English

On reference frames and the definition of space in a general spacetime

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2014-12-22 v1

Abstract

First, we review local concepts defined previously. A (local) reference frame F\mathrm{F} can be defined as an equivalence class of admissible spacetime charts (coordinate systems) having a common domain U\mathrm{U} and exchanging by a spatial coordinate change. The associated (local) physical space is made of the world lines having constant space coordinates in any chart of the class. Second, we introduce new, global concepts. The data of a non-vanishing global vector field v\,v\, defines a global "reference fluid". The associated global physical space is made of the maximal integral curves of that vector field. Assume that, in any of the charts which make some reference frame F\mathrm{F}: (i) any of those integral curves ll has constant space coordinates xjx^j, and (ii) the mapping l(xj)l\mapsto (x^j) is one-to-one. In that case, the local space can be identified with a part (an open subset) of the global space.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1310.8128,
  title  = {On reference frames and the definition of space in a general spacetime},
  author = {Mayeul Arminjon},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1310.8128},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

10 pages. Text of a talk given at the Third International Conference on Theoretical Physics "Theoretical Physics and its Applications", Moscow, June 24-28, 2013

R2 v1 2026-06-22T01:57:21.881Z