Representation of Physical Fields as Einstein Manifold

Abstract

In this work we investigate the possibility to represent physical fields as Einstein manifold. Based on the Einstein field equations in general relativity, we establish a general formulation for determining the metric tensor of the Einstein manifold that represents a physical field in terms of the energy-momentum tensor that characterises the physical field. As illustrations, we first apply the general formulation to represent the perfect fluid as Einstein manifold. However, from the established relation between the metric tensor and the energy-momentum tensor, we show that if the trace of the energy-momentum tensor associated with a physical field is equal to zero then the corresponding physical field cannot be represented as an Einstein manifold. This situation applies to the electromagnetic field since the trace of the energy-momentum of the electromagnetic field vanishes. Nevertheless, we show that a system that consists of the electromagnetic field and non-interacting charged particles can be represented as an Einstein manifold since the trace of the corresponding energy-momentum of the system no longer vanishes. As a further investigation, we show that it is also possible to represent physical fields as maximally symmetric spaces of constant scalar curvature.