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Tetrad Formalism
The tetrad formalism is an approach to general relativity that generalizes the choice of basis for the tangent bundle from a coordinate basis to the less restrictive choice of a local basis, i.e. a locally defined set of four linearly independent vector fields called a ''tetrad'' or ''vierbein''. It is a special case of the more general idea of a ''vielbein formalism'', which is set in (pseudo-)Riemannian geometry. This article as currently written makes frequent mention of general relativity; however, almost everything it says is equally applicable to (pseudo-)Riemannian manifolds in general, and even to spin manifolds. Most statements hold by substituting arbitrary n for n=4. In German, "" translates to "four", "" to "many", and "" to "leg". The general idea is to write the metric tensor as the product of two ''vielbeins'', one on the left, and one on the right. The effect of the vielbeins is to change the coordinate system used on the tangent manifold to one that is simpler ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Relativity
General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity, and as Einstein's theory of gravity, is the differential geometry, geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of gravitation in modern physics. General theory of relativity, relativity generalizes special relativity and refines Newton's law of universal gravitation, providing a unified description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time in physics, time, or four-dimensional spacetime. In particular, the ''curvature of spacetime'' is directly related to the energy and momentum of whatever is present, including matter and radiation. The relation is specified by the Einstein field equations, a system of second-order partial differential equations. Newton's law of universal gravitation, which describes gravity in classical mechanics, can be seen as a prediction of general relativity for the almost flat spacetime geometry around stationary mass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaluza–Klein Theory
In physics, Kaluza–Klein theory (KK theory) is a classical unified field theory of gravitation and electromagnetism built around the idea of a fifth dimension beyond the common 4D of space and time and considered an important precursor to string theory. In their setup, the vacuum has the usual 3 dimensions of space and one dimension of time but with another microscopic extra spatial dimension in the shape of a tiny circle. Gunnar Nordström had an earlier, similar idea. But in that case, a fifth component was added to the electromagnetic vector potential, representing the Newtonian gravitational potential, and writing the Maxwell equations in five dimensions. The five-dimensional (5D) theory developed in three steps. The original hypothesis came from Theodor Kaluza, who sent his results to Albert Einstein in 1919 and published them in 1921. Kaluza presented a purely classical extension of general relativity to 5D, with a metric tensor of 15 components. Ten components are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frame Fields In General Relativity
In general relativity, a frame field (also called a tetrad or vierbein) is a set of four pointwise-orthonormal vector fields, one timelike and three spacelike, defined on a Lorentzian manifold that is physically interpreted as a model of spacetime. The timelike unit vector field is often denoted by \vec_0 and the three spacelike unit vector fields by \vec_1, \vec_2, \, \vec_3. All tensorial quantities defined on the manifold can be expressed using the frame field and its dual coframe field. Frame fields were introduced into general relativity by Albert Einstein in 1928 and by Hermann Weyl in 1929.Hermann Weyl "Elektron und Gravitation I", ''Zeitschrift Physik'', 56, p330–352, 1929. The index notation for tetrads is explained in tetrad (index notation). Physical interpretation Frame fields of a Lorentzian manifold always correspond to a family of ideal observers immersed in the given spacetime; the integral curves of the timelike unit vector field are the worldlines of thes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basis (mathematics)
In mathematics, a set of elements of a vector space is called a basis (: bases) if every element of can be written in a unique way as a finite linear combination of elements of . The coefficients of this linear combination are referred to as components or coordinates of the vector with respect to . The elements of a basis are called . Equivalently, a set is a basis if its elements are linearly independent and every element of is a linear combination of elements of . In other words, a basis is a linearly independent spanning set. A vector space can have several bases; however all the bases have the same number of elements, called the dimension of the vector space. This article deals mainly with finite-dimensional vector spaces. However, many of the principles are also valid for infinite-dimensional vector spaces. Basis vectors find applications in the study of crystal structures and frames of reference. Definition A basis of a vector space over a field (such as th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coordinate Chart
In topology, a topological manifold is a topological space that locally resembles real ''n''- dimensional Euclidean space. Topological manifolds are an important class of topological spaces, with applications throughout mathematics. All manifolds are topological manifolds by definition. Other types of manifolds are formed by adding structure to a topological manifold (e.g. differentiable manifolds are topological manifolds equipped with a differential structure). Every manifold has an "underlying" topological manifold, obtained by simply "forgetting" the added structure. However, not every topological manifold can be endowed with a particular additional structure. For example, the E8 manifold is a topological manifold which cannot be endowed with a differentiable structure. Formal definition A topological space ''X'' is called locally Euclidean if there is a non-negative integer ''n'' such that every point in ''X'' has a neighborhood which is homeomorphic to real ''n''-space R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parallelization (mathematics)
In mathematics, a parallelization of a manifold M\, of dimension ''n'' is a set of ''n'' global smooth linearly independent vector fields. Formal definition Given a manifold M\, of dimension ''n'', a parallelization of M\, is a set \ of ''n'' smooth vector fields defined on ''all'' of M\, such that for every p\in M\, the set \ is a basis of T_pM\,, where T_pM\, denotes the fiber over p\, of the tangent vector bundle TM\,. A manifold is called parallelizable whenever it admits a parallelization. Examples *Every Lie group is a parallelizable manifold. *The product of parallelizable manifolds is parallelizable. *Every affine space, considered as manifold, is parallelizable. Properties Proposition. A manifold M\, is parallelizable iff there is a diffeomorphism \phi \colon TM \longrightarrow M\times \, such that the first projection of \phi\, is \tau_\colon TM \longrightarrow M\, and for each p\in M\, the second factor—restricted to T_pM\,—is a linear map \phi_ \colon T_pM \rig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiber Bundles
In mathematics, and particularly topology, a fiber bundle ( ''Commonwealth English'': fibre bundle) is a space that is a product space, but may have a different topological structure. Specifically, the similarity between a space E and a product space B \times F is defined using a continuous surjective map, \pi : E \to B, that in small regions of E behaves just like a projection from corresponding regions of B \times F to B. The map \pi, called the projection or submersion of the bundle, is regarded as part of the structure of the bundle. The space E is known as the total space of the fiber bundle, B as the base space, and F the fiber. In the '' trivial'' case, E is just B \times F, and the map \pi is just the projection from the product space to the first factor. This is called a trivial bundle. Examples of non-trivial fiber bundles include the Möbius strip and Klein bottle, as well as nontrivial covering spaces. Fiber bundles, such as the tangent bundle of a manifol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Differential Geometry
Differential geometry is a Mathematics, mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces, otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of Calculus, single variable calculus, vector calculus, linear algebra and multilinear algebra. The field has its origins in the study of spherical geometry as far back as classical antiquity, antiquity. It also relates to astronomy, the geodesy of the Earth, and later the study of hyperbolic geometry by Nikolai Lobachevsky, Lobachevsky. The simplest examples of smooth spaces are the Differential geometry of curves, plane and space curves and Differential geometry of surfaces, surfaces in the three-dimensional Euclidean space, and the study of these shapes formed the basis for development of modern differential geometry during the 18th and 19th centuries. Since the late 19th century, differential geometry has grown into a field concerned more generally with geometric structures on differentiable ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kronecker Delta
In mathematics, the Kronecker delta (named after Leopold Kronecker) is a function of two variables, usually just non-negative integers. The function is 1 if the variables are equal, and 0 otherwise: \delta_ = \begin 0 &\text i \neq j, \\ 1 &\text i=j. \end or with use of Iverson brackets: \delta_ = =j, For example, \delta_ = 0 because 1 \ne 2, whereas \delta_ = 1 because 3 = 3. The Kronecker delta appears naturally in many areas of mathematics, physics, engineering and computer science, as a means of compactly expressing its definition above. Generalized versions of the Kronecker delta have found applications in differential geometry and modern tensor calculus, particularly in formulations of gauge theory and topological field models. In linear algebra, the n\times n identity matrix \mathbf has entries equal to the Kronecker delta: I_ = \delta_ where i and j take the values 1,2,\cdots,n, and the inner product of vectors can be written as \mathbf\cdot\mathbf = \sum_^n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1-form
In differential geometry, a one-form (or covector field) on a differentiable manifold is a differential form of degree one, that is, a smooth section of the cotangent bundle. Equivalently, a one-form on a manifold M is a smooth mapping of the total space of the tangent bundle of M to \R whose restriction to each fibre is a linear functional on the tangent space. Let \omega be a one-form. Then \begin \omega: U & \rightarrow \bigcup_ T^*_p(\R^n) \\ p & \mapsto \omega_p \in T_p^*(\R^n) \end Often one-forms are described locally, particularly in local coordinates. In a local coordinate system, a one-form is a linear combination of the differentials of the coordinates: \alpha_x = f_1(x) \, dx_1 + f_2(x) \, dx_2 + \cdots + f_n(x) \, dx_n , where the f_i are smooth functions. From this perspective, a one-form has a covariant transformation law on passing from one coordinate system to another. Thus a one-form is an order 1 covariant tensor field. Examples The most basic non-tri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spacetime
In physics, spacetime, also called the space-time continuum, is a mathematical model that fuses the three dimensions of space and the one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional continuum. Spacetime diagrams are useful in visualizing and understanding relativistic effects, such as how different observers perceive ''where'' and ''when'' events occur. Until the turn of the 20th century, the assumption had been that the three-dimensional geometry of the universe (its description in terms of locations, shapes, distances, and directions) was distinct from time (the measurement of when events occur within the universe). However, space and time took on new meanings with the Lorentz transformation and special theory of relativity. In 1908, Hermann Minkowski presented a geometric interpretation of special relativity that fused time and the three spatial dimensions into a single four-dimensional continuum now known as Minkowski space. This interpretation proved vital t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Open Cover
In mathematics, and more particularly in set theory, a cover (or covering) of a set X is a family of subsets of X whose union is all of X. More formally, if C = \lbrace U_\alpha : \alpha \in A \rbrace is an indexed family of subsets U_\alpha\subset X (indexed by the set A), then C is a cover of X if \bigcup_U_ = X. Thus the collection \lbrace U_\alpha : \alpha \in A \rbrace is a cover of X if each element of X belongs to at least one of the subsets U_. Definition Covers are commonly used in the context of topology. If the set X is a topological space, then a cover C of X is a collection of subsets \_ of X whose union is the whole space X = \bigcup_U_. In this case C is said to cover X, or that the sets U_\alpha cover X. If Y is a (topological) subspace of X, then a cover of Y is a collection of subsets C = \_ of X whose union contains Y. That is, C is a cover of Y if Y \subseteq \bigcup_U_. Here, Y may be covered with either sets in Y itself or sets in the parent spa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
