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Null Dust Solution
In mathematical physics, a null dust solution (sometimes called a null fluid) is a Lorentzian manifold in which the Einstein tensor is null. Such a spacetime can be interpreted as an exact solution of Einstein's field equation, in which the only mass–energy present in the spacetime is due to some kind of massless radiation. Mathematical definition By definition, the Einstein tensor of a null dust solution has the form G^ = 8 \pi \Phi \, k^ \, k^ where \vec is a null vector field. This definition makes sense purely geometrically, but if we place a stress–energy tensor on our spacetime of the form T^ = \Phi \, k^ \, k^, then Einstein's field equation is satisfied, and such a stress–energy tensor has a clear physical interpretation in terms of massless radiation. The vector field specifies the direction in which the radiation is moving; the scalar multiplier specifies its intensity. Physical interpretation Physically speaking, a null dust describes either gravitational rad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lorentzian Manifold
In differential geometry, a pseudo-Riemannian manifold, also called a semi-Riemannian manifold, is a differentiable manifold with a metric tensor that is everywhere nondegenerate. This is a generalization of a Riemannian manifold in which the requirement of positive-definiteness is relaxed. Every tangent space of a pseudo-Riemannian manifold is a pseudo-Euclidean vector space. A special case used in general relativity is a four-dimensional Lorentzian manifold for modeling spacetime, where tangent vectors can be classified as timelike, null, and spacelike. Introduction Manifolds In differential geometry, a differentiable manifold is a space which is locally similar to a Euclidean space. In an ''n''-dimensional Euclidean space any point can be specified by ''n'' real numbers. These are called the coordinates of the point. An ''n''-dimensional differentiable manifold is a generalisation of ''n''-dimensional Euclidean space. In a manifold it may only be possible to defi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frame Fields In General Relativity
A frame field in general relativity (also called a tetrad or vierbein) is a set of four pointwise-orthonormal vector fields, one timelike and three spacelike, defined on a Lorentzian manifold that is physically interpreted as a model of spacetime. The timelike unit vector field is often denoted by \vec_0 and the three spacelike unit vector fields by \vec_1, \vec_2, \, \vec_3. All tensorial quantities defined on the manifold can be expressed using the frame field and its dual coframe field. Frame were introduced into general relativity by Albert Einstein in 1928 and by Hermann Weyl in 1929.Hermann Weyl "Elektron und Gravitation I", ''Zeitschrift Physik'', 56, p330–352, 1929. The index notation for tetrads is explained in tetrad (index notation). Physical interpretation Frame fields of a Lorentzian manifold always correspond to a family of ideal observers immersed in the given spacetime; the integral curves of the timelike unit vector field are the worldlines of these observe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bonnor Beam
In general relativity, the Bonnor beam is an exact solution which models an infinitely long, straight beam of light. It is an explicit example of a pp-wave spacetime. It is named after William B. Bonnor who first described it. The Bonnor beam is obtained by matching together two regions: * a uniform plane wave interior region, which is shaped like the world tube of a solid cylinder, and models the electromagnetic and gravitational fields inside the beam, * a vacuum exterior region, which models the gravitational field outside the beam. On the "cylinder" where they meet, the two regions are required to obey matching conditions stating that the metric tensor and extrinsic curvature tensor must agree. The interior part of the solution is defined by : \left\{ \begin{array}{lr} ds^2 = -8 \pi m r^2 \, du^2 - 2 \, du \, dv + dr^2 + r^2 \, d\theta^2,\\-\infty < u,\\ v < \infty,\\ 0 < r < r_0,\\ -\pi < \theta < \pi.\\ \end{array} \right. This i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monochromatic Electromagnetic Plane Wave
In general relativity, the monochromatic electromagnetic plane wave spacetime is the analog of the monochromatic plane waves known from Maxwell's theory. The precise definition of the solution is quite complicated but very instructive. Any exact solution of the Einstein field equation which models an electromagnetic field, must take into account all gravitational effects of the energy and mass of the electromagnetic field. Besides the electromagnetic field, if no matter and non-gravitational fields are present, the Einstein field equation and the Maxwell field equations must be solved ''simultaneously''. In Maxwell's field theory of electromagnetism, one of the most important types of an electromagnetic field are those representing electromagnetic microwave radiation. Of these, the most important examples are the electromagnetic plane waves, in which the radiation has planar wavefronts moving in a specific direction at the speed of light. Of these, the most basic is the monoch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gravitational Plane Wave
In general relativity, a gravitational plane wave is a special class of a vacuum pp-wave spacetime, and may be defined in terms of Brinkmann coordinates by ds^2= (u)(x^2-y^2)+2b(u)xyu^2+2dudv+dx^2+dy^2 Here, a(u), b(u) can be any smooth functions; they control the waveform of the two possible polarization modes of gravitational radiation. In this context, these two modes are usually called the plus mode and cross mode, respectively. See also *vacuum solution (general relativity) In general relativity, a vacuum solution is a Lorentzian manifold whose Einstein tensor vanishes identically. According to the Einstein field equation, this means that the stress–energy tensor also vanishes identically, so that no matter or non ... {{relativity-stub Exact solutions in general relativity ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electromagnetism
In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge. It is the second-strongest of the four fundamental interactions, after the strong force, and it is the dominant force in the interactions of atoms and molecules. Electromagnetism can be thought of as a combination of electricity and magnetism, two distinct but closely intertwined phenomena. In essence, electric forces occur between any two charged particles, causing an attraction between particles with opposite charges and repulsion between particles with the same charge, while magnetism is an interaction that occurs exclusively between ''moving'' charged particles. These two effects combine to create electromagnetic fields in the vicinity of charge particles, which can exert influence on other particles via the Lorentz force. At high energy, the weak force and electromagnetic force are unified as a single electroweak force. The electromagnetic force is responsible for many o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plane Wave
In physics, a plane wave is a special case of wave or field: a physical quantity whose value, at any moment, is constant through any plane that is perpendicular to a fixed direction in space. For any position \vec x in space and any time t, the value of such a field can be written as :F(\vec x,t) = G(\vec x \cdot \vec n, t), where \vec n is a unit-length vector, and G(d,t) is a function that gives the field's value as dependent on only two real parameters: the time t, and the scalar-valued displacement d = \vec x \cdot \vec n of the point \vec x along the direction \vec n. The displacement is constant over each plane perpendicular to \vec n. The values of the field F may be scalars, vectors, or any other physical or mathematical quantity. They can be complex numbers, as in a complex exponential plane wave. When the values of F are vectors, the wave is said to be a longitudinal wave if the vectors are always collinear with the vector \vec n, and a transverse wave if they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pp-wave Spacetime
In general relativity, the pp-wave spacetimes, or pp-waves for short, are an important family of exact solutions of Einstein's field equation. The term ''pp'' stands for ''plane-fronted waves with parallel propagation'', and was introduced in 1962 by Jürgen Ehlers and Wolfgang Kundt. Overview The pp-waves solutions model radiation moving at the speed of light. This radiation may consist of: * electromagnetic radiation, * gravitational radiation, * massless radiation associated with Weyl fermions, * ''massless'' radiation associated with some hypothetical distinct type relativistic classical field, or any combination of these, so long as the radiation is all moving in the ''same'' direction. A special type of pp-wave spacetime, the plane wave spacetimes, provide the most general analogue in general relativity of the plane waves familiar to students of electromagnetism. In particular, in general relativity, we must take into account the gravitational effects of the energy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isometry Group
In mathematics, the isometry group of a metric space is the set of all bijective isometries (i.e. bijective, distance-preserving maps) from the metric space onto itself, with the function composition as group operation. Its identity element is the identity function. The elements of the isometry group are sometimes called motions of the space. Every isometry group of a metric space is a subgroup of isometries. It represents in most cases a possible set of symmetries of objects/figures in the space, or functions defined on the space. See symmetry group. A discrete isometry group is an isometry group such that for every point of the space the set of images of the point under the isometries is a discrete set. In pseudo-Euclidean space the metric is replaced with an isotropic quadratic form; transformations preserving this form are sometimes called "isometries", and the collection of them is then said to form an isometry group of the pseudo-Euclidean space. Examples * The isometry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isotropy Group
In mathematics, a group action on a space is a group homomorphism of a given group into the group of transformations of the space. Similarly, a group action on a mathematical structure is a group homomorphism of a group into the automorphism group of the structure. It is said that the group ''acts'' on the space or structure. If a group acts on a structure, it will usually also act on objects built from that structure. For example, the group of Euclidean isometry, Euclidean isometries acts on Euclidean space and also on the figures drawn in it. For example, it acts on the set of all triangles. Similarly, the group of symmetries of a polyhedron acts on the vertex (geometry), vertices, the edge (geometry), edges, and the face (geometry), faces of the polyhedron. A group action on a vector space is called a Group representation, representation of the group. In the case of a finite-dimensional vector space, it allows one to identify many groups with subgroups of , the group of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
