Hamiltonian Dynamics of Doubly-Foliable Space-Times

The 2 + 1 + 1 decomposition of space-time is useful in monitoring the temporal evolution of gravitational perturbations/waves in space-times with a spatial direction singled-out by symmetries. Such an approach based on a perpendicular double foliation has been employed in the framework of dark matter and dark energy-motivated scalar-tensor gravitational theories for the discussion of the odd sector perturbations of spherically-symmetric gravity. For the even sector, however, the perpendicularity has to be suppressed in order to allow for suitable gauge freedom, recovering the 10th metric variable. The 2 + 1 + 1 decomposition of the Einstein–Hilbert action leads to the identification of the canonical pairs, the Hamiltonian and momentum constraints. Hamiltonian dynamics is then derived via Poisson brackets.