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Conformal Vector Field
In conformal geometry, a conformal Killing vector field on a manifold of dimension ''n'' with (pseudo) Riemannian metric g (also called a conformal Killing vector, CKV, or conformal colineation), is a vector field X whose (locally defined) flow defines conformal transformations, that is, preserve g up to scale and preserve the conformal structure. Several equivalent formulations, called the conformal Killing equation, exist in terms of the Lie derivative of the flow e.g. \mathcal_g = \lambda g for some function \lambda on the manifold. For n \ne 2 there are a finite number of solutions, specifying the conformal symmetry of that space, but in two dimensions, there is an infinity of solutions. The name Killing refers to Wilhelm Killing, who first investigated Killing vector fields. Densitized metric tensor and Conformal Killing vectors A vector field X is a Killing vector field if and only if its flow preserves the metric tensor g (strictly speaking for each compact subsets ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conformal Geometry
In mathematics, conformal geometry is the study of the set of angle-preserving ( conformal) transformations on a space. In a real two dimensional space, conformal geometry is precisely the geometry of Riemann surfaces. In space higher than two dimensions, conformal geometry may refer either to the study of conformal transformations of what are called "flat spaces" (such as Euclidean spaces or spheres), or to the study of conformal manifolds which are Riemannian or pseudo-Riemannian manifolds with a class of metrics that are defined up to scale. Study of the flat structures is sometimes termed Möbius geometry, and is a type of Klein geometry. Conformal manifolds A conformal manifold is a pseudo-Riemannian manifold equipped with an equivalence class of metric tensors, in which two metrics ''g'' and ''h'' are equivalent if and only if :h = \lambda^2 g , where ''λ'' is a real-valued smooth function defined on the manifold and is called the conformal factor. An equivalence cla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poincaré Group
The Poincaré group, named after Henri Poincaré (1906), was first defined by Hermann Minkowski (1908) as the group of Minkowski spacetime isometries. It is a ten-dimensional non-abelian Lie group that is of importance as a model in our understanding of the most basic fundamentals of physics. Overview A Minkowski spacetime isometry has the property that the interval between events is left invariant. For example, if everything were postponed by two hours, including the two events and the path you took to go from one to the other, then the time interval between the events recorded by a stop-watch you carried with you would be the same. Or if everything were shifted five kilometres to the west, or turned 60 degrees to the right, you would also see no change in the interval. It turns out that the proper length of an object is also unaffected by such a shift. A time or space reversal (a reflection) is also an isometry of this group. In Minkowski space (i.e. ignoring the effec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spacetime Symmetries
Spacetime symmetries are features of spacetime that can be described as exhibiting some form of symmetry. The role of symmetry in physics is important in simplifying solutions to many problems. Spacetime symmetries are used in the study of exact solutions of Einstein's field equations of general relativity. Spacetime symmetries are distinguished from internal symmetries. Physical motivation Physical problems are often investigated and solved by noticing features which have some form of symmetry. For example, in the Schwarzschild solution, the role of spherical symmetry is important in deriving the Schwarzschild solution and deducing the physical consequences of this symmetry (such as the nonexistence of gravitational radiation in a spherically pulsating star). In cosmological problems, symmetry plays a role in the cosmological principle, which restricts the type of universes that are consistent with large-scale observations (e.g. the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker (FLR ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matter Collineation
A matter collineation (sometimes matter symmetry and abbreviated to MC) is a vector field that satisfies the condition, :\mathcal_X T_=0 where T_ are the energy–momentum tensor components. The intimate relation between geometry and physics may be highlighted here, as the vector field X is regarded as preserving certain physical quantities along the flow lines of X, this being true for any two observers. In connection with this, it may be shown that every Killing vector field is a matter collineation (by the Einstein field equations (EFE), with or without cosmological constant). Thus, given a solution of the EFE, a vector field that preserves the metric necessarily preserves the corresponding energy-momentum tensor. When the energy-momentum tensor represents a perfect fluid, every Killing vector field preserves the energy density, pressure and the fluid flow vector field. When the energy-momentum tensor represents an electromagnetic field, a Killing vector field does ''not neces ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invariant Differential Operator
In mathematics and theoretical physics, an invariant differential operator is a kind of mathematical map from some objects to an object of similar type. These objects are typically functions on \mathbb^n, functions on a manifold, vector valued functions, vector fields, or, more generally, sections of a vector bundle. In an invariant differential operator D, the term ''differential operator'' indicates that the value Df of the map depends only on f(x) and the derivatives of f in x. The word '' invariant'' indicates that the operator contains some symmetry. This means that there is a group G with a group action on the functions (or other objects in question) and this action is preserved by the operator: :D(g\cdot f)=g\cdot (Df). Usually, the action of the group has the meaning of a change of coordinates (change of observer) and the invariance means that the operator has the same expression in all admissible coordinates. Invariance on homogeneous spaces Let ''M'' = ''G'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homothetic Vector Field
In physics, a homothetic vector field (sometimes homothetic collineation or homothety) is a projective vector field which satisfies the condition: :\mathcal_X g_=2c g_ where c is a real constant. Homothetic vector fields find application in the study of singularities in general relativity. They can also be used to generate new solutions for Einstein equations by similarity reduction. See also * Affine vector field * Conformal Killing vector field * Curvature collineation * Killing vector field * Matter collineation * Spacetime symmetries Spacetime symmetries are features of spacetime that can be described as exhibiting some form of symmetry. The role of symmetry in physics is important in simplifying solutions to many problems. Spacetime symmetries are used in the study of exact ... References Mathematical methods in general relativity {{math-physics-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Einstein Manifold
In differential geometry and mathematical physics, an Einstein manifold is a Riemannian or pseudo-Riemannian differentiable manifold whose Ricci tensor is proportional to the metric. They are named after Albert Einstein because this condition is equivalent to saying that the metric is a solution of the vacuum Einstein field equations (with cosmological constant), although both the dimension and the signature of the metric can be arbitrary, thus not being restricted to Lorentzian manifolds (including the four-dimensional Lorentzian manifolds usually studied in general relativity). Einstein manifolds in four Euclidean dimensions are studied as gravitational instantons. If ''M'' is the underlying ''n''-dimensional manifold, and ''g'' is its metric tensor, the Einstein condition means that :\mathrm = kg for some constant ''k'', where Ric denotes the Ricci tensor of ''g''. Einstein manifolds with are called Ricci-flat manifolds. The Einstein condition and Einstein's equation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curvature Collineation
A curvature collineation (often abbreviated to CC) is vector field which preserves the Riemann tensor in the sense that, :\mathcal_X R^a_=0 where R^a_ are the components of the Riemann tensor. The set of all smooth curvature collineations forms a Lie algebra under the Lie bracket operation (if the smoothness condition is dropped, the set of all curvature collineations need not form a Lie algebra). The Lie algebra is denoted by CC(M) and may be infinite-dimensional. Every affine vector field is a curvature collineation. See also * Conformal vector field * Homothetic vector field * Killing vector field * Matter collineation * Spacetime symmetries Spacetime symmetries are features of spacetime that can be described as exhibiting some form of symmetry. The role of symmetry in physics is important in simplifying solutions to many problems. Spacetime symmetries are used in the study of exact ... Mathematical methods in general relativity {{math-physics-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Affine Vector Field
An affine vector field (sometimes affine collineation or affine) is a projective vector field preserving geodesics and preserving the affine parameter. Mathematically, this is expressed by the following condition: :(\mathcal_X g_)_=0 See also * Conformal vector field * Curvature collineation * Homothetic vector field * Killing vector field * Matter collineation * Spacetime symmetries Spacetime symmetries are features of spacetime that can be described as exhibiting some form of symmetry. The role of symmetry in physics is important in simplifying solutions to many problems. Spacetime symmetries are used in the study of exact ... Mathematical methods in general relativity {{math-physics-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conformal Group
In mathematics, the conformal group of an inner product space is the group of transformations from the space to itself that preserve angles. More formally, it is the group of transformations that preserve the conformal geometry of the space. Several specific conformal groups are particularly important: * The conformal orthogonal group. If ''V'' is a vector space with a quadratic form ''Q'', then the conformal orthogonal group is the group of linear transformations ''T'' of ''V'' for which there exists a scalar ''λ'' such that for all ''x'' in ''V'' *:Q(Tx) = \lambda^2 Q(x) :For a definite quadratic form In linguistics, definiteness is a semantic feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between referents or senses that are identifiable in a given context (definite noun phrases) and those which are not (indefinite noun phrases). The prototypical de ..., the conformal orthogonal group is equal to the orthogonal group times the group of Homothetic transformation, dilations. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Special Conformal Transformation
In projective geometry, a special conformal transformation is a linear fractional transformation that is ''not'' an affine transformation. Thus the generation of a special conformal transformation involves use of multiplicative inversion, which is the generator of linear fractional transformations that is not affine. In mathematical physics, certain conformal maps known as spherical wave transformations are special conformal transformations. Vector presentation A special conformal transformation can be written : x'^\mu = \frac = \frac(x^\mu-b^\mu x^2)\,. It is a composition of an inversion (''x''''μ'' → ''x''''μ''/x2 = ''y''''μ''), a translation (''y''''μ'' → ''y''''μ'' − ''b''''μ'' = ''z''''μ''), and another inversion (''z''''μ'' → ''z''''μ''/z2 = ''x''′''μ'') : \frac = \frac - b^\mu \,. Its infinitesimal generator is : K_\mu = -i(2x_\mu x^\nu\partial_\nu - x^2\partial_\mu) \,. Alternative presentation The i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homothety
In mathematics, a homothety (or homothecy, or homogeneous dilation) is a transformation of an affine space determined by a point ''S'' called its ''center'' and a nonzero number ''k'' called its ''ratio'', which sends point X to a point X' by the rule : \overrightarrow=k\overrightarrow for a fixed number k\ne 0. Using position vectors: :\mathbf x'=\mathbf s + k(\mathbf x -\mathbf s). In case of S=O (Origin): :\mathbf x'=k\mathbf x, which is a uniform scaling and shows the meaning of special choices for k: :for k=1 one gets the ''identity'' mapping, :for k=-1 one gets the ''reflection'' at the center, For 1/k one gets the ''inverse'' mapping defined by k. In Euclidean geometry homotheties are the similarities that fix a point and either preserve (if k>0) or reverse (if k<0) the direction of all vectors. Together with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
