All Questions
346
questions
-3
votes
0
answers
64
views
Does Mass Actually Displace Space-Time, or does Mass only Distort it?
1. Question
Given the plethora of space-time illustrations, there is a sense that space-time is actually being displaced by mass, (planets). But on its face, this doesn't really make sense because ...
- 87
2
votes
0
answers
60
views
Under what circumstances can a 4D singularity occur in General Relativity?
I've tried to find on the literature about 4D (single point) singularities, but most of the theorems about singularities pertain to either space-like or time-like singularities, which always have some ...
- 157
2
votes
1
answer
79
views
A few doubts regarding the geometry and representations of spacetime diagrams [closed]
I had a couple questions regarding the geometry of space-time diagrams, and I believe that this specific example in Hartle's book will help me understand.
However, I am unable to wrap my head around ...
- 23
2
votes
1
answer
73
views
Confusion about local Minkowski frames
This is sort of a follow-up to the question I asked here:
Confusion about timelike spatial coordinates
The important context is that we imagine a metric that, as $t\rightarrow\infty$, approaches the ...
- 160
2
votes
1
answer
91
views
Confusion about timelike spatial coordinates
I'm pretty new to general relativity, and I'm self-studying it using Sean M. Carroll's text on the subject. In Section 2.7, he introduces the notion of closed timelike curves. He gives the example of ...
- 160
3
votes
1
answer
55
views
Time component of four-velocity
While reading through Spacetime and Geometry by Sean Carroll, I came across the following passage:
"Don't get tricked into thinking that the timelike component of the four velocity of a particle ...
- 442
0
votes
1
answer
83
views
What objects are solutions to the Einstein Field Equations?
The usual way the solutions of the Einstien Field Equations are introduced is by saying they are (pseudo-) riemannian metrics that satiafy the diff equations for a given EM Tensor. My question is: ...
0
votes
2
answers
65
views
What is $r$ in a metric signature in general relativity? If $v$ and $p$ are the time and spatial coordinates?
The Wikipedia article on metric signatures says that the signature of a metric can be written $(v,p,r)$, where $v$ is the number of positive eigenvalues, $p$ is the number of negative eigenvalues, and ...
- 4,509
0
votes
1
answer
76
views
How to motivate that in presence of gravity the spacetime metric must be modified to $ds^2=g_{ab}(x)dx^adx^b$?
In the presence of a gravitational field, the spacetime metric, $$ds^2=\eta_{ab}dx^a dx^b,$$ should be changed to, $$ds^2=g_{ab}(x)dx^adx^b.$$ What are the convincing physical arguments that motivate ...
- 11.7k
0
votes
0
answers
72
views
How to mathematically describe the process of spacetime curvature?
I guess as a result of the energy-momentum tensor $T_{\mu\nu}$ coupling to a flat Minkowski metric, $\eta_{\mu\nu}$, the flat metric can become that of a curved spacetime, $g_{\mu\nu}$. How can one ...
- 357
1
vote
0
answers
32
views
Example of lightlike curve that's not a geodesic in Lorentz spacetime [duplicate]
Let $(M,g)$ be a 4 dimensional Lorentz spacetime. A smooth curve $\alpha:\ I\to M$ is called lightlike if $\alpha'(s)\in TM_{\alpha(s)}$ is lightlike for all $s\in I$, which means
$$g_{\alpha(s)}\big(\...
- 143
1
vote
0
answers
48
views
JT gravity metric - solution to the dilaton equations of motion
I am reading Closed universes in two dimensional gravity by Usatyuk1, Wang and Zhao. The question is not too technical, it is about the solutions to the equations of motion that result from the ...
- 3,992
1
vote
0
answers
62
views
Confused about spherically symmetric spacetimes
I'm following Schutz's General Relativity book and I am confused about his description and derivations of a spherically symmetric spacetime. I searched online and found that using Killing vectors is a ...
- 151
0
votes
1
answer
125
views
Event horizon in stationary spacetime
In the case of non-stationary spacetimes finding the event horizon is no easy task.
The stationary case should somehow be less involved or so it is in some well known cases, such as the Kerr spacetime....
- 1,989
1
vote
1
answer
85
views
Metric of Einstein static universe (ESU) black hole
The Einstein static universe (ESU) has metric
$$ g = - dt^2 + d\chi^2 + \sin^2 \chi d\Omega^2 $$
With
$$ t \in \mathbb{R}, \chi \in (0,\pi) .$$
Is there a metric that describes an eternal black hole ...
- 743