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Relativity: Geodesics and Local Flatness

The document discusses key concepts in relativity including: 1) The local flatness theorem which states that at any point in spacetime there exists coordinates that make the metric and Christoffel symbols vanish, allowing surfaces to be considered locally flat. 2) Geodesics, which are the generalization of the shortest path between two points in curved spacetime. The geodesic equation describes the path of free particles under the influence of gravity. 3) Extremizing the proper time along a path using a Lagrangian formulation also derives the geodesic equation, providing an intuitive method to understand geodesics.

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14 views2 pages

Relativity: Geodesics and Local Flatness

The document discusses key concepts in relativity including: 1) The local flatness theorem which states that at any point in spacetime there exists coordinates that make the metric and Christoffel symbols vanish, allowing surfaces to be considered locally flat. 2) Geodesics, which are the generalization of the shortest path between two points in curved spacetime. The geodesic equation describes the path of free particles under the influence of gravity. 3) Extremizing the proper time along a path using a Lagrangian formulation also derives the geodesic equation, providing an intuitive method to understand geodesics.

Uploaded by

Ashesh
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Relativity Notes

Local flatness theorem

Given a spacetime (with a manifold and a metric), at a point p in M, there exists a coordinate
transform such that the metric at P reduces to nu(ab), and the derivative vanishes.

Mathematically, this implies that a coordinate system exists such that the Christoffel vanishes – this
is called an inertial frame. Physically, this allows us to consider surfaces as locally flat and as such,
the equivalence principle can be applied.

Geodesics

Previously there was no method to compare a vector at p to a vector at q. This is solved using
parallel transport, which consists of moving the vector to different points, keeping it constant.
However, this is clearly not path invariant.

The geodesic is the generalisation of the shortest path, and it is the path between two points in
which the tangent vector to the curve is parallel transported. To find the equation of this curve, we
can derive the geodesic equation. Given a curve x a(λ), we require dT/dλ=0, where T is the tangent
vector. In flat space we could define this as

dT ∂ T ∂ x a
= =0
dλ ∂ x a ∂ λ
In curved space, analogously,

dTa ⅆ xa ⅆ xb
dλ
=T a ∇a T b=
ⅆλ
∇a
ⅆλ ( )
=0

We therefore have

ⅆ xa ∂ ⅆ xb b c
a dx d x
+ Γ bc =0
ⅆλ ∂ x a ⅆλ dλ dλ

d2 xa b c
a dx d x
+ Γ bc =0
d λ2 dλ dλ
Where the last step uses the chain rule, and relabels indices. This is the geodesic equation. The
geodesic hypothesis states that free particles follow the aforementioned equation of motion, which
represents motion under the influence of gravity. Here, the Christoffel symbol loosely represents the
‘acceleration due to gravity’. Evidently this is non-tensorial as in local frames we cn render the effect
null. Finally, the character of the path remains invariant, i.e. the term g abuaub stays invariant along
the path, where u represents the 4-velocity of the particle.

d a b d xc a b
( gab u u )= ∇ c gab u u =0
dλ dλ
The last step is trivial to check.

A more intuitive and equally useful method is the idea of extremising the proper time τ.

Let us vary the lagrangian


S=∫ L dλ

Using

1
L= gab ua ub
2
Varying, we have
b
1 d xa d xb c d xa d (δ x )
δS =∫ δL dλ= ∫ −∂c gab
2 (dλ dλ
δ x −2 g ab
dλ dλ )
dλ

b
d xa d xb c d xa d ( δ x )
¿∫ ( −1
2
∂c gab
dλ dλ
δ x −gab
dλ dλ )
¿ ∫❑

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