Defining the space in a general spacetime

DOI10.1142/S0219887816500316MaRDI QIDQ2802588zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Mayeul Arminjon

Publication date 26 April 2016

Published in International Journal of Geometric Methods in Modern Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1512.08718

zbMATH Keywords

adapted chartcongruence of world linesdifferentiable manifoldglobal vector fieldHausdorffKruskal-Szekeres coordinatesmaximal integral curvesorbit spacephysical spacereference fluidtopology

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Applications of differential geometry to physics (53Z05) Topological characterizations of particular spaces (54F65) Einstein's equations (general structure, canonical formalism, Cauchy problems) (83C05) Equations of motion in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C10) Space-time singularities, cosmic censorship, etc. (83C75) Kaluza-Klein and other higher-dimensional theories (83E15)

Abstract: A global vector field $v$ on a "spacetime" differentiable manifold $mathrmV$, of dimension $N+1$, defines a congruence of world lines: the maximal integral curves of $v$, or orbits. The associated global space $mathrm{N}_v$ is the set of these orbits. A "$v$-adapted" chart on $mathrmV$ is one for which the $mathbb{R}^N$ vector $$ of the "spatial" coordinates remains constant on any orbit $l$. We consider non-vanishing vector fields $v$ that have non-periodic orbits, each of which is a closed set. We prove transversality theorems relevant to such vector fields. Due to these results, it can be considered plausible that, for such a vector field, there exists in the neighborhood of any point $XinmathrmV$ a chart $chi$ that is $v$-adapted and "nice", i.e., such that the mapping $$ is injective --- unless $v$ has some "pathological" character. This leads us to define a notion of "normal" vector field. For any such vector field, the mappings $$ build an atlas of charts, thus providing $mathrm{N}_v$ with a canonical structure of differentiable manifold (when the topology defined on $mathrm{N}_v$ is Hausdorff, for which we give a sufficient condition met in important physical situations). Previously, a local space manifold $mathrm{M}_{m}athrmF$ had been associated with any "reference frame" $mathrmF$, defined as an equivalence class of charts. We show that, if $mathrmF$ is made of nice $v$-adapted charts, $mathrm{M}_{m}athrmF$ is naturally identified with an open subset of the global space manifold $mathrm{N}_v$.

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Cites work

• General reference frames and their associated space manifolds
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3165099 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 955287 (Why is no real title available?)
• Space tensors in general relativity. I: Spatial tensor algebra and analysis. II: Physical applications; III: The structural equations

Cited in

(4)

• Coordinate-independent definition of time and vacuum in curved space-time
• Reference frames and rigid motions in relativity
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• Is spacetime as physical as is space?

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