Some properties of the Bel and Bel-Robinson tensors (Q674909)

The properties of the Bel and Bel-Robinson tensors seem to indicate that they are closely related to the gravitational energy-momentum. Some new properties of these tensors which might throw some light onto this relationship are presented. For any spacetime the authors find a natural linear decomposition of the Bel tensor in terms of the Bel-Robinson tensor and two other tensors, which are called the ``pure matter'' super-energy tensor and the ``matter-gravity coupling'' super-energy tensor. The pure matter super-energy tensor of any Einstein-Maxwell field is simply the ``square'' of the usual energy-momentum tensor. This, together with the fact that the Bel-Robinson tensor has dimensions of energy density square, leads to the definition of square root for the Bel-Robinson tensor: a two-covariant symmetric traceless tensor with dimensions of energy density and such that its ``square'' gives the Bel-Robinson tensor. This square root exists iff the spacetime is of Petrov type O, N or D, and its general expression is explicitly presented. The properties of this new tensor are examined and some interesting explicit examples are analyzed. Of particular interest are an invariant function that appears in the spherically symmetric metrics and an expression for the energy carried out by pure plane gravitational waves. The decomposition of the whole Bel tensor for Vaidya's radiating metric and Kerr-Newman's solution are examined. The fact that the square root of the Bel-Robinson tensor does not exist in general, leads to the immediate generalization of its factorization into two factors which are two-index tensors. This factorization is less restrictive than the square root and includes the latter as a particular case. All the possible factorizations for all different Petrov types are explicitly presented.