Spacetime symmetries and Kepler's third law

DOI10.1088/0264-9381/29/21/217002zbMATH Open1266.83038arXiv1202.2893OpenAlexW3106525401MaRDI QIDQ4920174FDOQ4920174

Authors: Alexandre Le Tiec 

Publication date: 16 May 2013

Published in: Classical and Quantum Gravity (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: The curved spacetime geometry of a system of two point masses moving on a circular orbit has a helical symmetry. We show how Kepler's third law for circular motion, and its generalization in post-Newtonian theory, can be recovered from a simple, covariant condition on the norm of the associated helical Killing vector field. This unusual derivation can be used to illustrate some concepts of prime importance in a general relativity course, including those of Killing field, covariance, coordinate dependence, and gravitational redshift.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1202.2893

Recommendations

• Symmetries of spacetime
• Symmetries of space-time and geodesic symmetries
• Symmetries of spacetime and their relation to initial value problems
• Symmetries of static, spherically symmetric space-times
• Approximate spacetime symmetries and conservation laws
• Spacetime symmetries for the Kerr metric
• Symmetries of the Kerr-Newman spacetime
• Spherically symmetric spacetimes and kinematic self-similarity
• scientific article

zbMATH Keywords

circular orbitKepler's third lawhelical Killing vector field

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Equations of motion in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C10) Galactic and stellar dynamics (85A05) Celestial mechanics (70F15)

Cited In (2)

• Horizon surface gravity in corotating black hole binaries
• Galileo's Ship and Spacetime Symmetry

This page was built for publication: Spacetime symmetries and Kepler's third law

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q4920174)