Redshifts and Killing Vectors
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
2009-11-11 v1
Abstract
Courses in introductory special and general relativity have increasingly become part of the curriculum for upper-level undergraduate physics majors and master's degree candidates. One of the topics rarely discussed is symmetry, particularly in the theory of general relativity. The principal tool for its study is the Killing vector. We provide an elementary introduction to the concept of a Killing vector field, its properties, and as an example of its utility apply these ideas to the rigorous determination of gravitational and cosmological redshifts.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.gr-qc/0508125,
title = {Redshifts and Killing Vectors},
author = {Alex Harvey and Engelbert L. Schucking and Eugene J. Surowitz},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:gr-qc/0508125},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
16 Latex pages, 6 postscript figures, submitted to Am. J. Phys