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I know a few examples of metric tensors (flat, spherical, hyperbolic, Schwartzchild, Kerr, Kerr-Newman) and there's a common property between them. All of them can be expressed as

\begin{equation} g_{\mu\nu}=diag(g_t,g_x,g_y,g_z) \end{equation}

In other words, if $\mu\ne\nu$:

\begin{equation} g_{\mu\nu}=0 \end{equation}

Can the metric tensor always be diagonalized? Is there a proof/disproof for this?

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    $\begingroup$ Actually the Kerr metric and the Kerr-Newman metric have non-diagonal elements $g_{t\phi}\ne 0$. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 3, 2022 at 11:07

3 Answers 3

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It is always possible to find coordinates such that the metric is diagonal at some chosen event (indeed, it can even be Minkowski at a chosen event). In more than 3 dimensions it is not always possible to find coordinates such that the metric is diagonal at all events.

The reason that a method of diagonalization at one event cannot extend to all events is that it places constraints on the way the coordinates have to vary, and they cannot always satisfy those constraints while also remaining smooth (i.e. such that metric is differentiable to all orders).

(By the way, I was surprised to see Kerr metric on your list: are you sure about that?)

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    $\begingroup$ I guess OP meant that the geodesic in Kerr space-time can be written in the form: $$ds^2=e^{2\nu}(dt)^2-e^{2\psi}(d\phi-\omega dt)^2-e^{2\mu_2}(dx^2)^2-e^{2\mu_3}(dx^3)^2$$ which looks diagonal $\endgroup$
    – paul230_x
    Commented Aug 3, 2022 at 11:15
  • $\begingroup$ @KP99 - If that's what they meant, then this is always possible since we can always write out any metric in terms of vielbein as $ds^2 = - e_0^2 + e_1^2 + e_2^2 + e_3^2$ for appropriate choices of one-forms $e_a$. $\endgroup$
    – Prahar
    Commented Sep 6, 2023 at 14:13
  • $\begingroup$ @Prahar don't forget we need differentiability to all orders, not just a metric at a single event. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 6, 2023 at 14:57
  • $\begingroup$ @AndrewSteane - not sure what that has to do with what I said. My comment was directed towards that of KP99 $\endgroup$
    – Prahar
    Commented Sep 6, 2023 at 15:09
  • $\begingroup$ @Prahar Sorry for the late response. Yes I agree with your statement. Actually I don't remember why I made that comment above (its been more than a year), probably I wanted to say that locally it is always possible to write metric in this form using tetrads because locally I can have coordinates which make those 1-forms exact. As Andrew Steane mentioned, such a choice of coordinates imposes condition on differentiability which can approximately hold in that local neighborhood. $\endgroup$
    – paul230_x
    Commented Sep 27, 2023 at 15:11
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Yes, the metric tensor can always be diagonalized. That is because the metric is by definition real symmetric, thus it can always be diagonalized by some appropriately chosen orthogonal matrix:

\begin{equation} g = Q g_{d} Q ^{-1} \end{equation}

where $g = g^{T}$ the original metric, $g_{d}$ the diagonalized form, and $Q$ the orthogonal matrix ($Q^{T} = Q^{-1}$).

This is a specific case of the spectral theorem for normal matrices, which says that a general matrix can be diagonalized by unitary matrices if and only if it is normal:

\begin{equation} M^{\dagger} M = M M^{\dagger} \iff M = U D U^{\dagger} \end{equation}

where $D$ is diagonal and $U^{\dagger} = U^{-1}$. Obviously in the case that $M \in GL(n, \mathbb{R})$, then $U$ is also a real matrix, and thus the unitarity condition becomes an orthogonality one. And if $M = M^{T}$, then it is trivially normal, thus it can always be diagonalized.

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    $\begingroup$ This shows that the metric can be diagonalized at a particular event (as noted in Andrew Steane's answer.) However, this does not imply that there is a coordinate system in which the metric is diagonal at all events, which is what most people mean by a "diagonal metric". $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 3, 2022 at 20:00
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, that's true. However, the question was posed generally for metric tensors. For obvious practical reasons, diagonal metrics that people are interested in have to span some finite region, even if not all of the manifold. But from an abstract mathematical point, any metric tensor can be diagonalized, even if the diagonalization only happens at a single spacetime point and is thus physically not very useful. $\endgroup$
    – rhomaios
    Commented Aug 3, 2022 at 20:21
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A metric tensor, a doubly-covariant tensor representing a quadratic form rather than a linear map, is diagonalized by $g\to {\rm diag}=M^T g M$ rather than by $g\to M^{-1} g M$. For example consider $$ (dx)^2 +6 dx\,dy + 13 (dy)^2= \left[\begin{matrix} dx & dy\end{matrix}\right] \left[\begin{matrix}1 & 3 \cr 3 &13\end{matrix}\right] \left[\begin{matrix}dx \cr dy\end{matrix}\right] $$ When we diagonalize a quadratic form we do not need to find eigenvalues and eigenvectors,we just compete squares: $$ ds^2 =(dx)^2 +6 dx\,dy + 13 (dy)^2= (dx+ 3 dy)^2+ 4(dy)^2. $$ so changing coordinates $$ d\xi=dx+3dy \\ d\eta= 4 dy $$ or $$ \left[\begin{matrix}d\xi \cr d\eta\end{matrix}\right]=\left[\begin{matrix}1 & 3 \cr 0 &4\end{matrix}\right] \left[\begin{matrix}dx \cr dy\end{matrix}\right] $$ the metric becomes $$ ds^2 = (d\xi)^2- (d\eta)^2= \left[\begin{matrix} d\xi & d\eta\end{matrix}\right] \left[\begin{matrix}1 & 0 \cr 0 &1\end{matrix}\right] \left[\begin{matrix}d\xi \cr d\eta \end{matrix}\right]. $$ and the matrix diagoinalization reads $$ \left[\begin{matrix}1 & 3 \cr 3 &13\end{matrix}\right] =\left[\begin{matrix}1 & 0 \cr 3 &4\end{matrix}\right] \left[\begin{matrix}1 & 0 \cr 0 &1\end{matrix}\right]\left[\begin{matrix}1 & 3 \cr 0 &4\end{matrix}\right]. $$

When the metric depends on location the transformation will depend on where you are.

Of course you can go to the effort of finding the eigenvalues and eigenvectors so that you end up with an orthogonal matrix for $M$, but the Kerr example by @KP99 shows that this is not necessary.

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