Motion In General Relativity Research Articles

From conformal infinity to equations of motion: conserved quantities in general relativity.

This paper describes conservation laws in general relativity (GR) dating back to the mass-energy conservation of Bondi and Sachs in the early 1960s but using 2-spinor techniques. The notion of conformal infinity is employed, and the highly original ideas of E. T. Newman are discussed in relation to twistor theory. The controversial NP constants are introduced, and their meaning is considered in a new light related to the problem of equations of motion in GR. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'At the interface of asymptotics, conformal methods and analysis in general relativity'.

Free-Fall Motion and Time in General Relativity

Recent attempts at explaining free-fall motion (i.e. motion only under the influence of gravity) in the context of the General Theory of Relativity have invoked a concept of time passing/progressing. Although students who have studied the Special Theory of Relativity will likely know that this concept does not feature in Special Relativity, they may incorrectly accept the concept of time passing/progressing as an aspect of General Relativity if they have encountered these accounts of free-fall motion. It is pointed out that time passing/progressing is not part of General Relativity theory and is briefly shown that free-fall motion in General Relativity is quantitatively described without such a concept.

Conservation of boundary term for gravitational action

In this paper, we intend to establish a rigorous mathematical relation between the Gibbons–Hawking–York (GHY) boundary term and the conserved symmetric current which arises due to Noether’s second theorem. The GHY term is necessary to ensure that the equations of motion in general relativity are well-posed, and it is a key ingredient in the thermodynamics of black holes and the derivation of the Bekenstein–Hawking entropy. Noether’s second theorem on the other hand relates the symmetries of the action to conserved quantities of the system. In this paper, we prove that the connection between the GHY term and Noether’s second theorem can be established by considering a diffeomorphism that preserves the boundary condition of the surface integral. Additionally, we also derive the associated conserved current and charge.

Accelerated motion in general relativity: fate of the singularity

Under general relativity, the paths of accelerated test particles are taken into account. It is examined whether such accelerations have any influence on the ‘singularity’ of the spacetime. The Raychaudhuri equation for the congruence of the time-like curves describing the paths of the accelerated particles is considered to calculate a few physical attributes. It is shown that if the acceleration of the test particles exceeds a particular value, then the congruences of the accelerated time-like curves do not encounter any singularity although the usual energy conditions are violated or modified. It is shown further that in the curved spacetime of general relativistic framework one may generate a system of transformations that is a generalization of the Rindler coordinates related to accelerated frame in the flat Minkowski spacetime. To show the influence of the acceleration of test particle on singularity of a particular spacetime the Schwarzschild spacetime is considered. Taking tidal deviation related acceleration term, it is shown that the acceleration may attain a specific value for which the modified Kretschmann scalar vanishes in a spherical neighbourhood of the singularity and thus the Schwarzschild singularity disappears. In the context of singularity as ‘geodesic incompleteness’ of the spacetime manifold it is also proved that prescribing an appropriate acceleration term on the maximal geodesic defined in a finite interval one may extend it up to infinite proper time and hence the spacetime becomes singularity free. Such results hold at the price of violating the usual energy conditions.

Fundamental forces and their dynamics

In this essay, we wish to propose a general principle: the equation of motion or dynamics of a fundamental force should not be prescribed but instead be entirely driven by geometry of the appropriate spacetime manifold, and the equation is then obtained by employing only the geometric property without appeal to an action. The motivation for this pronouncement comes from the fact that the equation of motion of general relativity follows from the geometry of Riemannian spacetime manifold without appeal to anything else from outside. The driving differential geometric property is the Bianchi identity satisfied by the Riemann curvature tensor. Similarly it is geometry of the principal tangent bundle of fibre spacetime manifold that may account for dynamics of the gauge vector fields. It is the classical electric force for the Abelian gauge symmetry group while the non-Abelian symmetry leads to the non-Abelian forces, the weak and the strong. We shall also reflect on a unified picture of the basic forces, and the duality correspondences it may inspire.

Hyperelliptic Functions and Motion in General Relativity

Analysis of black hole spacetimes requires study of the motion of particles and light in these spacetimes. Here exact solutions of the geodesic equations are the means of choice. Numerous interesting black hole spacetimes have been analyzed in terms of elliptic functions. However, the presence of a cosmological constant, higher dimensions or alternative gravity theories often necessitate an analysis in terms of hyperelliptic functions. Here we review the method and current status for solving the geodesic equations for the general hyperelliptic case, illustrating it with a set of examples of genus g=2: higher dimensional Schwarzschild black holes, rotating dyonic U(1)2 black holes, and black rings.

Using the Newton’s Theory of Gravity to Calculate the Deflection of Light in the Solar System and the Orbital Poles of Light’s Motion of General Relativity

Using the Newton’s Theory of Gravity to Calculate the Deflection of Light in the Solar System and the Orbital Poles of Light’s Motion of General Relativity

Repeated crossing of two concentric spherical thin-shells with charge

Interaction/collision of two concentric spherical thin-shells of linear fluid resulting in collapse has been considered recently. We show that addition of finely tuned electric charges on the shells apart from the cosmological constant serves to delay the collapse indefinitely, yielding an ever colliding system of two concentric fluid shells. Given the finely tuned charges, this provides an example of a perpetual two-body motion in general relativity.

Underlining some mathematical and physical aspects about the concept of motion in general relativity

The Einstein initial foundations of general relativity have to do with his great intuition and they are not clear as it is for special relativity. As has been widely emphasized, for example, in the book of Ohanian and Ruffini, the very name of the theory indicates a misconception. Despite this, the high school textbooks (at least the Italian ones) and books of scientific divulgation introduce the Einstein gravitational theory still following the initial approach leading, in our opinion, to misinterpretations. A careful student, for example, immediately asks: it is not true that the Earth rotates because I can consider it at rest thanks to general relativity theory. The relativity of motion is trivial in mathematics while it has deep meaning in physics and it is not sufficiently analyzed. Similarly, the arbitrary choice of the origin and the perfect equivalence between all coordinate systems are mathematical properties satisfied by general relativity and students can confuse it with physical equivalence between reference systems that have a deeper meaning and the Einstein theory does not verify it. Gravitational force does not exist and this is the real core of Einsteinian revolution. As happens in Newtonian physics and Special Relativity, also in general relativity the relative motions are the geodesic motions with the difference that spacetime can be curved and geodesics may not be a straight line. Similarly, in general relativity forces cause non-geodesic motion. Geodesic and non-geodesic are tensorial properties and for this reason they are absolute.

Literal versus Careful Interpretations of Scientific Theories: The Vacuum Approach to the Problem of Motion in General Relativity

The problem of motion in general relativity is about how exactly the gravitational field equations, the Einstein equations, are related to the equations of motion of material bodies subject to gravitational fields. This article compares two approaches to derive the geodesic motion of (test) matter from the field equations: the ‘T approach’ and the ‘vacuum approach’. The latter approach has been dismissed by philosophers of physics because it apparently represents material bodies by singularities. I argue that a careful interpretation of the approach shows that it does not depend on introducing singularities at all and that it holds at least as much promise as the T approach.

General relativity as a hybrid theory: The genesis of Einstein's work on the problem of motion

In this paper I describe the genesis of Einstein's early work on the problem of motion in general relativity (GR): the question of whether the motion of matter subject to gravity can be derived directly from the Einstein field equations. In addressing this question, Einstein himself always preferred the vacuum approach to the problem: the attempt to derive geodesic motion of matter from the vacuum Einstein equations. The paper first investigates why Einstein was so skeptical of the energy-momentum tensor and its role in GR. Drawing on hitherto unknown correspondence between Einstein and George Yuri Rainich, I then show step by step how his work on the vacuum approach came about, and how his quest for a unified field theory informed his interpretation of GR. I show that Einstein saw GR as a hybrid theory from very early on: fundamental and correct as far as gravity was concerned but phenomenological and effective in how it accounted for matter. As a result, Einstein saw energy-momentum tensors and singularities in GR as placeholders for a theory of matter not yet delivered. The reason he preferred singularities was that he hoped that their mathematical treatment would give a hint as to the sought after theory of matter, a theory that would do justice to quantum features of matter.

Conservation, inertia, and spacetime geometry

As Harvey Brown emphasizes in his book Physical Relativity, inertial motion in general relativity is best understood as a theorem, and not a postulate. Here I discuss the status of the “conservation condition”, which states that the energy-momentum tensor associated with non-interacting matter is covariantly divergence-free, in connection with such theorems. I argue that the conservation condition is best understood as a consequence of the differential equations governing the evolution of matter in general relativity and many other theories. I conclude by discussing what it means to posit a certain spacetime geometry and the relationship between that geometry and the dynamical properties of matter.

On solar system dynamics in general relativity

Recent work in the literature has advocated using the Earth–Moon–planetoid Lagrangian points as observables, in order to test general relativity and effective field theories of gravity in the solar system. However, since the three-body problem of classical celestial mechanics is just an approximation of a much more complicated setting, where all celestial bodies in the solar system are subject to their mutual gravitational interactions, while solar radiation pressure and other sources of nongravitational perturbations also affect the dynamics, it is conceptually desirable to improve the current understanding of solar system dynamics in general relativity, as a first step towards a more accurate theoretical study of orbital motion in the weak-gravity regime. For this purpose, starting from the Einstein equations in the de Donder–Lanczos gauge, this paper arrives first at the Levi-Civita Lagrangian for the geodesic motion of planets, showing in detail under which conditions the effects of internal structure and finite extension get canceled in general relativity to first post-Newtonian order. The resulting nonlinear ordinary differential equations for the motion of planets and satellites are solved for the Earth’s orbit about the Sun, written down in detail for the Sun–Earth–Moon system, and investigated for the case of planar motion of a body immersed in the gravitational field produced by the other bodies (e.g. planets with their satellites). At this stage, we prove an exact property, according to which the fourth-order time derivative of the original system leads to a linear system of ordinary differential equations. This opens an interesting perspective on forthcoming research on planetary motions in general relativity within the solar system, although the resulting equations remain a challenge for numerical and qualitative studies. Last, the evaluation of quantum corrections to location of collinear and noncollinear Lagrangian points for the planar restricted three-body problem is revisited, and a new set of theoretical values of such corrections for the Earth–Moon–planetoid system is displayed and discussed. On the side of classical values, the general relativity corrections to Newtonian values for collinear and noncollinear Lagrangian points of the Sun–Earth–planetoid system are also obtained. A direction for future research will be the analysis of planetary motions within the relativistic celestial mechanics set up by Blanchet, Damour, Soffel and Xu.

Uniform circular motion in general relativity: existence and extendibility of the trajectories

The concept of uniform circular motion in a general spacetime is introduced as a particular case of a planar motion. The initial value problem of the corresponding differential equation is analysed in detail. Geometrically, an observer that obeys a uniform circular motion is characterized as a Lorentzian helix. The completeness of inextensible trajectories is studied in generalized Robertson–Walker spacetimes and in a relevant family of pp-wave spacetimes. Under reasonable assumptions, the physical interpretation of such results is that a uniform circular observer lives forever, providing the absence of the singularities defined by these timelike curves.

Unchanged direction motion in general relativity: The problems of prescribing acceleration and the extensibility of trajectories

The notion of unchanged direction (UD) motion in general relativity is introduced, extending widely the concept of uniformly accelerated motion. An observer which obeys an UD motion is characterized as a pointing future unit timelike curve with all its curvatures identically zero up to the first one. The initial value problem when the acceleration of the motion is prescribed is analysed. It is also studied that the completeness of inextensible UD motions, that can be physically interpreted saying that the observers which obey an UD motion lives forever. For certain spacetimes with relevant symmetries that includes the generalized Robertson-Walker spacetimes, a geometric approach leads to the completeness. On the other hand, a more analytical approach permits to prove completeness of inextensible UD motions in a plane wave spacetime.

Preliminary orbital analysis of the LARES space experiment

The LARES satellite was successfully launched in 2012 for tests of General Relativity and gravitational physics including the accurate measurement of frame-dragging. It is currently very well observed all over the world by the stations of the International Laser Ranging Service. Its preliminary orbital analyses show that LARES behaves as the best artificial massive test particle today available in the solar system, providing an optimal approximation to the time-like geodesic motion of General Relativity. Furthermore, on the basis of a test using almost three years of observations of LARES, we concluded that LARES, together with the LAGEOS and LAGEOS 2 satellites, provides excellent preliminary results for testing General Relativity.

Integral of motion in general relativity and the effect of accumulating excessive internal energy of a body under gravitational contraction

We show that under gravitational contraction of a spherical body, its internal energy increases infinitely as the body radius approaches GM/c 2 , which leads to a negative mass defect and unavoidably to an explosion process with ejection of part of the body mass because the spherical compression is unstable. This conclusion follows exactly from the general theory of relativity in harmonic coordinates.

Uniformly accelerated motion in General Relativity: completeness of inextensible trajectories

The notion of a uniformly accelerated motion of an observer in a general spacetime is analysed in detail. Such a observer may be seen as a Lorentzian circle, providing a new characterization of a static standard spacetime. The trajectories of uniformly accelerated observers are seen as the projection on the spacetime of the integral curves of a vector field defined on a certain fiber bundle over the spacetime. Using this tool, we find geometric assumptions to ensure that an inextensible uniformly accelerated observer does not disappear in a finite proper time.

Regular and chaotic motion in general relativity: The case of an inclined black hole magnetosphere

Dynamics of charged particles in the vicinity of a rotating black hole embedded in the external large-scale magnetic field is numerically investigated. In particular, we consider a non- axisymmetric model in which the asymptotically uniform magnetic field is inclined with respect to the axis of rotation. We study the effect of inclination onto the prevailing dynamic regime of particle motion, i.e. we ask whether the inclined field allows regular trajectories or if instead, the deterministic chaos dominates the motion. In this contribution we further discuss the role of initial condition, particularly, the initial azimuthal angle. To characterize the measure of chaoticness we compute maximal Lyapunov exponents and employ the method of Recurrence Quantification Analysis.

The Ehlers–Geroch theorem on geodesic motion in general relativity

We provide a detailed and rigorous proof of (a generalized version of) the Ehlers–Geroch theorem on geodesic motion in metric theories of gravity: we assume that (M, g) is a spacetime satisfying an averaged form of the dominant energy condition and some further technical assumptions indicated in the bulk of this paper. Then, a small body which is allowed to deform the original spacetime metric g moves, nonetheless, along a geodesic of (M, g).