Reconstruction of the connection or metric from some partial information

arXiv1006.3207MaRDI QIDQ6219293FDOQ6219293

Authors: Josef Mikeš, Alena Vanžurová 

Publication date: 16 June 2010

Abstract: In a neighborhood of a (positive definite) Riemannian space in which special, semigeodesic, coordinates are given, the metric tensor can be calculated from its values on a suitable hypersurface and some of components of the curvature tensor of type $(1,3)$ in the coordinate domain. Semigeodesic coordinates are a generalization of the well-known Fermi coordinates, that play an important role in mechanics and physics, are widely used in Minkowskian space, and in differential geometry of Riemannian spaces in general. In the present paper, we consider a more general situation. We introduce special pre-semigeodesic charts characterized both geometrically and in terms of the connection, formulate a version of the Peano's-Picard's-Cauchy-like Theorem on existence and uniqueness of solutions of the initial values problems for systems of first-order ordinary differential equations. Then we use the apparatus in a fixed pre-semigeodesic chart of a manifold equipped with the linear symmetric connection. Our aim is to reconstruct, or construct, the symmetric linear connection in some neighborhood from the knowledge of the "initial conditions": the restriction of the connection to a fixed $(n-1)$-dimensional surface $S$ and some of the components of the curvature tensor $R$ in the "volume" (coordinate domain). By analogous methods, we retrieve (or construct) the metric tensor of type $(0,4)$ of a pseudo-Riemannian manifold in a domain of semigeodesic coordinates from the known restriction of the metric to some non-isotropic hypersurface and some of the components of the curvature tensor in the volume. In comparison to other authors, we give shorter proofs of constructive character based on classical results on first order ODEs (ordinary differential equations).

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Geometric methods in ordinary differential equations (34A26) Linear and affine connections (53B05) Local Riemannian geometry (53B20) Local differential geometry of Lorentz metrics, indefinite metrics (53B30) Applications of local differential geometry to the sciences (53B50)

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