Pseudo-Riemannian manifold - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

In differential geometry, a pseudo-Riemannian manifold (also called a semi-Riemannian manifold) is a generalization of a Riemannian manifold

Riemannian manifold

In Riemannian geometry and the differential geometry of surfaces, a Riemannian manifold or Riemannian space is a real differentiable manifold M in which each tangent space is equipped with an inner product g, a Riemannian metric, which varies smoothly from point to point...

. It is one of many mathematical objects named after Bernhard Riemann

Bernhard Riemann

Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann was an influential German mathematician who made lasting contributions to analysis and differential geometry, some of them enabling the later development of general relativity....

. The key difference between a Riemannian manifold and a pseudo-Riemannian manifold is that on a pseudo-Riemannian manifold the metric tensor

Metric tensor

In the mathematical field of differential geometry, a metric tensor is a type of function defined on a manifold which takes as input a pair of tangent vectors v and w and produces a real number g in a way that generalizes many of the familiar properties of the dot product of vectors in Euclidean...

need not be positive-definite

Definite bilinear form

In mathematics, a definite bilinear form is a bilinear form B over some vector space V such that the associated quadratic formQ=B \,...

. Instead a weaker condition of nondegeneracy is imposed.

Manifolds

In differential geometry, a differentiable manifold

Differentiable manifold

A differentiable manifold is a type of manifold that is locally similar enough to a linear space to allow one to do calculus. Any manifold can be described by a collection of charts, also known as an atlas. One may then apply ideas from calculus while working within the individual charts, since...

is a space which is locally similar to a Euclidean space

Euclidean space

In mathematics, Euclidean space is the Euclidean plane and three-dimensional space of Euclidean geometry, as well as the generalizations of these notions to higher dimensions...

. In an n-dimensional Euclidean space any point can be specified by n real numbers. These are called the coordinates of the point.

An n-dimensional differentiable manifold is a generalisation of n-dimensional Euclidean space. In a manifold it may only be possible to define coordinates locally. This is achieved by defining coordinate patches: subsets of the manifold which can be mapped into n-dimensional Euclidean space.

See Manifold

Manifold

In mathematics , a manifold is a topological space that on a small enough scale resembles the Euclidean space of a specific dimension, called the dimension of the manifold....

, differentiable manifold

Differentiable manifold

, coordinate patch for more details.

Tangent spaces and metric tensors

Associated with each point

in an

-dimensional differentiable manifold

is a tangent space

Tangent space

In mathematics, the tangent space of a manifold facilitates the generalization of vectors from affine spaces to general manifolds, since in the latter case one cannot simply subtract two points to obtain a vector pointing from one to the other....

(denoted

). This is an

-dimensional vector space

Vector space

A vector space is a mathematical structure formed by a collection of vectors: objects that may be added together and multiplied by numbers, called scalars in this context. Scalars are often taken to be real numbers, but one may also consider vector spaces with scalar multiplication by complex...

whose elements can be thought of as equivalence classes of curves passing through the point

.

A metric tensor

Metric tensor

is a non-degenerate, smooth, symmetric, bilinear map which assigns a real number

Real number

In mathematics, a real number is a value that represents a quantity along a continuum, such as -5 , 4/3 , 8.6 , √2 and π...

to pairs of tangent vectors at each tangent space of the manifold. Denoting the metric tensor by

we can express this as

.

The map is symmetric and bilinear so if

are tangent vectors at a point

to the manifold

then we have

for any real number

.

That

is non-degenerate means there are no non-zero

such that

for all

Metric signatures

For an n-dimensional manifold the metric tensor (in a fixed coordinate system) has n eigenvalues. If the metric is non-degenerate then none of these eigenvalues are zero. The signature
Metric signature
The signature of a metric tensor is the number of positive and negative eigenvalues of the metric. That is, the corresponding real symmetric matrix is diagonalised, and the diagonal entries of each sign counted...

of the metric denotes the number of positive and negative eigenvalues, this quantity is independent of the chosen coordinate system by Sylvester's rigidity theorem

Sylvester's law of inertia

Sylvester's law of inertia is a theorem in matrix algebra about certain properties of the coefficient matrix of a real quadratic form that remain invariant under a change of coordinates...

and locally non-decreasing.
If the metric has p positive eigenvalues and q negative eigenvalues then the metric signature is (p, q). For a non-degenerate metric

Definition

A pseudo-Riemannian manifold

is a differentiable manifold

Differentiable manifold

equipped with a non-degenerate, smooth, symmetric metric tensor

Metric tensor

which, unlike a Riemannian metric, need not be positive-definite

Definite bilinear form

In mathematics, a definite bilinear form is a bilinear form B over some vector space V such that the associated quadratic formQ=B \,...

, but must be non-degenerate. Such a metric is called a pseudo-Riemannian metric and its values can be positive, negative or zero.

The signature of a pseudo-Riemannian metric is (p, q) where both p and q are non-negative.

Lorentzian manifold

A Lorentzian manifold is an important special case of a pseudo-Riemannian manifold in which the signature of the metric is (1, n−1) (or sometimes (n−1, 1), see sign convention

Sign convention

In physics, a sign convention is a choice of the physical significance of signs for a set of quantities, in a case where the choice of sign is arbitrary. "Arbitrary" here means that the same physical system can be correctly described using different choices for the signs, as long as one set of...

). Such metrics are called Lorentzian metrics. They are named after the physicist Hendrik Lorentz

Hendrik Lorentz

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz was a Dutch physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pieter Zeeman for the discovery and theoretical explanation of the Zeeman effect...

Applications in physics

After Riemannian manifolds, Lorentzian manifolds form the most important subclass of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds. They are important because of their physical applications to the theory of general relativity

General relativity

General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916. It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics...

.

A principal assumption of general relativity

General relativity

General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916. It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics...

is that spacetime

Spacetime

In physics, spacetime is any mathematical model that combines space and time into a single continuum. Spacetime is usually interpreted with space as being three-dimensional and time playing the role of a fourth dimension that is of a different sort from the spatial dimensions...

can be modeled as a 4-dimensional Lorentzian manifold of signature (3, 1) or, equivalently, (1, 3). Unlike Riemannian manifolds with positive-definite metrics, a signature of (p, 1) or (1, q) allows tangent vectors to be classified into timelike, null or spacelike (see Causal structure

Causal structure

In mathematical physics, the causal structure of a Lorentzian manifold describes the causal relationships between points in the manifold.- Introduction :In modern physics spacetime is represented by a Lorentzian manifold...

Properties of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds

Just as Euclidean space

Euclidean space

In mathematics, Euclidean space is the Euclidean plane and three-dimensional space of Euclidean geometry, as well as the generalizations of these notions to higher dimensions...

can be thought of as the model Riemannian manifold

Riemannian manifold

, Minkowski space

Minkowski space

In physics and mathematics, Minkowski space or Minkowski spacetime is the mathematical setting in which Einstein's theory of special relativity is most conveniently formulated...

with the flat Minkowski metric is the model Lorentzian manifold. Likewise, the model space for a pseudo-Riemannian manifold of signature (p, q) is

with the metric

Some basic theorems of Riemannian geometry can be generalized to the pseudo-Riemannian case. In particular, the fundamental theorem of Riemannian geometry

Fundamental theorem of Riemannian geometry

In Riemannian geometry, the fundamental theorem of Riemannian geometry states that on any Riemannian manifold there is a unique torsion-free metric connection, called the Levi-Civita connection of the given metric...

is true of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds as well. This allows one to speak of the Levi-Civita connection

Levi-Civita connection

In Riemannian geometry, the Levi-Civita connection is a specific connection on the tangent bundle of a manifold. More specifically, it is the torsion-free metric connection, i.e., the torsion-free connection on the tangent bundle preserving a given Riemannian metric.The fundamental theorem of...

on a pseudo-Riemannian manifold along with the associated curvature tensor

Curvature tensor

In differential geometry, the term curvature tensor may refer to:* the Riemann curvature tensor of a Riemannian manifold — see also Curvature of Riemannian manifolds;* the curvature of an affine connection or covariant derivative ;...

. On the other hand, there are many theorems in Riemannian geometry which do not hold in the generalized case. For example, it is not true that every smooth manifold admits a pseudo-Riemannian metric of a given signature; there are certain topological

Topology

Topology is a major area of mathematics concerned with properties that are preserved under continuous deformations of objects, such as deformations that involve stretching, but no tearing or gluing...

obstructions. Furthermore, a submanifold

Submanifold

In mathematics, a submanifold of a manifold M is a subset S which itself has the structure of a manifold, and for which the inclusion map S → M satisfies certain properties. There are different types of submanifolds depending on exactly which properties are required...

does not always inherit the structure of a pseudo-Riemannian manifold; for example, the metric tensor become zero on any light-like curve

Curve

In mathematics, a curve is, generally speaking, an object similar to a line but which is not required to be straight...

Manifolds

Tangent spaces and metric tensors

Metric signatures

Definition

Lorentzian manifold

Applications in physics

Properties of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds

See also