Friday, March 13, 2015

Particle energy in general relativity?


Assume that a particle is moving with four-velocity uμ through a spacetime with metric gμν (+++ signature).


Let us also assume that there exists a time-like vector field tμ=(1,0,0,0).


Is it generally true that the energy E of a particle is given by the following expression:


E=mtμuμ=mgμνtνuμ=mg00u0=mg00dtdτ?


In the special case that tμ is a Killing vector and uμ is tangent to a geodesic then E is a constant of motion of the particle. But the energy of a particle need not remain constant in the general case - is that true?



If E=mtμuμ is indeed the particle mass/energy then does it act as a source of spacetime curvature given that it depends on the 00-component of the spacetime metric ifself? I suppose that is not a problem.




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