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:

    I frame no hypotheses; for whatever is not deduced from the phenomena is to be called a hypothesis; and hypotheses, whether metaphysical or physical, whether of occult qualities or mechanical, have no place in experimental philosophy.
    Isaac Newton (1642–1727)

    I respect not his labors, his farm where everything has its price, who would carry the landscape, who would carry his God, to market, if he could get anything for him; who goes to market for his god as it is; on whose farm nothing grows free, whose fields bear no crops, whose meadows no flowers, whose trees no fruit, but dollars; who loves not the beauty of his fruits, whose fruits are not ripe for him till they are turned to dollars. Give me the poverty that enjoys true wealth.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    The general fact is that the most effective way of utilizing human energy is through an organized rivalry, which by specialization and social control is, at the same time, organized co-operation.
    Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)

    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)