Normal coordinates along a geodesic (Q789010): Difference between revisions

In the authors' nomenclature normal coordinates at a point p are those in which the first order derivatives of the metric tensor \(g_{\mu \nu}\) at this point p vanish and the higher derivatives of \(g_{\mu \nu}\) are expressed by the curvature tensor \(R_{\alpha \beta \gamma \delta}\) and its derivatives. It is possible to extend the normal coordinates along an arbitrary curve \(\gamma\), a problem that \textit{F. K. Manasse} and \textit{C. W. Misner} treated in a previous paper [J. Math. Phys. 4, 735-745 (1963; Zbl 0118.229)] under some appropriate conditions. The authors of the article under review generalize the above-mentioned results. Among other things they obtain the expression of \(g_{\mu \nu}\) as powers of the distance normal to \(\gamma\), up to the quartic terms, where \(\gamma\) is an arbitrary geodesic.