Frame Fields in General Relativity

Frame Fields In General Relativity

In general relativity, a frame field (also called a tetrad or vierbein) is a set of four orthonormal vector fields, one timelike and three spacelike, defined on a Lorentzian manifold that is physically interpreted as a model of spacetime. The timelike unit vector field is often denoted by and the three spacelike unit vector fields by . All tensorial quantities defined on the manifold can be expressed using the frame field and its dual coframe field.

Frames were introduced into general relativity by Hermann Weyl in 1929.

The general theory of tetrads (and analogs in dimensions other than 4) is described in the article on Cartan formalism; the index notation for tetrads is explained in tetrad (index notation).

Read more about Frame Fields In General Relativity:  Physical Interpretation, Specifying A Frame, Specifying The Metric Using A Coframe, Relationship With Metric Tensor, in A Coordinate Basis, Comparison With Coordinate Basis, Nonspinning and Inertial Frames, Example: Static Observers in Schwarzschild Vacuum, Example: Lemaître Observers in The Schwarzschild Vacuum, Example: Hagihara Observers in The Schwarzschild Vacuum, Generalizations

Famous quotes containing the words frame, fields, general and/or relativity:

    Adjoining a refreshment stand ... is a small frame ice house ... with a whitewashed advertisement on its brown front stating, simply, “Ice. Glory to Jesus.” The proprietor of the establishment is a religious man who has seized the opportunity to broadcast his business and his faith at the same time.
    —For the State of New Jersey, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    If at first you don’t succeed, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.
    —W.C. Fields (1879–1946)

    You have lived longer than I have and perhaps may have formed a different judgment on better grounds; but my observations do not enable me to say I think integrity the characteristic of wealth. In general I believe the decisions of the people, in a body, will be more honest and more disinterested than those of wealthy men.
    Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

    By an application of the theory of relativity to the taste of readers, to-day in Germany I am called a German man of science, and in England I am represented as a Swiss Jew. If I come to be regarded as a bête noire the descriptions will be reversed, and I shall become a Swiss Jew for the Germans and a German man of science for the English!
    Albert Einstein (1879–1955)