Scribd
Upload
63 views

Solutions To Assignments 01

1. The document discusses coordinate transformations and Christoffel symbols. 2. Under a general coordinate transformation xμ → yμ(x), the Christoffel symbols Γμνλ transform as Γμνλ → ∂yμ(∂xμ/∂yλ)(∂xν/∂yν)Γμνλ + ∂yμ(∂2xμ/∂yλ∂yν). 3. The velocity vector ẋμ transforms as a vector under coordinate transformations, as ẋμ → (∂yμ/∂xμ)ẋμ, but the acceleration vector ẍ

Uploaded by

Jose Luis Leon
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
63 views

Solutions To Assignments 01

1. The document discusses coordinate transformations and Christoffel symbols. 2. Under a general coordinate transformation xμ → yμ(x), the Christoffel symbols Γμνλ transform as Γμνλ → ∂yμ(∂xμ/∂yλ)(∂xν/∂yν)Γμνλ + ∂yμ(∂2xμ/∂yλ∂yν). 3. The velocity vector ẋμ transforms as a vector under coordinate transformations, as ẋμ → (∂yμ/∂xμ)ẋμ, but the acceleration vector ẍ

Uploaded by

Jose Luis Leon
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Solutions to Assignments 01

1. Coordinate Transformations and Metrics


(a) If we express d
A
in terms of the new coordinates we nd that d
A
=

A
x

dx

,
plugging this into the invariant line element yield the desired result :
ds
2
=
AB
d
A
d
B
=
AB

A
x

B
x

dx

dx

= g

dx

dx

(1)
(b) There are (at least) 2 ways to do this calculation. The longer one is to use the
result of (a) to compute the components of the metric in the new coordinates
one by one,
g
TT
=
AB

A
T

B
T
=
_
t
T
_
2
+
_
x
T
_
2
= X
2
cosh(T)
2
+ X
2
sinh(T)
2
= X
2
(2)
g
TX
=
AB

A
T

B
X
=
t
T
t
X
+
x
T
x
X
= X cosh(T) sinh(T) + X sinh(T) cosh(T) = 0 (3)
g
XX
=
AB

A
X

B
X
=
_
t
X
_
2
+
_
x
X
_
2
= sinh(T)
2
+ cosh(T)
2
= 1 (4)
to conclude that the metric in Rindler coordinates is
ds
2
= X
2
dT
2
+ dX
2
(5)
Alternatively (and this is frequently the calculationally more ecient way of
proceeding, even though in the present example it makes hardly any dier-
ence), one can simply calculate dt and dx in terms of the new coordinates
once and for all, and then plug the result into the line element to read o the
components of the metric:
t = X sinh T , x = X cosh T
dt = dX sinh T + X cosh T dT , dx = dX cosh T + X sinh T dT
dt
2
+ dx
2
= (dX sinh T + X cosh T dT)
2
+ (dX cosh T + X sinh T dT)
2
= X
2
dT
2
+ dX
2
.
(6)
1
(c) We show that g

is the inverse of g

by checking that g

. To
show this we will use the fact that

B
x

C
=
B
C
.
g

=
AB

A
x

B
x


CD
x

C
x

D
=
AB

A
x

B
C

CD
x

D
=
AB

BD

A
x

D
=
D
A

A
x

D
=

A
x

A
=

(7)
Note that because the metric is also used to raise or lower indices we therefore
have : g

= g

.
2. The Free Particle in Arbitrary Coordinates
We plug the metric and the inverse metric into

to check that :

=
1
2
g

(g
,
+ g
,
g
,
) (8)
=
1
2

AB
x

A
x

B
_

x

CD

C
x

D
x

_
+
_
(9)
=

AB
2
x

A
x

B
_

CD
_

D
x

C
x

C
x

D
x

_
+
_
(10)
=
1
2

AB
x

A
x

B
_
2
CD

C
x

D
x

_
(11)
=
x

A
_
_
_

AB

C
B

CD
. .
=
A
D

D
x

_
_
_
=
x

A
x

(12)
3. Christoffel Symbols and Coordinate Transformations
(a) We want to show how the Christoel symbols transform under a general
change of coordinate of the form x

(x), more precisely we need to


compute

in terms of the x

coordinate. As we can see below, the rst


step will be to understand how partial derivative of the metric transforms.
1
2
g

)
1
2
g

_
=

(13)
For this purpose, we have to use the fact that the metric is a rank 2 ten-
sor. This species the way in which it will transform under the change of
coordinate :
g

=
x

=
y

(14)
We also recall that partial derivative are covariant vectors, which means that
they transform like :

=
x

(15)
2
Using (13) and (14), we are able to determine how partial derivative of the
metric transforms :

=
x

=
x

+ g

_
x

_
(16)
where the second term can be developed as :
g

_
x

_
= g

_
x

_
= g

_
x

2
x

+
x

2
x

_
(17)
If we use the fact that the metric is symmetric : g

= g

, we get :

=
x

+g

_
x

2
x

+
x

2
x

_
(18)
Using this expression three times and relabeling the indices, one can write :
_

_
=
x

_
+ g

_
x

2
x

+
x

2
x

+2
x

2
x

2
x

2
x

_
(19)
But again, because the metric is symmetric in and we are just left with :
_

_
=
x

_
+2g

2
x

(20)
Now substituting this last expression together with (13) in (12), we nally
get the desired result :

=
1
2
_
y

_
x

_
+ 2g

2
x

_
=
y

1
2
g

_
+
y

2
x

=
y

+
y

2
x

(21)
3
(b) As we can see, x

is a vector and therefore transforms like :


x

=
d
d
x

d
d
y

=
y

d
d
x

=
y

(22)
But x

is not :
x

=
d
d
x

d
d
y

=
d
d
_
y

_
=
y

+

2
y

=
y

_
x

+
x

2
y

_
(23)
Still, if we look at the transformation of the following combination x

, it turns out to be a vector as we will see. Using


(20), (21) and (22) one can write :
y

=
y

+

2
y

+
_
y

+
y

2
x

_
y

(24)
which is :
=
y

_
x

+
x

2
y

+

2
x

_
(25)
Now to show that the two last terms indeed cancel out, we compute the
partial derivative of
y

, one obtains :
0 =

x

_
y

_
=
x

2
y

+
y

=
x

2
y

+
y

2
x

(26)
so that (24) gives the desired result : the combination x

trans-
forms like a vector.
4

You might also like