Paper detail

Breaking the uniqueness of the Shape Dynamics Hamiltonian

In earlier works on Shape Dynamics (SD), a linear method of solving a particular set of Lichnerowicz-type equations through the implicit function theorem was developed in order to implicitly construct SD's global Hamiltonian and eliminate second class constraints. This method was later used for extending Shape Dynamics (SD) to the non-vacuum case, showing how other fields are coupled to the theory. In that study it was found that unlike the vacuum case the use of such methods yielded puzzling bounds on the density of some types of fields. Here we show that the original SD cannot be extended beyond such bounds, but that a slight modification of the original can withstand any type of coupling. When the bound is broken, the theory does not come equipped with a single Hamiltonian as in vacuum SD, but with a finite set of weakly commuting Hamiltonians, which we describe.