English

On the differential geometry of curves in Minkowski space

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2009-11-11 v1 Differential Geometry

Abstract

We discuss some aspects of the differential geometry of curves in Minkowski space. We establish the Serret-Frenet equations in Minkowski space and use them to give a very simple proof of the fundamental theorem of curves in Minkowski space. We also state and prove two other theorems which represent Minkowskian versions of a very known theorem of the differential geometry of curves in tridimensional Euclidean space. We discuss the general solution for torsionless paths in Minkowki space. We then apply the four-dimensional Serret-Frenet equations to describe the motion of a charged test particle in a constant and uniform electromagnetic field and show how the curvature and the torsions of the four-dimensional path of the particle contain information on the electromagnetic field acting on the particle.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.gr-qc/0601002,
  title  = {On the differential geometry of curves in Minkowski space},
  author = {J. B. Formiga and C. Romero},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:gr-qc/0601002},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

10 pages. Typeset using REVTEX