A brief remark on energy conditions and the Geroch-Jang theorem

DOI10.1007/S10701-011-9583-YzbMATH Open1241.83021arXiv1106.2336OpenAlexW1978165861MaRDI QIDQ421237FDOQ421237

James Owen Weatherall

Publication date: 23 May 2012

Published in: Foundations of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: The status of the geodesic principle in General Relativity has been a topic of some interest in the recent literature on the foundations of spacetime theories. Part of this discussion has focused on the role that a certain energy condition plays in the proof of a theorem due to Bob Geroch and Pong-Soo Jang ["Motion of a Body in General Relativity." Journal of Mathematical Physics 16(1), (1975)] that can be taken to make precise the claim that the geodesic principle is a theorem, rather than a postulate, of General Relativity. In this brief note, I show, by explicit counterexample, that not only is a weaker energy condition than the one Geroch and Jang state insufficient to prove the theorem, but in fact a condition still stronger than the one that they assume is necessary.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1106.2336

zbMATH Keywords

general relativityenergy conditiongeodesic principleGeroch-Jang theoreminertial motion

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Equations of motion in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C10) Gravitational energy and conservation laws; groups of motions (83C40)

Cites Work

• Title not available (Why is that?)
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• Topics in the foundations of general relativity and Newtonian gravitation theory.
• On the status of the geodesic principle in Newtonian and relativistic physics
• The motion of a body in Newtonian theories

Cited In (7)

• Geometry and Motion in General Relativity
• The Ehlers–Geroch theorem on geodesic motion in general relativity
• On the status of the geodesic principle in Newtonian and relativistic physics
• Conservation, inertia, and spacetime geometry
• On the argument from physics and general relativity
• Proving the principle: taking geodesic dynamics too seriously in Einstein's theory
• General relativity as a hybrid theory: the genesis of Einstein's work on the problem of motion

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