Mueiz's analysis of the rotating disk is incorrect. For this example, the relevant notion of curvature of space is given by a purely spatial metric determined by radar measurements carried out by comoving observers. Here is my derivation of the spatial metric: http://www.lightandmatter.com/html_b...tml#Section3.4 (subsection 3.4.4)
The following FAQ entry and its references may be helpful.
FAQ: How is Ehrenfest's paradox resolved?
As described in [Einstein 1916], the relativistic rotating disk was an example that was influential in leading Einstein to describe gravity in terms of curved spacetime. Einstein writes:
"In a space which is free of gravitational fields we introduce a Galilean system of reference K (x,y,z,t), and also a system of coordinates K' (x',y',z',t') in uniform rotation relative to K. Let the origins of both systems, as well as their axes of Z, permanently coincide. We shall show that for a space-time measurement in the system K' the above definition of the physical meaning of lengths and times cannot be maintained. For reasons of symmetry it is clear that a circle around the origin in the X, Y plane of K may at the same time be regarded as a circle in the X', Y' plane of K'. We suppose that the circumference and diameter of this circle have been measured with a unit measure infinitely small compared with the radius, and that we have the quotient of the two results. If this experiment were performed with a measuring-rod at rest relative to the Galilean system K, the quotient would be π. With a measuring-rod at rest relative to K', the quotient would be greater than π. This is readily understood if we envisage the whole process of measuring from the stationary'' system K, and take into consideration that the measuring-rod applied to the periphery undergoes a Lorentzian contraction, while the one applied along the radius does not."
Einstein's friend Paul Ehrenfest posed the following paradox [Ehrenfest 1909]. Suppose that observer L, in the lab frame, measures the radius of a rigid disk to be r when the disk is at rest, and r' when the disk is spinning. L can also measure the corresponding circumferences C and C'. (When we speak of "radius" and "circumference," we are making use of the fact that the disk is rigid, so that after it spins up it is still a circle. It doesn't fly apart or contort itself like a potato chip.) Because L is in an inertial frame, the spatial geometry does not appear non-Euclidean according to measurements carried out with his meter sticks, and therefore the Euclidean relations C=2πr and C'=2πr' both hold. The disk is rigid, so it doesn't stretch centrifugally, and the only reason for r to differ from r' would be a Lorentz contraction. But the radial lines are perpendicular to their own motion, so they have no length contraction, r=r', implying C=C'. The outer edge of the disk, however, is everywhere tangent to its own direction of motion, so it is Lorentz contracted, and therefore C' is less than C.
The resolution of the paradox is that it rests on the incorrect assumption that a rigid disk can be made to rotate. If a perfectly rigid disk was initially not rotating, one would have to distort it in order to set it into rotation, because once it was rotating its outer edge would no longer have a length equal to 2π times its radius. Therefore if the disk is perfectly rigid, it can never be set into rotation.
Thorough modern analyses are available,[Grøn 1975,Dieks 2009] and in particular it is not controversial that, as claimed in [Einstein 1916], C/r is measured to be *greater* than 2π by an observer in the rotating frame.
A common source of confusion in discussions of Ehrenfest's paradox is the role of the rigid meter-sticks, since it is not clear whether sufficiently rigid meter-sticks can exist, or how to verify that they have remained rigid. This confusion can be avoided simply by replacing the meter-stick measurements with radar measurements.
In connection with these discussions, one often hears about the concept of a Born-rigid object, meaning an object that is subject to prearranged external forces in such a way that observers moving with the object find local, internal radar distances between points on the object to remain constant.[Born 1909] It is kinematically impossible to impart an angular acceleration to a Born-rigid disk,[Grøn 1975] and therefore it is also impossible to do so for any plane figure that encloses a finite area, since it would enclose a disk. The reason for this is that in order to maintain Born-rigidity, the torques would have to be applied simultaneously at all points on the perimeter of the area, but Einstein synchronization (i.e., synchronization by radar) is not transitive in a rotating frame; that is, if A is synchronized with B, and B with C, then C will not be synchronized with A if the triangle ABC encloses a nonzero area and is rotating. (This does not make it impossible to manipulate the rigid meter-sticks as described in [Einstein 1916], since they can be one-dimensional, and therefore need not enclose any area.)
A. Einstein, "The foundation of the general theory of relativity," Annalen der Physik, 49 (1916) 769; translation by Perret and Jeffery available in an appendix to the book at
http://www.lightandmatter.com/genrel/ (PDF version)
P. Ehrenfest, Gleichförmige Rotation starrer Körper und Relativitätstheorie, Z. Phys. 10 (1909) 918, http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Uniform_Rotation_of_Rigid_Bodies_and_the_Theory_of_Relativity
Born, "The theory of the rigid electron in relativistic kinematics." Annalen der Physik 30 (1909) 1–56.
Ø. Grøn, Relativistic description of a rotating disk, Am. J. Phys. 43 (1975) 869
Dieks, "Space, Time, and Coordinates in a Rotating World," in Rizzi and Ruggiero, ed., Relativity in Rotating Frames: Relativistic Physics in Rotating Reference Frames, 2009, http://www.phys.uu.nl/igg/dieks/rotation.pdf