physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

, precisely in the

general theory of relativity General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity, and as Einstein's theory of gravity, is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of gravitation in modern physi ...

, post-Minkowskian expansions (PM) or post-Minkowskian approximations are mathematical methods used to find approximate solutions of Einstein's equations by means of a power series development of the

metric tensor In the mathematical field of differential geometry, a metric tensor (or simply metric) is an additional structure on a manifold (such as a surface) that allows defining distances and angles, just as the inner product on a Euclidean space allows ...

. Unlike post-Newtonian expansions (PN), in which the series development is based on a combination of powers of the velocity (which must be negligible compared to that of light) and the

gravitational constant The gravitational constant is an empirical physical constant involved in the calculation of gravitational effects in Sir Isaac Newton's law of universal gravitation and in Albert Einstein's general relativity, theory of general relativity. It ...

, in the post-Minkowskian case the developments are based only on the gravitational constant, allowing analysis even at velocities close to that of light (relativistic). One of the earliest works on this method of resolution is that of Bruno Bertotti, published in

Nuovo Cimento ''Nuovo Cimento'' is a series of peer-reviewed scientific journals of physics. The series was first established in 1855, when Carlo Matteucci and Raffaele Piria started publishing ''Il Nuovo Cimento'' as the continuation of ''Il Cimento'', whic ...

in 1956.

References

{{Reflist General relativity