }{}_{\alpha }{}^{}+\frac{1}{4}\mathrm{g}^{\mu \nu }B^2+V^{}\psi ^\mu \psi ^\nu V\mathrm{g}^{\mu \nu },$$
(8)
the variation of (6) results in

$$\delta S[\mathrm{g},\psi ]=\frac{1}{\kappa }𝑑\mu \left(_\mu B^{\mu \alpha }+V^{}\psi ^\alpha \right)\delta \psi _\alpha \frac{1}{2\kappa }𝑑\mu T^{\mu \nu }\delta \mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }.$$
(9)
Note that writing $`\psi ^\alpha `$ is potentially ambiguous, since there is more than one way in which one can “raise” an index. We will use $`\psi ^\alpha =\mathrm{g}^{\alpha \beta }\psi _\beta `$, $`\widehat{\psi }^\alpha =\widehat{\mathrm{g}}^{\alpha \beta }\psi _\beta `$ and $`\overline{\psi }^\alpha =\overline{\mathrm{g}}^{\alpha \beta }\psi _\beta `$ as necessary, and consider $`\psi _\mu `$ as the independent components of the (co-)vector field. The same will hold for any other tensor, and we will be explicit about which contraction we are using where necessary.

In choosing the form of $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$, we could be fairly general and define, for example

$$\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }=a(B^2,X)\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }+b(B^2,X)\psi _\mu \psi _\nu +\text{other terms like }B_{}^{\alpha }{}_{\mu }{}^{}B_{\alpha \nu }\text{etc.}.$$
(10)
The presence of $`B_{\mu \nu }`$ in this relation would lead to second derivatives of $`\psi _\mu `$ appearing in the relationship between $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mu \nu }^\alpha `$ and $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_{\mu \nu }^\alpha `$, and therefore re-writing the field equations in terms of $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ will have a nontrivial effect on the principal parts of the differential equations. What one needs is for $`_\mu `$ and $`\widehat{}_\mu `$ to differ only by first derivatives of $`\psi _\mu `$, which is accomplished by considering the simpler form $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }=a(X)(\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }+b(X)\psi _\mu \psi _\nu )`$. Although this more general class of models is worth considering, here we will limit ourselves to the choice

$$\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }+b\psi _\mu \psi _\nu ,\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }+g\psi _\mu \psi _\nu ,$$
(11)
so that the variations of $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ are related to those of $`\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }`$ and $`\psi _\mu `$ by, for example

$$\delta \widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }=\delta \mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }+b(\psi _\mu \delta \psi _\nu +\psi _\nu \delta \psi _\mu ).$$
(12)
This type of model is therefore a “purely dynamical metric theory”, for all fields are determined by the coupled field equations, but the relationship (11) must be considered as ‘prior geometry’ . The field equations

$$_\mu B^{\mu \nu }+V^{}\psi ^\nu +gT^{\mu \nu }\psi _\mu +\kappa \frac{\widehat{\mu }}{\mu }(gb)\widehat{T}^{\nu \mu }\psi _\mu =0,$$
(13a)
$$\overline{\mu }\overline{G}^{\mu \nu }=\frac{1}{2}\mu T^{\mu \nu }+\frac{1}{2}\kappa \widehat{\mu }\widehat{T}^{\mu \nu },$$
(13b)
result from assembling the contributions from (2), (5) and (9) proportional to $`\delta \psi _\nu `$ and $`\delta \mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }`$, respectively.

As we shall see from (15), making the local redefinition of metric fields (11) will not alter the principal part of any second-order field equation. We are therefore free to write the entire system (13) as a partial differential equation in terms of the fields $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$, $`\psi _\mu `$ and $`\widehat{\varphi }^I`$. While it is possible that constraints in the matter system $`\widehat{F}_I=0`$ will pick up terms containing first derivatives of $`\psi _\mu `$, they will nonetheless remain constraints. It is therefore clear that $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ provide the characteristic surfaces for matter and gravitational fields, respectively. Unfortunately, although most of the construction of our model relies on the metric $`\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }`$ and its variation in the action, it is not actually of any obvious physical relevance. This can be seen by considering the divergence of (13a) given in (18). When this is used to write the principal part of (13a) as a simple wave operator, we find that the derivatives of $`\psi _\mu `$ appearing in (18) make this impossible. The analysis of the characteristic speeds of such a wave operator are far from trivial (see, however,  for the speeds of cosmological perturbations).

## 3. The Bianchi identities

A potential concern when considering the field equations (13b) is how the Bianchi identities $`\overline{}_\nu \overline{G}^{\mu \nu }=0`$ and matter conservation laws (3) combine to ensure that the divergence of (13b) does not lead to any additional constraints on the system. Although it could be said that covariance guarantees this consistency, because we are not considering an explicit matter model, it is important to show the relationship between any matter model satisfying (3) and the Bianchi identities.

From the definitions (11) we find, for example

$$\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }:=\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }+b\psi _\mu \psi _\nu ,\widehat{\mathrm{g}}^{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{g}^{\mu \nu }\frac{b}{1+2bX}\psi ^\mu \psi ^\nu ,$$
(14)
with similar relationships between the metrics $`\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ and the metrics $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$, with suitable replacement of the constant $`b`$ and re-definition of $`X`$. It is then a straightforward exercise to find

$`\widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_{\mu \nu }^\alpha \mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mu \nu }^\alpha `$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{b}{1+2bX}}\psi ^\alpha _{(\mu }\psi _{\nu )}b\widehat{\mathrm{g}}^{\alpha \beta }B_{\beta (\mu }\psi _{\nu )},`$ (15a)
$`\overline{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_{\mu \nu }^\alpha \mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mu \nu }^\alpha `$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{g}{1+2gX}}\psi ^\alpha _{(\mu }\psi _{\nu )}g\overline{\mathrm{g}}^{\alpha \beta }B_{\beta (\mu }\psi _{\nu )},`$ (15b)
$`\overline{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_{\mu \nu }^\alpha \widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_{\mu \nu }^\alpha `$ $`=\left({\displaystyle \frac{g}{1+2gX}}{\displaystyle \frac{b}{1+2bX}}\right)\psi ^\alpha _{(\mu }\psi _{\nu )}(g\overline{\mathrm{g}}^{\alpha \beta }b\widehat{\mathrm{g}}^{\alpha \beta })B_{\beta (\mu }\psi _{\nu )}.`$ (15c)
Taking the divergence of (13b) and using the Bianchi identity $`\overline{}_\nu \overline{G}^{\mu \nu }=0`$, results in

$$0=_\nu [\mu T^{\mu \nu }]+\mu T^{\beta \alpha }(\overline{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_{\alpha \beta }^\mu \mathrm{\Gamma }_{\alpha \beta }^\mu )+\kappa \widehat{\mu }\widehat{T}^{\beta \alpha }(\overline{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_{\alpha \beta }^\mu \widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_{\alpha \beta }^\mu ),$$
(16)
where we have re-written the covariant derivative $`\overline{}_\nu `$ in terms of $`_\nu `$ when acting on the vector field energy-momentum tensor, and in terms of $`\widehat{}_\nu `$ when acting on the matter energy-momentum tensor. We have also used (3) to drop the divergence that results from the latter. The goal here is to show that this equation is automatically satisfied, i.e., it does not entail any additional restrictions on the matter fields or $`\psi _\mu `$ that are not already in existence in their respective field equations.

Taking the divergence of (8) and using $`_\alpha B_{\beta \gamma }+_\beta B_{\gamma \alpha }+_\gamma B_{\alpha \beta }=0`$ and (13a), we find

$$_\nu [\mu T^{\mu \nu }]=\mu \psi ^\mu _\nu [V^{}\psi ^\nu ]+(g\mu T^{\alpha \beta }+\kappa (gb)\widehat{\mu }\widehat{T}^{\alpha \beta })B_{}^{\mu }{}_{\alpha }{}^{}\psi _\beta .$$
(17)
Now taking the divergence of (13a) and using (17) and (15), we find that

$$\begin{array}{c}\mu (1+2gX)_\nu [V^{}\psi ^\nu ]+g\mu T^{\alpha \beta }(_\alpha \psi _\beta +g\psi _\alpha \psi ^\mu B_{\mu \beta })\hfill \\ \hfill +\kappa (gb)\widehat{\mu }\widehat{T}^{\alpha \beta }(\widehat{}_\alpha \psi _\beta +g\psi _\alpha \psi ^\mu B_{\mu \beta })=0.\end{array}$$
(18)
Using this to replace $`_\nu [V^{}\psi ^\nu ]`$ in (17) and identifying the various connections from (15), we find that the right-hand side of (16) vanishes identically. Thus we know that any matter model that conserves energy-momentum with respect to $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ is consistent with the gravitational structure that we have introduced.

## 4. Causality and energy conditions

The “most physical” metric is clearly $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$, since it describes the geometry on which matter propagates and interacts (c.f., the argument following (3) and ). Because all matter fields are coupled to the same metric $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ in exactly the same way, the weak equivalence principle is satisfied. Furthermore, because one can work in a local Lorentz frame of $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$, in which non-gravitational physics takes on its special relativistic form, the Einstein equivalence principle is also satisfied. However, because $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ does not couple to matter in the same way as in general relativity unless $`\psi _\mu =0`$, the strong equivalence principle will be violated. Clearly, we could introduce couplings of the form $`\psi _\mu \widehat{J}_{\mathrm{matter}}^\mu `$, where $`\widehat{J}_{\mathrm{matter}}^\mu `$ is a current constructed from the matter fields, into the action that would generically violate all equivalence principles.

In this type of model one cannot speak of causality without some qualification. From (11), $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ are related by

$$\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }=\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }+(gb)\psi _\mu \psi _\nu ,\overline{\mathrm{g}}^{\mu \nu }=\widehat{\mathrm{g}}^{\mu \nu }\frac{(gb)}{1+(gb)\widehat{\psi }^2}\widehat{\psi }^\mu \widehat{\psi }^\nu .$$
(19)
Characteristic surfaces of the field equations are determined from each metric by $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}^{\alpha \beta }V_\alpha V_\beta =0`$ and $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}^{\alpha \beta }V_\alpha V_\beta =0`$, where $`V_\alpha `$ is a covector field that lies on the null cone of $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}^{\mu \nu }`$ and $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}^{\mu \nu }`$, respectively. Because these two metrics are generally different and define different characteristic surfaces, we must specify, for example, a $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}`$-timelike vector $`V_\mu `$ as being one that satisfies $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}^{\alpha \beta }V_\alpha V_\beta >0`$. Because of this extended notion of causality, we will call a vector timelike if it is timelike with respect to all metrics in the theory, and spacelike if it is spacelike with respect to all the metrics in the theory .

Equation (19) allows us to connect these different causal relationships. Considering some covector $`V_\mu `$, we have

$$\overline{\mathrm{g}}^{\alpha \beta }V_\alpha V_\beta =\widehat{\mathrm{g}}^{\alpha \beta }V_\alpha V_\beta \frac{(gb)}{1+(gb)\widehat{\psi }^2}(\widehat{\mathrm{g}}^{\alpha \beta }V_\alpha \psi _\beta )^2,$$
(20)
and if we assume that $`V_\mu `$ is $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}`$-null, then it is generically (assuming that $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}(\psi ,V)0`$, i.e., $`\psi _\mu `$ and $`V_\mu `$ are not relatively $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}`$-null)

$$\{\begin{array}{cc}\overline{\mathrm{g}}\text{timelike}\hfill & b>g,\hfill \\ \overline{\mathrm{g}}\text{null}\hfill & b=g,\hfill \\ \overline{\mathrm{g}}\text{spacelike}\hfill & b>g.\hfill \end{array}$$
(21)
The main motivation for considering these theories is that they should have something to say about the horizon problem in the early universe. If $`\psi _\mu 0`$, then if we choose $`b>g`$, matter fields will propagate outside the light cone of the gravitational field as illustrated in Figure 1.

As $`\psi _\mu 0`$ the matter light cone will ‘contract’ and matter and gravitational disturbances will eventually propagate at the same velocity. If one considers a frame in which gravitational waves propagate at a constant speed, then as the light cone of matter contracts, the universe will appear to expand acausally to material observers. This is illustrated in Figure 2.

To get some feel for how this happens, and what other consequences there are, we write (13b) in terms of the Ricci curvature of $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$:

$$\overline{R}^{\mu \nu }=\frac{1}{2}\frac{\mu }{\overline{\mu }}\left(T^{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{2}\overline{\mathrm{g}}^{\mu \nu }\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\alpha \beta }T^{\alpha \beta }\right)+\frac{1}{2}\kappa \frac{\widehat{\mu }}{\overline{\mu }}\left(\widehat{T}^{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{2}\overline{\mathrm{g}}^{\mu \nu }\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\alpha \beta }\widehat{T}^{\alpha \beta }\right).$$
(22)
The condition that the presence of matter causes convergence of $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}`$-timelike or $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}`$-null geodesic congruences is that $`\overline{R}_{\mu \nu }V^\mu V^\nu 0`$ for $`V^\mu `$ a $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}`$-timelike or $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}`$-null vector. If we assume that $`\widehat{\psi }^\mu `$ is a timelike vector (which is a reasonable cosmological assumption) and consider the special case $`V^\mu =\sigma \widehat{\psi }^\mu `$, we find the following result:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \overline{R}^{\mu \nu }\overline{V}_\mu \overline{V}_\nu & =\frac{1}{2}\frac{\mu }{\overline{\mu }}\sigma ^2\frac{1+g\psi ^2}{(1+b\psi ^2)^2}\left[𝒯_\psi \frac{1}{2}(b2g)\psi ^2T^{\alpha \beta }\psi _\alpha \psi _\beta \right]\hfill \\ & +\frac{1}{2}\kappa \frac{\widehat{\mu }}{\overline{\mu }}\sigma ^2\left(1+(gb)\widehat{\psi }^2\right)\left[\widehat{𝒯}_\psi \frac{1}{2}(bg)\widehat{\psi }^2\widehat{T}(\psi ,\psi )\right].\hfill \end{array}$$
(23)
where $`\widehat{T}:=\widehat{T}^{\mu \nu }\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ and $`T:=T^{\mu \nu }\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }`$. In (23) we have written $`𝒯_\psi =T^{\alpha \beta }\psi _\alpha \psi _\beta \frac{1}{2}\psi ^2T`$ and $`\widehat{𝒯}_\psi =\widehat{T}^{\alpha \beta }\widehat{\psi }_\alpha \widehat{\psi }_\beta \frac{1}{2}\widehat{\psi }^2\widehat{T}`$, both of which are non-negative if the strong energy condition is satisfied by the vector field and matter (in the matter frame), respectively. If $`b>2g`$ then the second contribution from each energy-momentum tensor will be non-positive (assuming that each also satisfies the weak energy condition), and we find that a defocusing of geodesics is possible.

This implies that in the presence of a nonzero $`\psi _\mu `$, the singularity theorems  as applied to $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ are weakened. As we shall see later, this will presumably have no effect on the collapse to a black hole in the present epoch, since in the vector field models the cosmological solution requires that $`\psi _\mu =0`$ when the matter energy density falls below a threshold. It is nevertheless reasonable to expect that the presence of $`\psi _\mu `$, and the light cone fluctuations that result, would have an effect on the threshold of black hole formation .

This result is also unfortunately not so clear as far as its physical implications. Although we can speak of singularity theorems as applied to $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$, because the field equations that determine it are very similar to those of GR, it is the metric $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ that is physically measured by the propagation of material test bodies. Indeed, the issue of how to identify a singularity is exacerbated in these models, because one can imagine the possibility that $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ is well-behaved, whereas $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ and $`\psi _\mu `$ individually are not. The main point is that ‘ordinary’ matter can contribute to the field equations for $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ as if it violates the strong energy condition. We will see exactly this happening in the following section.

## 5. Cosmology

Implicit in the idea of a varying lightspeed is that the speed of light is changing with respect to some fixed frame of reference. If one introduces a fundamental frame for this, then it is perhaps sensible to introduce a function $`c(t,x)`$ to describe this variability . The models that we are considering are based on the idea that the speed of light can be changing with respect to the speed of gravitational disturbances, and therefore any indication of the speed of light as a function of spacetime is frame-dependent. In particular, we will see that a frame in which the speed of light is constant and the speed of gravitational disturbances is changing is connected via a diffeomorphism to a frame where the speed of gravitational disturbances is constant, and the speed of light is changing (c.f., Figure 2). We will derive the quantities of interest (the local light cone, horizons, etc.) directly from the relevant metric, thereby avoiding any guesswork as to which ‘speed of light’ to use—the gravitational or electromagnetic . The constant $`c`$ is fixed in the present universe by making measurements of the electromagnetic field.

In a homogeneous and isotropic (FRW) universe, the vector field $`\psi _\mu `$ has components $`\psi _\mu =(c\psi _0(\tau ),0,0,0)`$. We will begin with the metric $`\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }`$ in comoving form

$$\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }dx^\mu dx^\nu =c^2d\tau d\tau R(\tau )^2\gamma _{ij}dx^idx^j,$$
(24a)
and therefore
$`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }dx^\mu dx^\nu `$ $`=\widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}^2c^2d\tau d\tau R(\tau )^2\gamma _{ij}dx^idx^j,`$ (24b)
$`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }dx^\mu dx^\nu `$ $`=\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}^2c^2d\tau d\tau R(\tau )^2\gamma _{ij}dx^idx^j.`$ (24c)
The spatial metric in spherical coordinates has the standard form

$$\gamma _{ij}=\mathrm{diag}(1/(1kr^2),r^2,r^2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta ),$$
(25)
and we have defined

$$\widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}:=\sqrt{1+2bX},\text{and}\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}:=\sqrt{1+2gX},$$
(26)
where from (7) we have $`X=\frac{1}{2}\psi _0^2`$.

Although we begin with the choice (24a), once we have derived the field equations (which is significantly easier to do in this gauge) we will make a coordinate transformation in order to put $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ in comoving form and thereby make a comparison with the standard cosmological results a simpler matter. Note that we are reversing the definitions of $`t`$ and $`\tau `$ as used in our previous article .

The matter energy-momentum tensor will have a perfect fluid form:

$$\widehat{T}^{\mu \nu }=\left(\rho +\frac{p}{c^2}\right)\widehat{u}^\mu \widehat{u}^\nu p\widehat{\mathrm{g}}^{\mu \nu },$$
(27)
where we have written the velocity field as $`\widehat{u}^\mu `$ to emphasize that it is normalized using the metric $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$, so that

$$\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }\widehat{u}^\mu \widehat{u}^\nu =c^2.$$
(28)
This, we believe, is the origin of the confusion in , in which we have been accused of making an algebraic mistake where there is none. In that work, the authors appear to have normalized the vector field as $`\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }\widehat{u}^\mu \widehat{u}^\nu =c^2`$. The resulting form for $`\widehat{T}^{\mu \nu }`$ clearly will not satisfy (3), and as we have seen in Section 3, will lead to inconsistent field equations since the Bianchi identities will now lead to nontrivial constraints on the matter fields.

The correct choice (28) leads to $`\widehat{u}^0=1/\widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}`$, and therefore

$$\widehat{T}^{00}=\frac{\rho }{\widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}^2},\widehat{T}^{0i}=0,\widehat{T}^{ij}=\frac{p}{R^2}\gamma ^{ij}.$$
(29)
Thus equation $`(58)`$ of  is incorrect; the first term on the right-hand side should be $`\rho /\sqrt{1+\beta \psi _0^2}`$ rather than $`\sqrt{1+\beta \psi _0^2}\rho `$.

The matter conservation laws (3) lead to the usual relation

$$_\tau \rho +3\frac{_\tau R}{R}\left(\rho +\frac{p}{c^2}\right)=0.$$
(30)
Note that this form also holds with any choice of time coordinate $`\tau \tau (t)`$.

The components of the energy-momentum tensor for $`\psi `$ are

$$T^{00}=\frac{1}{c^2}(2XV^{}V),T^{0i}=0,T^{ij}=V\frac{1}{R^2}\gamma ^{ij},$$
(31)
and using the components of the Einstein tensor

$`\overline{G}^{00}`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{3}{c^4\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}^4}}\left[\left({\displaystyle \frac{_\tau R}{R}}\right)^2+{\displaystyle \frac{kc^2\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}^2}{R^2}}\right],`$ (32a)
$`\overline{G}^{ij}`$ $`=\gamma ^{ij}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{c^2R^2\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}^2}}\left[2{\displaystyle \frac{_\tau ^2R}{R}}+\left({\displaystyle \frac{_\tau R}{R}}\right)^2+{\displaystyle \frac{kc^2\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}^2}{R^2}}2{\displaystyle \frac{_\tau R}{R}}{\displaystyle \frac{_\tau \overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}}{\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}}}\right],`$ (32b)
from (13b) we have the Friedmann equations

$$\left(\frac{_\tau R}{R}\right)^2+\frac{kc^2\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}^2}{R^2}=\frac{\kappa c^4}{6}\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}^3\left[\frac{\rho }{\widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}}+\frac{1}{\kappa c^2}(2XV^{}V)\right],$$
(33a)
$$2\frac{_\tau ^2R}{R}+\left(\frac{_\tau R}{R}\right)^2+\frac{kc^2\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}^2}{R^2}2\frac{_\tau R}{R}\frac{_\tau \overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}}{\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}}=\frac{\kappa c^2}{2}\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}\left[\widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}p+\frac{1}{\kappa }V\right].$$
(33b)
The single remaining Proca field equation from (13a) is
$$\frac{1}{c\widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}}\psi _0\left[\widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}\left(\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}^2V^{}gV\right)\kappa (bg)c^2\rho \right]=0.$$
(33c)
We now perform the coordinate transformation

$$dt=\widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}d\tau ,$$
(34)
and defining

$$\eta =\frac{\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}}{\widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}}=\sqrt{\frac{1+2gX}{1+2bX}},$$
(35)
we see that the metric $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ is put into comoving form

$`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }dx^\mu dx^\nu `$ $`=c^2dtdtR^2(t)\gamma _{ij}dx^idx^j,`$ (36a)
$`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }dx^\mu dx^\nu `$ $`=\eta ^2(t)c^2dtdtR^2(t)\gamma _{ij}dx^idx^j.`$ (36b)
Making the change of time coordinate directly on (33), (33c) is unchanged, and we find

$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{\dot{R}}{R}}\right)^2+{\displaystyle \frac{kc^2\eta ^2}{R^2}}`$ $`=\eta ^2{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa c^4}{6}}\rho _{\mathrm{eff}},`$ (37a)
$`2{\displaystyle \frac{\ddot{R}}{R}}+\left({\displaystyle \frac{\dot{R}}{R}}\right)^2+{\displaystyle \frac{kc^2\eta ^2}{R^2}}2{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{R}}{R}}{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\eta }}{\eta }}`$ $`=\eta ^2{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa c^2}{2}}p_{\mathrm{eff}},`$ (37b)
where we will write, for example $`\dot{\rho }=_t\rho `$. In (37), we have defined the effective energy and pressure densities as

$$\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}=\eta \left(\rho +\frac{1}{\kappa c^2}\widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}(2XV^{}V)\right),p_{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{1}{\eta }\left(p+\frac{1}{\kappa \widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}}V\right).$$
(38)
The reason for making these definitions is that (37a) has exactly the form of the Friedmann equations for the metric $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ in (36b), and therefore these effective energy and momentum densities will also satisfy the conservation laws (30).

Some careful observations are in order. The function $`R(t)`$ is determined from (37a) in which an (unusual) effective energy density appears. It also formally appears to be a ‘varying constants’ model with $`c(t)=\eta (t)c`$ and $`G(t)=\eta ^2(t)G`$ coupled to $`\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}`$. We could equally well expand $`\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}`$ to find a varying constants form with

$$c(t)=\eta c,G(t)=\eta ^3G,\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)=\frac{1}{2}\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}(2XV^{}V),$$
(39)
or, if we interpret (37a) as a varying constants theory written in a non-comoving coordinate system with metric of the form (36b), we would have

$$c(t)=c,G(t)=\eta G,\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)=\frac{1}{2}\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}(2XV^{}V),$$
(40)
and, as we will see in Section 5.2, once the vector field equation (33c) is solved, the resulting system need not take on an FRW form at all. Clearly any such identification is ambiguous.

Note though, that the resulting function $`R(t)`$ appears in (36a), which is written in comoving coordinates, and therefore the speed of light is constant. This emphasizes that having a ‘varying speed of light’ is a frame-dependent statement. In a frame where the speed of matter propagation (including electromagnetic fields) is constant, the speed of gravitational waves will be changing. In a frame where the speed of gravitational waves is constant, the speed of matter propagation will be changing. This, of course, is as it should be, since we have not introduced any nondynamical preferred frame into our model.

In the following we will specialize to a model where the vector field potential is a simple mass term:

$$V=m^2X,V^{}=m^2.$$
(41)
In this case (38) becomes

$$\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}=\eta \left(\rho +(bg)\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}\widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}X\right),p_{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{1}{\eta }\left(p+c^2(bg)\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}\frac{X}{\widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}}\right),$$
(42)
and we find for later use that

$$\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}+\frac{3}{c^2}p_{\mathrm{eff}}=\eta \rho +\frac{3}{c^2\eta }p+(bg)\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}\left(\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}X+\frac{3}{X\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}}\right).$$
(43)
The nontrivial solution ($`\psi _00`$) of the field equation (33c) leads to

$$\rho =\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}\widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}(1+gX),$$
(44)
where

$$\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}=\frac{m^2}{\kappa c^2(bg)},H_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}=\sqrt{\frac{c^2m^2}{6(bg)}},$$
(45)
are the density at which $`\psi _0^2=0`$ is reached, and the inverse Hubble time at which this occurs (assuming that $`k=0`$).

We can now write the acceleration parameter as observed by material observers from (37) as

$$\widehat{q}=\frac{\ddot{R}}{H^2R}=\frac{\kappa c^4}{12}\frac{\eta ^2}{H^2}\left(\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}+\frac{3}{c^2}p_{\mathrm{eff}}\right)\frac{\dot{\eta }}{H\eta },$$
(46)
where we have defined the Hubble function $`H=\dot{R}/R`$. Taking a derivative of the definition (35), relating the result to $`\dot{\rho }`$ using the derivative of (44), and removing $`\dot{\rho }`$ using (30), we find

$$\frac{\dot{\eta }}{H\eta }=3\frac{(bg)}{\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}\overline{\mathrm{\Theta }}^2\widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}(g+b+3bgX)}\left(\rho +\frac{p}{c^2}\right).$$
(47)
We will return to this shortly.

### 5.1. The very early universe

For very short times following the initial singularity, we expect that $`\psi _0`$ is large, and if we assume that $`gX1`$ and $`bX1`$, then from (44) we find that

$$\rho =\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}\sqrt{2b}gX^{3/2}.$$
(48)
This results in the Friedmann equation

$$\left(\frac{\dot{R}}{R}\right)^2+\frac{k\overline{c}^2}{R^2}=\frac{\overline{\kappa }\overline{c}^4}{6}\rho ,$$
(49)
where

$$\overline{c}=c\sqrt{\frac{g}{b}},\overline{G}=G\sqrt{\frac{g}{b}},\overline{\kappa }=\frac{16\pi \overline{G}}{\overline{c}^4}.$$
(50)
Although the behaviour of the solutions to (49) are well-known , it is worth pointing out that the ‘effective’ constants $`\overline{c}`$ and $`\overline{G}`$ are not interpretable as the effective speed of light and gravitational constant, rather they are effective constants that dictate how the gravitational field reacts to the presence of matter. Matter fields continue to propagate with speed $`c`$ consistent with (36a). It is the gravitational field perturbations that propagate with speed $`\overline{c}`$, which is the justification for the notation.

During this phase there is clearly no inflation, but the horizon scales of the gravitational field and matter fields are related by:

$$\overline{d}_H(t)=\frac{\overline{c}}{c}\widehat{d}_H(t)=\sqrt{\frac{g}{b}}\widehat{d}_H(t),\text{where}\widehat{d}_H(t)=cR(t)_0^t\frac{ds}{R(s)},$$
(51)
with a similar definition for $`\overline{d}_H(t)`$ using the metric (36b). Because we have $`g<b`$ we expect that not only is the speed of gravitational disturbances slower than that of matter, but also that the coupling between matter and the gravitational sector is also lessened.

What we have here is very close to what was originally envisaged by one of us in . This is part of the motivation for including the $`g0`$ possibility, the other is that the approach to the initial singularity in this phase follows the same path as in ordinary GR+matter models, with a re-interpretation of the parameters. In this case we have a model that interpolates between this initial period where $`\overline{c}>c`$ and the later universe where $`\overline{c}=c`$. We turn to this next.

### 5.2. Inflation and light cone contraction

As $`\psi _0`$ decreases towards the point where $`gX1`$ the solution found in Section 5.1 will no longer be a good approximation. If we now consider the solution when $`gX1`$, from (44) we have

$$\widehat{\mathrm{\Theta }}=\frac{\rho }{\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}},\text{or}X=\frac{1}{2b}\left[\left(\frac{\rho }{\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}\right)^21\right],$$
(52)
and the Friedmann equation (37a) becomes

$$\left(\frac{\dot{R}}{R}\right)^2+\frac{kc^2\eta ^2}{R^2}\left(\frac{\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}{\rho }\right)^2=\frac{\kappa c^4}{12}\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}\left[1+\left(\frac{\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}{\rho }\right)^2\right].$$
(53)
In this limit

$$\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}+\frac{3}{c^2}p_{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{1}{\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}\left[\rho \left(\rho +\frac{3}{c^2}p\right)+\rho ^2\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}^2\right],$$
(54)
which is greater than zero if the strong energy condition is satisfied, since $`\rho \rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}`$, and (46) reduces to

$$\widehat{q}=\frac{\kappa c^4\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}{12H^2}\left[\frac{1}{\rho }\left(\rho +\frac{3}{c^2}p\right)+1\left(\frac{\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}{\rho }\right)^2\right]\frac{3}{\rho }\left(\rho +\frac{p}{c^2}\right).$$
(55)
Since we expect that $`H^2`$ is large in the early universe (we can arrange that $`\rho _{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}\rho _c`$ where $`\rho _c=12H^2/(\kappa c^4)`$), it is clear from (55) that even if matter satisfies the strong energy condition, the final term will dominate and $`\widehat{q}<0`$ (unless, perhaps, the weak energy condition is also violated). This is the expansion of the universe as seen by material observers. The acceleration of the gravitational geometry $`\overline{q}`$ would lack the final term and therefore $`\overline{q}>0`$.

That we get inflation was demonstrated previously , where an exact solution for $`k=0`$ and $`g=0`$ was found. Although we discovered that we could not get enough expansion to solve the horizon problem with pure radiation, a slowly rolling scalar field could provide the necessary negative pressure. The role that the extra structure of our model plays is that the fine-tuning that is required in a simple scalar field, potential-driven model is alleviated.

The flatness problem requires a bit more explanation. Dividing (37a) by $`H^2`$ and defining

$$\overline{ϵ}=\frac{kc^2\eta ^2}{(\dot{R})^2},$$
(56)
we find a differential equation that $`\overline{ϵ}`$ satisfies by taking a derivative and using (37) to give

$$\dot{\overline{ϵ}}=\frac{\kappa c^4\eta ^2}{6H}\overline{ϵ}\left(\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}+\frac{3}{c^2}p_{\mathrm{eff}}\right).$$
(57)
Therefore, since $`\overline{ϵ}>0`$ and $`H>0`$ in the early universe, the only way for $`\overline{ϵ}=0`$ to be an attractor for (37a) is for $`\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}+\frac{3}{c^2}p_{\mathrm{eff}}<0`$ at least for part of the history of the universe. What is not so obvious is whether the quantity $`\overline{ϵ}`$ as defined in (56) is of physical relevance.

Following  the quantity of geometrical importance is the $`3`$-curvature of the spacelike slices: $`6k/R^2`$, which suggests that the physically meaningful quantity to examine would be

$$\widehat{ϵ}=\frac{kc^2}{(\dot{R})^2},$$
(58)
which has the equation of motion

$$\dot{\widehat{ϵ}}=2\widehat{ϵ}\widehat{q}.$$
(59)
Another way of stating this is that the curvature radius defines $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ through :

$$R_{\mathrm{𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑣}}=\frac{R}{|k|^{1/2}}=\frac{c}{H(|\mathrm{\Omega }1|)^{1/2}},$$
(60)
and so $`\widehat{ϵ}=|\mathrm{\Omega }1|`$. Since we found from (55) that $`\widehat{q}<0`$ in the early universe, clearly $`\widehat{ϵ}=0`$ is an attractor for (37a), and since it is most-likely the quantity of physical importance for matter physics, we can also claim to have solved the flatness problem once the horizon problem is solved.

Some comments on the remarks made in  on the flatness problem are in order. If we look at the acceleration of the universe from the point of view of gravitational ‘observers’ only, then the universe will not appear to inflate and the flatness problem is not solved. This appears to be the point of view advocated implicitly in . The point we are making here is that the geometry that we observe as material bodies is that described by $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$, and as far as material observers are concerned the universe will appear to inflate. As it does so, the spatial curvature that would be measured by such observers necessarily increases. That is, the curvature radius sets the length scale of the size of spatial separations on which the effects of spatial curvature become important. That, of course, is the rationale behind the statement that “the horizon and flatness problems are geometrically linked”.

## 6. conclusions

One of our purposes here was to give a more complete description of the model than was given in . In doing so we showed that the universe generically accelerates ($`\widehat{q}<0`$) during some period in the early universe, and that in the same period the physical importance of spatial curvature diminishes ($`|\mathrm{\Omega }1|`$ is decreasing). This can occur even when the matter fields satisfy the strong energy condition. This conclusion is the opposite of that which appeared recently , who take a somewhat different point of view on the interpretation of the metrics appearing in these theories. Nevertheless, we have demonstrated conclusively that the claim appearing in  that we had made an algebraic error in  is false.

The model that we have considered generalizes that which appeared in  in a way that more closely follows the scenario discussed in . In the very early universe, matter and gravitational fields propagate with different and approximately constant velocities. During a period during which the matter light cone, originally much larger than the light cone of gravity, contracts, material observers will see an acausal expansion of the universe similar to inflation. Because the light cone of gravity does not undergo the same contraction, we expect there to be an observable difference in the scalar versus tensor contributions to the cosmic microwave background anisotropies.

## Acknowledgements

J.W.M. is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.


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# VECTOR CONSTANTS OF MOTION FOR TIME-DEPENDENT KEPLER AND ISOTROPIC HARMONIC OSCILLATOR POTENTIALS

## 1  Introduction

It is well known that in classical mechanics the knowledge of all first integrals of motion of a given problem is equivalent to finding its complete solution. Nowadays the search for first integrals has assumed an increasing importance in the determination of the integrability of a dynamical system. It is extremely important to know if a non-linear dynamical system will present chaotic behavior in some regions of the phase space. The notion of integrability is related to the existence of first integrals of motion. Several methods of finding first integrals are available in the literature for example, Lie’s method , Noether’s theorem , or the direct method . Even if not all first integrals of motion associated with the problem at hand are found, it may happen that the ones which are obtained contribute to the discovery of the solution we are seeking for. Nevertheless, if we do find the solution we are after by solving the equations of motion in a straightforward way, it still may be profitable to look for additional constants of motion. Such is the case of the Kepler problem where the knowledge of the Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector ,  allows us to obtain the orbit in a simple way.

Of the inexhaustible wealth of problems which we can find in classical mechanics one of the most aesthetically appealing and important is the central field problem. Energy and angular momentum associated with this type of field are well known conserved quantities. However, other vector and tensor conserved quantities have been associated with some particular central fields. The Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector is a vector first integral of motion for the Kepler problem; the Fradkin tensor  is conserved for the case of the harmonic oscillator and for any central field it is possible to find a vector first integral of motion as was shown in . In the general case these additional integrals of motion turn out to be complicated functions of the position $`𝐫`$ and linear momentum $`𝐩`$ of the particle probing the central field. When orbits are closed and degenerated with respect to the mechanical energy, however, we should expect these additional constant of motion to be simple function of $`𝐫`$ and $`𝐩`$. In this article we wish to exploit further this line of reasoning by determining the existence of such additional vector first integrals of motion for the time-dependent Kepler and isotropic harmonic oscillator problems. In particular, we will show that for the time-dependent Kepler problem the existence of a vector constant of motion coupled to a simple transformation of variables turns the problem easily integrable.

The structure of this paper goes as follows: in section 2 we establish the conditions which guarantee the existence of a vector first integral for a general central force field. In section 3 we put the method to test by rederiving some well known results such as the conservation of angular momentum in an arbitrary central field, the conservation of the Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector for the Kepler problem, and the conservation of the Fradkin tensor fixing en route these specific fields to which they correspond. In section 4 we consider the time-dependent case establishing generalizations of the examples considered before and presenting new ones. In section 5 we show that the existence of a vector first integral enable us to find the orbits of a test particle. This is accomplished for the case of harmonic oscillator, and the time-dependent Kepler problem. Also the period of the time-dependent Kepler problem is obtained. Finally, section 6 is reserved for final comments.

## 2 Constructing vector constants of motion

The force $`𝐟(𝐫,t)`$ acting on a test particle moving in a central but otherwise arbitrary and possible time-dependent field of force $`g(r,t)`$ can be written as

$$𝐟(𝐫,t)=g(r,t)𝐫,$$
(1)
where $`𝐫=𝐫\left(t\right)`$ is the position vector with respect to the center of force, $`r`$ is its magnitude, and $`t`$ is the time. To this test particle we assume that it is possible to associate a vector $`𝐣`$ which in principle can be written in the form

$$𝐣(𝐩,𝐫,t)=A(𝐩,𝐫,t)𝐩+B(𝐩,𝐫,t)𝐫,$$
(2)
where $`𝐩=𝐩\left(t\right):=m\dot{𝐫}`$ $`\left(t\right)`$ is the linear momentum, $`m`$ is the reduced mass and $`A`$, $`B`$ are arbitrary scalar functions of $`𝐩,𝐫`$ and $`t`$. Taking the total time derivative of (2) and making use of Newton’s second law of motion we readily obtain

$$\frac{d𝐣}{dt}=\left(Ag+\frac{dB}{dt}\right)𝐫+\left(\frac{dA}{dt}+\frac{B}{m}\right)𝐩.$$
(3)
If we assume that $`𝐣`$ is a constant of motion it follows that the functions $`A`$ and $`B`$ must satisfy

$$Ag+\frac{dB}{dt}=0,$$
(4)
$$\frac{dA}{dt}+\frac{B}{m}=0.$$
(5)
Eliminating $`B`$ between (4) and (5) we obtain

$$m\frac{d^2A}{dt^2}gA=0.$$
(6)
It follows from (5) that $`𝐣`$ can be written in the form

$$𝐣=A𝐩m\frac{dA}{dt}𝐫.$$
(7)
Therefore, since (6) is equivalent to both (4) and (5) if the field $`g(r,t)`$ is known any solution of (6) will yield a vector constant of motion of the form given by (7). Equation (6), however, is a differential equation whose solution may turn out to be a hard task to accomplish. Nevertheless, we can make progress if instead of trying to tackle it directly we make plausible guesses concerning $`A`$ thereby linking  $`𝐣`$ to specific forms of the field $`g(r,t)`$. This procedure is tantamount to answering the following question: given $`𝐣`$ what type of central field will admit it as a constant of motion? The answer is given in the next section.

## 3 Simple examples

With $`𝐫`$, $`𝐩`$ and a unit constant vector $`\widehat{𝐮}`$ we can construct the following scalars: $`\widehat{𝐮}𝐫,`$ $`\widehat{𝐮}𝐩`$ and $`𝐫𝐩.`$ Other possibilities will be considered later on. For the moment let us consider some simple possibilities for the scalar function $`A(𝐩,𝐫,t)`$.

Consider first $`A(𝐩,𝐫,t)=\widehat{𝐮}𝐫.`$ It is immediately seen that this choice for $`A`$ satisfies (6) for any function $`g(r,t).`$ The constant vector $`𝐣`$ reads

$$𝐣=(\widehat{𝐮}𝐫)𝐩(\widehat{𝐮}𝐩)𝐫,$$
(8)
and it can be related to the angular momentum $`𝐋=𝐫\times 𝐩`$ as follows. Firstly we recast (8) into the form

$$𝐣=𝐌\widehat{𝐮},$$
(9)
where $`𝐌=𝐩𝐫𝐫𝐩.`$ Since $`\widehat{𝐮}`$ is a constant vector we conclude that the constancy of $`𝐣`$ is equivalent to the constancy of $`𝐌`$ whose components are $`M_{jk}=p_jx_kx_jp_k`$, with $`i,j,k=1,2,3`$. The antisymmetrical tensor $`𝐌`$ is closely related to angular momentum $`𝐋`$ of the test particle. In fact, it can be easily shown that $`2L_i=\epsilon _{ijk}M_{jk}`$, where $`L_i`$ is the i-th angular momentum component and $`\epsilon _{ijk}`$ is the usual permutation symbol or Levi-Civita density. Therefore, this simple choice for $`A`$ leads to conservation of angular momentum for motion under a central arbitrary field $`g(r,t)`$.

Consider now the choice $`A(𝐩,𝐫,t)=\widehat{𝐮}𝐩`$. Then making use of Newton’s second law it follows that (7) is satisfied if we find a solution to

$$\frac{dg(r,t)}{dt}\widehat{𝐮}𝐫=0.$$
(10)
For arbitrary values of $`\widehat{𝐮}𝐫`$ we can find a solution to (10) if and only if $`\stackrel{.}{g(r,t)}0,`$ or $`g=g_0`$ where $`g_0`$ is a constant. In this case we can write

$$𝐣=(\widehat{𝐮}𝐩)𝐩g_0(\widehat{𝐮}𝐫)𝐫.$$
(11)
If we choose the constant to be equal to $`k`$ then the central force field will correspond to an isotropic harmonic oscillator, $`𝐟=k𝐫.`$ As before, (11) can be recasted into the form

$$𝐣=2m𝐅\widehat{𝐮},$$
(12)
where $`𝐅`$ is given by

$$𝐅=\frac{𝐩𝐩}{2m}+k\frac{𝐫𝐫}{2}.$$
(13)
The tensor $`𝐅`$ is symmetrical and is known as the Fradkin tensor . Finally, consider $`A=𝐫𝐩.`$ For this choice of $`A`$ (7) yields

$$\frac{1}{g}\frac{dg}{dt}+\frac{3}{r}\frac{dr}{dt}=0,$$
(14)
where we have made use of (1) and also of the fact that $`d\widehat{𝐫}/dt`$ and $`𝐫`$ are perpendicular vectors. Equation (14) can be easily integrated if $`g`$ is considered to be a function of the radial distance $`r`$ only. If this is the case we obtain the Kepler field $`g(r)=k/r^3.`$ The constant vector $`𝐣`$ is then given by

$$𝐣=(𝐫𝐩)𝐩(𝐩𝐩)𝐫+mk\frac{𝐫}{r},$$
(15)
Making use of a well known vector identity we can recast (15) into the form,

$$𝐣=𝐋\times 𝐩mk\frac{𝐫}{r}.$$
(16)
Therefore $`𝐣`$ can be equaled to minus the Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector $`𝐀`$. From (16) and the condition $`𝐣𝐫=𝐀𝐫=0`$ the allowed orbits for the Kepler problem can be obtained in a simple way, see for example .

## 4 Time-dependent fields

Let us now consider time-dependent central force fields for which we can build more general vector first integrals of motion. As with the time-independent case there are of course several possibilities when it comes to the choice of a function $`A`$ for a time-dependent central field. Here is one

$$A=\varphi (t)𝐫𝐩+\psi (t)𝐫𝐫.$$
(17)
Evaluating the second derivative of (17) we obtain

$$\frac{d^2A}{dt^2}=\left(\frac{d^2\varphi }{dt^2}+\frac{4g\varphi }{m}+\frac{4}{m}\frac{d\psi }{dt}\right)𝐫𝐩+\left(2\frac{d\varphi }{dt}g+\varphi \frac{dg}{dt}+\frac{d^2\psi }{dt^2}+\frac{2\psi g}{m}\right)𝐫𝐫$$

$$+\frac{2}{m^2}\left(m\frac{d\varphi }{dt}+\psi \right)𝐩𝐩.$$
(18)
Where we have made use of (1). If we impose the additional condition

$$\psi +m\frac{d\varphi }{dt}=0,$$
(19)
we eliminate the quadratic term in  $`𝐩`$. With the condition given by (19) we can substitute for $`\psi `$ in (17) and (18) and take the results into (6) thus obtaining

$$3\left(m\frac{d^2\varphi }{dt^2}+g\varphi \right)𝐫\frac{d𝐫}{dt}+\left(\varphi \frac{dg}{dt}m\frac{d^3\varphi }{dt^3}+g\frac{d\varphi }{dt}\right)𝐫𝐫=0.$$
(20)
Equation (20) can be rewritten as

$$\frac{3}{2}\left(m\frac{d^2\varphi }{dt^2}+g\varphi \right)\frac{d(𝐫^2)}{dt}+\left[\frac{d}{dt}\left(m\frac{d^2\varphi }{dt^2}+g\varphi \right)\right]𝐫^2=0,$$
(21)
and easily integrated so as to yield

$$g(r,t)=\frac{m}{\varphi }\frac{d^2\varphi }{dt^2}+\frac{C}{\varphi r^3}.$$
(22)
The vector first integral of motion associated with (22) is

$$𝐣=\left(\varphi 𝐫𝐩m\frac{d\varphi }{dt}𝐫𝐫\right)𝐩+\left(m\frac{d\varphi }{dt}𝐫𝐩\varphi 𝐩𝐩\frac{mC}{r}\right)𝐫,$$
(23)
which can be simplified and written in the form

$$𝐣=m\varphi ^2𝐋\times \frac{d}{dt}\left(\frac{𝐫}{\varphi }\right)\frac{mC𝐫}{r}.$$
(24)
where we have made used of the fact the angular momentum is constant for any arbitrary central field whether it is time-independent or not. If in (24) we set $`\varphi =1`$ and $`C0`$, then from (22) we see that $`g(r,t)`$ is the Kepler field and $`𝐣`$ is minus the Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector as before; the scalar function $`A(𝐫,𝐩,t)`$ reduces to $`𝐫𝐩`$ which we have already employed in section 3. If we set $`(m/\varphi )d^2\varphi /dt^2=k(t),`$ that is, if $`\varphi `$ is an arbitrary function of the time, and also $`C=0`$, we have the time-dependent isotropic harmonic oscillator field, $`𝐅\left(r\right)=k(t)𝐫`$. In this case $`𝐣`$ is equal to the first term on the R.H.S. of (24). If $`(m/\varphi )d^2\varphi /dt^2=k`$ and $`C=0`$, we have the time-independent isotopic harmonic oscillator field but this time $`𝐣`$ is not the same vector as the one we have obtained before. The reason for this is our choice (17) for the scalar function $`A(𝐫,𝐩,t)`$ which is not reducible to the form $`\widehat{𝐮}𝐩`$ employed previously.

As a last example let us consider again the time-dependent isotropic harmonic oscillator and show how it is possible to generalize the Fradkin tensor for this case. Let the function $`A(𝐫,𝐩,t)`$ be written as

$$A=\varphi (t)\widehat{𝐮}𝐫+\psi (t)\widehat{𝐮}𝐩.$$
(25)
The first and the second derivative of $`A`$ read

$$\frac{dA}{dt}=\frac{d\varphi }{dt}\widehat{𝐮}𝐫+\frac{\varphi }{m}\widehat{𝐮}𝐩+\frac{d\psi }{dt}\widehat{𝐮}𝐩+g\psi \widehat{𝐮}𝐫,$$
(26)
and

$$\frac{d^2A}{dt^2}=\left(\frac{d^2\varphi }{dt^2}+2g\frac{d\psi }{dt}+\frac{dg}{dt}\psi +\frac{g\varphi }{m}\right)\widehat{𝐮}𝐫+\left(\frac{d^2\psi }{dt^2}+2g\frac{d\varphi }{dt}+\frac{g\psi }{m}\right)\widehat{𝐮}𝐩$$
(27)
Taking (27) into (6) we obtain the condition

$$m\left(\frac{d^2\varphi }{dt^2}+2g\frac{d\psi }{dt}+\frac{dg}{dt}\psi \right)\widehat{𝐮}𝐫+\left(2\frac{d\varphi }{dt}+m\frac{d^2\psi }{dt^2}\right)\widehat{𝐮}𝐩=0.$$
(28)
Imposing the additional condition

$$2\frac{d\varphi }{dt}+m\frac{d^2\psi }{dt^2}=0,$$
(29)
(28) becomes

$$m\frac{d^3\psi }{dt^3}4g\frac{d\psi }{dt}2\frac{dg}{dt}\psi =0.$$
(30)
We can solve (30) thoroughly if $`g(r,t)`$ is a function of the time $`t`$ only. In this case, as before, we end up with the time-dependent isotropic harmonic oscillator. The vector $`𝐣`$ associated with (25) can be obtained as follows: first we integrate (29) thus obtaining

$$\varphi =\frac{m}{2}\frac{d\psi }{dt}+C,$$
(31)
where $`C`$ is an integration constant. Then making use of (25), (31) and (26) we arrive at

$`𝐣`$ $`=`$ $`\left[\left({\displaystyle \frac{m}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{d\psi }{dt}}+C\right)\widehat{𝐮}𝐫+\psi \widehat{𝐮}𝐩\right]𝐩`$
$`+\left[\left({\displaystyle \frac{m^2}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{d^2\psi }{dt^2}}mg\psi \right)\widehat{𝐮}𝐫\left({\displaystyle \frac{m}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{d\psi }{dt}}+C\right)\widehat{𝐮}𝐩\right]𝐫,`$
or in terms of components

$$j_i=F_{ij}u_j,$$
(33)
where $`F_{ij}`$ is defined by

$`F_{ij}`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{m}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{d\psi }{dt}}+C\right)p_ix_j+\psi p_ip_j`$
$`+\left({\displaystyle \frac{m^2}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{d^2\psi }{dt^2}}mg\psi \right)x_ix_j\left({\displaystyle \frac{m}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{d\psi }{dt}}+C\right)x_ip_j.`$
The constant $`C`$ in (4) can be made zero without loss of generality. A generalized Fradkin tensor can now be defined by

$$F_{ij}=\left(\frac{m}{2}\frac{d\psi }{dt}\right)p_ix_j+\psi p_ip_j+\left(\frac{m^2}{2}\frac{d^2\psi }{dt^2}mg\psi \right)x_ix_j\frac{m}{2}\frac{d\psi }{dt}x_ip_j.$$
(35)
From (35) we can read out the diagonal components of the generalized Fradkin tensor

$$F_{ii}=m^2\frac{d\psi }{dt}x_i\stackrel{.}{\frac{dx_i}{dt}}+\psi p_i^2+\left(\frac{m^2}{2}\frac{d^2\psi }{dt^2}mg\right)x_i^2.$$
(36)
It is not hard to see that the trace of this generalized Fradkin tensor $`𝐅(𝐫,𝐩,t)`$ becomes the energy of the particle when $`g(r,t)`$ is a constant field.

## 5 Obtaining explicit solutions: An alternative way

Now we wish to show how to take advantage of the vector constant $`𝐣`$ to obtain the solution for the Kepler and the isotropic harmonic oscillator potentials. But firstly we must establish some very general relationships between the sought for solution $`r\left(t\right)`$ and $`A(𝐫,𝐩,t)`$ and $`𝐣`$. First notice that (10) can be recasted into the form

$$𝐣=mA(𝐫,𝐩,t)^2\frac{d}{dt}\left[\frac{𝐫}{A(𝐫,𝐩,t)}\right],$$
(37)
where it must be kept in mind that $`A(𝐫,𝐩,t)`$ satisfies (6). As we have seen before in specific examples the form of the vector constant $`𝐣`$ depends on the force acting on the particle. Integrating (37) we readily obtain

$$\frac{𝐫\left(t\right)}{A(𝐫,𝐩,t)}\frac{𝐫\left(0\right)}{A(𝐫,𝐩,0)}=\frac{𝐣}{m}_0^t\frac{d\tau }{A(𝐫,𝐩,\tau )^2}.$$
(38)
Equation (38) can be given a simple but interesting geometrical interpretation. Assume that the initial conditions $`𝐫\left(0\right)`$ and $`𝐩\left(0\right)`$ are known and therefore the function $`A(𝐫,𝐩,0)`$ can be determined. The vector $`𝐫\left(0\right)/A(𝐫,𝐩,0)`$is therefore a constant and completely determined vector. As time increases, the R.H.S. of (38) increases. The vector on the right side of (38) though varying in time has a fixed direction which is determined by $`𝐣`$. Therefore, $`𝐫\left(t\right)/A(𝐫,𝐩,t)`$ must increase in order to close the triangle whose sides are the three vectors involved in (38). If the orbit is unlimited then it is easy to see that the following property ensues: there is an asymptote if in the limit $`t\mathrm{}`$ the definite integral $`_0^t\frac{dt}{A^2}`$ is constant. On the other hand, if the orbit is limited, but not necessarily closed, there will be a position vector $`𝐫`$ whose direction is parallel to that of the vector $`𝐣`$ at the instant $`t^{}`$. If the length of the position vector $`𝐫`$ is finite, we can conclude that at the same instant $`t^{}`$ the function $`A(𝐫,𝐩,0)`$ must be zero. Thus, we can see that the vector $`𝐫\left(t\right)/A(𝐫,𝐩,t)`$ must be reversed at this instant and its evolution is determined by the fact that its end is on the straight line that contains $`𝐣`$. For $`t=t^{}+ϵ`$, where $`ϵ`$ is a positive infinitesimal number, the vector $`𝐫\left(t^{}+ϵ\right)/A(𝐫,𝐩,t^{}+ϵ)`$ changes its direction abruptly, so to speak, as shown in the figure, hence in the transition $`A(𝐫,𝐩,t^{})A(𝐫,𝐩,t^{}+ϵ)`$ the scalar function must change its sign.

Let us obtain the solution $`𝐫\left(t\right)`$ for the case of the isotropic harmonic oscillator. A particular solution of (17) for $`g=\kappa ,`$ where $`\kappa `$ is the elastic cons$`\mathrm{tan}`$t is given by

$$A(t)=\mathrm{cos}(\omega t),$$
(39)
where $`\omega =\sqrt{\frac{k}{m}}`$ is the angular frequency. The solution given by (39) allows us to write

$$\frac{𝐫\left(t\right)}{\mathrm{cos}(\omega t)}𝐫\left(0\right)=\frac{𝐩\left(0\right)}{m}_0^t\frac{d\tau }{\mathrm{cos}^2(\omega \tau )}$$
(40)
The integral can be readily performed and after some simplifications we finally obtain

$$𝐫\left(t\right)=\mathrm{cos}\omega t𝐫\left(0\right)+\frac{1}{m\omega }\mathrm{sin}\omega t𝐩\left(0\right).$$
(41)
Therefore we have obtained the solution of the time-independent harmonic oscillator in an alternative way from the knowledge of the initial conditions as it should be. Notice that the general solution $`A(t)=A\left(0\right)\mathrm{cos}\left(\omega t+\theta \right)`$ would lead to the same general result. Another possible solution in the case of the time-independent isotropic harmonic oscillator is given by

$$A(𝐫,𝐩,t)=\widehat{𝐮}𝐩\left(t\right),$$
(42)
as can be shown by substituting this solution into (6). This solution shows that the trajectories have no asymptotes.

Let us now show how we can obtain the orbits in the case of the time-dependent Kepler problem. Let us begin by rewriting (37) in polar coordinates on the plane. In these coordinates the angular momentum conservation law is written in the form

$$l=mr^2\frac{d\theta }{dt}$$
(43)
and this allows to rewrite (37) as

$$𝐣=mA^2\frac{d}{d\theta }\left(\frac{𝐫}{A}\right)\frac{d\theta }{dt}=l\left(\frac{A}{r}\right)^2\frac{d}{d\theta }\left(\frac{𝐫}{A}\right).$$
(44)
Introducing the unitary vectors $`\stackrel{}{𝐫}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{\theta }`$ we can write the above equation as

$$𝐣=l[\frac{d}{d\theta }\left(\frac{A}{r}\right)\stackrel{}{𝐫}+\frac{A}{r}\stackrel{}{\theta }].$$
(45)
The components of the vector $`𝐣`$ in the direction of $`\stackrel{}{𝐫}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{\theta }`$ are given by

$$𝐣\stackrel{}{\theta }=l\frac{A}{r},$$
(46)
and

$$𝐣\stackrel{}{𝐫}=l\frac{d}{d\theta }\left(\frac{A}{r}\right).$$
(47)
Equation (47) can be obtained from (46) and therefore it is redundant. In section 4 we determined a generalized Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector for the time-dependent Kepler problem. The scalar function $`A(𝐫,𝐩,t)`$ associated with this vector was found to be

$$A=\varphi (t)𝐫𝐩m\frac{d\varphi }{dt}r^2.$$
(48)
Making use of (43) we can rewrite the linear momentum as a function of $`\theta `$ as follows

$$𝐩=m\frac{d𝐫}{dt}\frac{d\theta }{dt}=\frac{l}{r^2}\frac{d𝐫}{d\theta }.$$
(49)
Taking (49) into (48) and considering $`A`$ as a function of $`\theta `$ we obtain

$$\frac{A}{r}=l\frac{d}{d\theta }\left(\frac{\varphi }{r}\right).$$
(50)
Equations. (46) and (50) lead to

$$\frac{d}{d\theta }\left(\frac{\varphi }{r}\right)=\frac{\stackrel{}{𝐣\stackrel{}{\theta }}}{l^2}=\frac{j}{l^2}\mathrm{sin}(\theta \alpha ),$$
(51)
where $`\alpha `$ is the angle between $`𝐣`$ and the $`𝒪𝒳`$ axis (see figure 2). In order to integrate (51) we assume that the initial conditions at $`t=0`$ are known vector functions, i.e.

$$𝐫(0)=𝐫_0;$$
(52)
and

$$𝐩(0)=𝐩_0.$$
(53)
In terms of polar coordinates these initial conditions are written as

$$r(\theta _0)=r_0,$$
(54)
and making use of (49)

$$\left(\frac{d𝐫}{d\theta }\right)_{\theta =\theta _0}=\frac{r_0^2}{l}𝐩_0.$$
(55)
Upon integrating (51) we find

$$\frac{\varphi }{r}=\frac{\varphi _0}{r_0}+\frac{j}{l^2}\left[\mathrm{cos}(\theta _0\alpha )\mathrm{cos}(\theta \alpha )\right].$$
(56)
For the usual time-independent Kepler problem, $`\varphi =1`$ and in this case (56) takes the form

$$\frac{1}{r}=\frac{1}{r_0}+\frac{j}{l^2}\left[\mathrm{cos}(\theta _0\alpha )\mathrm{cos}(\theta \alpha )\right]$$
(57)
The scalar product between $`𝐣`$ as given by (16) and $`𝐫_0`$ permit us to eliminate $`\mathrm{cos}(\theta _0\alpha )`$ and leads to the usual orbit equation

$$\frac{1}{r}=\frac{mC}{l^2}\left[1+\frac{j}{mC}\mathrm{cos}(\theta \alpha )\right].$$
(58)
If we define a new position vector $`𝐫^{}`$ according to

$$𝐫^{}:=\frac{𝐫}{\varphi },$$
(59)
and redefine our time parameter according to

$$dt^{}:=\frac{dt}{\varphi ^2},$$
(60)
we can recast the equation of motion for the time-dependent Kepler problem, namely

$$m\frac{d^2𝐫}{dt^2}=\left(\frac{m}{\varphi }\frac{d^2\varphi }{dt^2}+\frac{C}{\varphi r^3}\right)𝐫$$
(61)
into a simpler form. According to (59) and (60) the velocity and the acceleration transform in the following way

$$\frac{d𝐫}{dt}=𝐫^{}\frac{d\varphi }{dt}+\frac{1}{\varphi }\frac{d𝐫}{dt^{}}^{}$$
(62)
and

$$\frac{d^2𝐫}{dt^2}=𝐫^{}\frac{d^2\varphi }{dt^2}+\frac{1}{\varphi ^3}\frac{d^2𝐫}{dt^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}^{}.$$
(63)
where we have taken advantage of the fact that $`𝐫,𝐫^{}`$ and $`\varphi `$ can be considered as functions of $`t`$ or $`t^{}`$. Making use of (63) the equation of motion (61) can be written as

$$m\frac{d^2𝐫}{dt^2}^{}=\frac{C}{(r^{})^3}𝐫^{}.$$
(64)
Equation (64) corresponds to the usual time-independent Kepler problem whose solution is given by (58). Equations (59) and (60) show that the open solutions of (64) are transformed into the open solutions of (61) with the same angular size and that closed solutions of (64) are associated with spiraling solutions of (61). The period of the orbit of (64) is related to the time interval that the spiraling particle takes to cross a fixed straight line. Representing this time interval by $`T_0`$ we have

$$T=_0^{T_0}\frac{dt}{\varphi ^2}.$$
(65)
As an application of the above remarks suppose we are looking for the form of the function $`\varphi `$ which yields a circular orbit with radius $`R`$ as a solution to (61)? To find this function we see from (61) that we have to solve the following equation differential equation

$$\frac{d^2\varphi }{dt^2}+\frac{\left|C\right|}{mR^3}\varphi =\frac{\left|C\right|}{mR^3}.$$
(66)
The solution is

$$\varphi \left(t\right)=1+\varphi _0\mathrm{cos}\left(\omega t+\beta \right),$$
(67)
where $`\varphi _0`$ is a constant and $`\omega =\sqrt{\frac{\left|C\right|}{mR^3}}`$ and $`\beta `$ an arbitrary phase angle . The constant $`\varphi _0`$ may be chosen so that the transformed solution will be a given ellipse as we show below. Equation (59) leads to

$$\frac{1}{r^{}}=R^1\left[1+\varphi _0\mathrm{cos}\left(\omega t+\beta \right)\right].$$

Comparing with (58) we obtain

$$R=\frac{l^2}{m\left|C\right|},$$
(68)
and

$$\varphi _0=\frac{j}{m\left|C\right|}.$$
(69)
The period of this circular orbit is given

$$T_0=\frac{2\pi }{\omega }=2\pi \sqrt{\frac{mR^3}{\left|C\right|}}.$$
(70)
and using (65) we get

$$T=_0^{\frac{2\pi }{\omega }}\frac{dt}{(1+e\mathrm{cos}\omega t)^2}=\frac{2\pi }{\omega }\frac{1}{(1e^2)^{\frac{3}{2}}}$$
(71)
where $`e=\left|\varphi _0\right|`$ is the eccentricity. Making use of $`1e^2=R/a`$, where $`a`$ is the major semi-axis we finally obtain the orbital period

$$T=2\pi a^{\frac{3}{2}}\sqrt{\frac{m}{C}.}$$
(72)
To conclude consider the total mechanical energy associated with (64)

$$E=\frac{𝐩^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}{2m}+\frac{C}{r^{}}=const.$$
(73)
Since $`𝐩^{}`$ and $`𝐩`$ are related by

$$𝐩^{}=\varphi \left(t\right)𝐩m\dot{\varphi }\left(t\right)𝐫$$
(74)
and $`r^{}`$ and $`r`$ by (59) we easily obtain

$$E=\varphi ^2\frac{𝐩^2}{2m}2\varphi \frac{d\varphi }{dt}𝐫𝐩+\left(\frac{d\varphi }{dt}\right)^2\frac{r^2}{2}+C\frac{\varphi }{r}$$
(75)
which is a conserved quantity and can be interpreted as a generalization of the energy of the particle under the action of a time-dependent Kepler field.

## 6 Laplace-Runge-Lenz type of vector constants for arbitrary central fields

Equation (22) determines a time-dependent Kepler field $`g(r,t),`$ where the variables $`r`$ and $`t`$ are independent. If, however, we consider the orbit equation $`r\left(t\right)`$ we can eliminate the time variable and define the function $`g(r,t\left(r\right))`$ which can be understood as an arbitrary function of $`r.`$ For the sake of simplicity we denote this function by $`g\left(r\right)`$. The function $`\varphi \left(t\right)`$ which transforms the Kepler problem when understood as a function of $`r`$ transforms the Kepler field in an arbitrary central field. Let us write Eq. (22) in the form

$$m\frac{d^2\varphi }{dt^2}g(r,t)\varphi +\frac{C}{r^3}=0$$
(76)
and consider the transformation

$$\frac{d^2\varphi }{dt^2}=\frac{d^2\varphi }{dr^2}\left(\frac{dr}{dt}\right)^2+\frac{d\varphi }{dr}\frac{d^2r}{dt^2}$$
(77)
Energy conservation and the equation of motion allow us to write

$$\left(\frac{dr}{dt}\right)^2=\frac{2}{m}\left[EV\left(r\right)\frac{l^2}{2mr^2}\right]$$
(78)
and

$$\frac{d^2r}{dt^2}=\frac{rg\left(r\right)}{m}+\frac{l^2}{m^2r^3}$$
(79)
where $`E`$ is the energy of the particle and $`l`$ its angular momentum. Taking these three last equations into account Eq. (76) reads now

$$2\left[EV\left(r\right)\frac{l^2}{2mr^2}\right]\frac{d^2\varphi }{dr^2}+\left[rg\left(r\right)+\frac{l^2}{m^2r^3}\right]\frac{d\varphi }{dr}g\left(r\right)\varphi +\frac{C}{r^3}=0$$
(80)
Equation (80) permit us to determine the function $`\varphi \left(r\right)`$ for any potential $`V\left(r\right)`$. Thus, we conclude that a central field problem can be transformed into a time-dependent Kepler problem. When $`g\left(r\right)`$ describes the Kepler field the solution of (80) is $`\varphi \left(r\right)=1`$. Sometimes it is convenient to perform a second change of variables by defining the transformation

$$\varphi =\psi \frac{mC}{l^2}$$
(81)
Then Eq. (80) becomes

$$2\left[EV\left(r\right)\frac{l^2}{2mr^2}\right]\frac{d^2\psi }{dr^2}+\left[\frac{rg\left(r\right)}{m}+\frac{l^2}{m^2r^3}\right]\frac{d\psi }{dr}g\left(r\right)\psi =0$$
(82)
As an example consider $`V\left(r\right)=k/r`$. Then the solution of (82) is simply

$$\psi \left(r\right)=c_1\left(kmr+l^2\right)+c_2\sqrt{l^2+2kmr2mEr^2}$$
(83)
## 7 Conclusions

In this paper we have outlined a simple and effective method for treating problems related with time-dependent and time independent central force fields. In particular we have dealt with the Kepler problem and the isotropic harmonic oscillator fields. We have been able to rederive some known results from an original point of view and generalize others. The central force field has been discussed in the literature from many points of view. The difficulty in finding vector constants of motion for central fields stem from the fact that in general orbits for these type of problem are not closed, therefore any new ways to attack those problems are welcome.. In our method this difficulty is transferred, so to speak, to the obtention for each possible central field, which can be time-dependent or not, of a certain scalar function of the position, linear momentum and time. For a given central field this scalar function is a solution of (6). In the general case, the obtention of the scalar function is a difficult task. Judicious guesses, however, facilitate the search for solution of (6) and this is what we have done here.