Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In general relativity, the metric tensor (in this context often abbreviated to simply the metric) is the fundamental object of study.The metric captures all the geometric and causal structure of spacetime, being used to define notions such as time, distance, volume, curvature, angle, and separation of the future and the past.
Hermann Minkowski (1864–1909) found that the theory of special relativity could be best understood as a four-dimensional space, since known as the Minkowski spacetime.. In physics, Minkowski space (or Minkowski spacetime) (/ m ɪ ŋ ˈ k ɔː f s k i,-ˈ k ɒ f-/ [1]) is the main mathematical description of spacetime in the absence of gravitation.
The metric tensor is an example of a tensor field. The components of a metric tensor in a coordinate basis take on the form of a symmetric matrix whose entries transform covariantly under changes to the coordinate system. Thus a metric tensor is a covariant symmetric tensor.
Proper time is defined in general relativity as follows: Given a pseudo-Riemannian manifold with a local coordinates x μ and equipped with a metric tensor g μν, the proper time interval Δτ between two events along a timelike path P is given by the line integral [12]
Writing the coordinates in column vectors and the Minkowski metric η as a square matrix ′ = [′ ′ ′ ′], = [], = [] the spacetime interval takes the form (superscript T denotes transpose) = = ′ ′ and is invariant under a Lorentz transformation ′ = where Λ is a square matrix which can depend on parameters.
The metric tensor g is symmetric, and locally reduces to the Minkowski tensor in free fall. ... The interval of a curve in spacetime is = ...
Specifying a metric tensor is part of the definition of any Lorentzian manifold. The simplest way to define this tensor is to define it in compatible local coordinate charts and verify that the same tensor is defined on the overlaps of the domains of the charts. In this article, we will only attempt to define the metric tensor in the domain of ...
where is known as the metric tensor. In special relativity, the metric tensor is the ... In the above, ds 2 is known as the spacetime interval. This inner product is ...