Lightlike simultaneity, comoving observers and distances in general relativity. (Q2490736): Difference between revisions

In this nice paper the author states a condition for an observer to be comoving with another observer in general relativity, based on the concept of light-like simultaneity. Taking into account this condition, he studies relative velocities, Doppler effect and light aberration. He obtains that comoving oberservers observe the same light ray with the same frequency and direction, and so gravitational redshift effect is a particular case of Doppler effect. He also defines a distance between an observer and the events that it observes, called light-like distance. The solution of this problem is not so easy because the author has to measure lengths of light rays. He defines the following: Let \(\lambda\) be a light ray from \(q\) to \(p\) and let \(u\) be an observer at \(p\). The light-like distance \(d_u(q,p)\) from \(q\) to \(p\) observed by \(U\) is the module of the projection of \(\exp_p^{-1}q\) onto \(u^\perp\). In this way the problem is solved by using geometrical properties. Furthermore, he shows that light-like distance is a particular Schwarzschild space-time and gives a new concept of distance in Robertson-Walker space-times, according to the Hubble law. The paper is completed by some helpful figures.