Are There Other Fields in General Relativity Besides the Gravitational Field?

  • Level: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Quarlep
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Field Relativity
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
2 replies · 2K views
Quarlep
Messages
257
Reaction score
4
There is any field in General Relativity(I know gravitational field but it is not that which I mean)
Thanks
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Assuming that you're asking how many fields are used in General Relativity and what are they,I should say that there is nothing in General Relativity which is technically called gravitational field.
The Einstein field equations contain two second-rank tensor fields,Stress-Energy and metric.Stress-Energy is the representative of everything which can cause gravitation,which is just any form of energy,from mass to force fields.
Metric is a property of space which determines its shape and structure.From metric,one can calculate the curvature of space,which here,is our 4-dimensional universe,the Space-Time.
The mechanism is,Stress-Energy tensor field changes the metric tensor field through Einstein field equations and so the shape of the Space-Time is modified by the energy present in it.Then,because everything has to follow the shape of Space-Time as it moves,the motion of objects and even the things which caused the gravitation,is affected.
Although there are other theories for gravitation which use different fields both in number and kind which are not main stream and are used mostly in Quantum Gravity research.
 
Quarlep said:
There is any field in General Relativity(I know gravitational field but it is not that which I mean)

Eh? You're going to have to be more specific than that! There are an infinity of fields in general relativity other than the gravitational field.