What should we understand by the four-momentum of physical system?

Abstract

It is shown that, in general, in curved spacetime, none of the known definitions of four-momentum correspond to the definition, in which all the system’s particles and fields, including fields outside matter, make an explicit contribution to the four-momentum. This drawback can be eliminated under the assumption that the primary representation of four-momentum is the sum of two nonlocal four-vectors of the integral type with covariant indices. The first of these four-vectors is the generalized four-momentum, found with the help of Lagrangian density. The time component of the generalized four-momentum, in theory of vector fields, is proportional to the particles’ energy in scalar field potentials, and the space component is related to vector field potentials. The second four-vector is the four-momentum of fields themselves, and its time component is related to the energy given by tensor invariants. As a result, the system’s four-momentum is defined as a four-vector with a covariant index. The standard approach makes it possible to find the four-momentum in covariant form only for a free point particle. In contrast, the obtained formulas for calculating the four-momentum components are applied to a stationary and moving relativistic uniform system, consisting of many particles. In this case, the main fields of the system under consideration are taken into account, including the electromagnetic and gravitational fields, the acceleration field and the pressure field. All these fields are considered vector fields, which makes it possible to unambiguously determine the equations of motion of the fields themselves and the equations of motion of matter in these fields. The formalism used includes the principle of least action, charged and neutral four-currents, corresponding four-potentials and field tensors, which ensures unification and the possibility of combining fields into a single interaction. Within the framework of the special theory of relativity, it is shown that due to motion, the four-momentum of the system increases in proportion to the Lorentz factor of the system’s center of momentum, while in the matter of the system the sum of the energies of all fields is equal to zero. The calculation of the integral vector’s components in the relativistic uniform system shows that the so-called integral vector is not equal to four-momentum and is not a four-vector at all, although it is conserved in a closed system. Thus, in the theory of relativistic vector fields, the four-momentum cannot be found with the help of an integral vector and components of the system’s stress-energy tensor, in contrast to how it is assumed in the general theory of relativity.