Laue's theorem revisited: energy-momentum tensors, symmetries, and the habitat of globally conserved quantities

DOI10.1142/S0219887818501827zbMATH Open1431.53092arXiv1808.09320OpenAlexW3105824776WikidataQ62591138 ScholiaQ62591138MaRDI QIDQ4615113FDOQ4615113

Authors: Domenico Giulini 

Publication date: 1 February 2019

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

Abstract: The energy-momentum tensor for a particular matter component summarises its local energy-momentum distribution in terms of densities and current densities. We re-investigate under what conditions these local distributions can be integrated to meaningful global quantities. This leads us directly to a classic theorem by Max von Laue concerning integrals of components of the energy-momentum tensor, whose statement and proof we recall. In the first half of this paper we do this within the realm of Special Relativity and in the traditional mathematical language using components with respect to affine charts, thereby focusing on the intended physical content and interpretation. In the second half we show how to do all this in a proper differential-geometric fashion and on arbitrary space-time manifolds, this time focusing on the group-theoretic and geometric hypotheses underlying these results. Based on this we give a proper geometric statement and proof of Laue's theorem, which is shown to generalise from Minkowski space (which has the maximal number of isometries) to space-times with significantly less symmetries. This result, which seems to be new, not only generalises but also clarifies the geometric content and hypotheses of Laue's theorem. A series of three appendices lists our conventions and notation and summarises some of the conceptual and mathematical background needed in the main text.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1808.09320

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zbMATH Keywords

energy-momentum tensormomentum mapLaue's theorem

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Momentum maps; symplectic reduction (53D20) Group actions and symmetry properties (58D19) Special relativity (83A05)

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Cited In (3)

• Derivation of classical mechanics in an energetic framework via conservation and relativity
• Energy-Momentum Conservation Implies Translation Invariance: Some Didactic Remarks
• Energy-momentum tensors and motion in special relativity

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