Demonstration of relation between geodesics and FLRW metric

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the demonstration of the relationship between geodesics and the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) metric in the context of General Relativity. Participants are exploring the mathematical derivation involving the FLRW metric, Free Fall coordinates, and the equations governing geodesics.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant presents the FLRW metric and expresses difficulty in deriving a specific relation (eq(3)) from the provided equations (eq(1) and eq(2)).
  • Another participant requests to see the work done by the first participant to better understand the issue.
  • A participant attempts to manipulate eq(2) by substituting the definition of the metric and separates terms to explore the implications of the geodesic equation.
  • There is a discussion about neglecting certain terms in the metric expression and how that affects the derivation process.
  • One participant raises a question about transforming a specific term from eq(2) and expresses uncertainty about how to incorporate Free Fall coordinates into the derivation.
  • A later reply expresses frustration over the lack of assistance in the derivation process.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not appear to reach a consensus on the derivation process, and multiple viewpoints regarding the manipulation of equations and the use of coordinates remain evident.

Contextual Notes

Participants are working with complex mathematical expressions and assumptions about the behavior of metrics and coordinates, which may not be fully resolved in the discussion.

fab13
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I am reading a book of General Relativity and I am stuck on a demonstration. If I consider the FLRW metric as :

##\text{d}\tau^2=\text{d}t^2-a(t)^2\bigg[\dfrac{\text{d}r^2}{1-kr^2}+r^2(\text{d}\theta^2+\text{sin}^2\theta\text{d}\phi^2)\bigg]##

with ##g_{tt}=1##, ##\quad g_{rr}=\dfrac{a(t)^2}{1-kr^2}## and ##\quad g_{\theta\theta}=\dfrac{g_{\phi\phi}}{\text{sin}^2\theta}=a(t)^2 r^2##

It is said in this book that, despite of the utility of comoving coordinates, the dependence of time in scale factor ##a(t)## can be better understood if we consider a set of coordinates called "Free Fall coordinates" and noted ##(\tilde{x}^\mu, \mu=0,1,2,3)## with a metric locally Lorentzian near to the origin ##\tilde{x}^{\mu}=0## :

##g_{\mu\nu}=\eta_{\mu\nu}+\dfrac{1}{2}g_{\mu\nu,\alpha\beta}(0)\tilde{x}^{\alpha}\tilde{x}^{\beta}+\,...\quad(eq1)##

with ##\eta_{00}=-\eta_{11}=-\eta_{22}=-\eta_{33}=1\quad\quad## and ##\eta_{\mu\neq\nu}=0##

and ##g_{\mu\nu,\alpha\beta}=\dfrac{\partial^2 g_{\mu\nu}}{\partial \tilde{x}^{\alpha}\partial \tilde{x}^{\beta}}##

Moreover, one takes the expression of classic geodesics :

##\dfrac{\text{d}}{\text{d}\tau}\bigg(g_{\mu\nu}(x)\dfrac{\text{d}x^{\nu}}{\text{d}\tau}\bigg)-\dfrac{1}{2}\dfrac{\partial g_{\lambda\nu}}{\partial x^{\mu}}\dfrac{\text{d}x^{\lambda}}{\text{d}\tau}\dfrac{\text{d}x^{\nu}}{\text{d}\tau}=0\quad\quad\mu=0,1,2,3\quad (eq2)##

The author says that, by applying ##(eq1)## into the relation ##(eq2)##, one gets, at first order, the following relation :

##\dfrac{\text{d}^2 \tilde{x}^{\alpha}}{\text{d}\tau^2} = -\eta^{\alpha\gamma}\bigg[g_{\mu\gamma,\nu\beta}-\dfrac{1}{2}g_{\mu\nu,\gamma\beta}\bigg]\tilde{x}^{\beta}\dfrac{\text{d}\tilde{x}^{\mu}}{\text{d}\tau}\dfrac{\text{d}\tilde{x}^{\nu}}{\text{d}\tau}\quad\quad(eq3)##

I can't manage to obtain the ##eq(3)## from ##eq(1)## and ##eq(2)##, if someone could help me for the details of the demonstration, this would be nice.

Thanks in advance for your help
 
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Please show us what you did get.
 
For the moment, if I put the definition of ##g_{\nu\mu}## into ##eq(2)##, I get :

##\dfrac{\text{d}}{\text{d}\tau}\bigg(g_{\mu\nu}(x)\dfrac{\text{d}x^{\nu}}{\text{d}\tau}\bigg)=\bigg(\dfrac{\text{d}g_{\mu\nu}}{\text{d}\tau}\bigg)\,\dfrac{\text{d}x^{\nu}}{\text{d}\tau}+g_{\mu\nu}\dfrac{\text{d}^2x^{\nu}}{\text{d}\tau^2}\quad\quad eq(4)##

If I separate the two terms on RHS on ##eq(4)## :

##\bigg(\dfrac{\text{d}g_{\mu\nu}}{\text{d}\tau}\bigg)\,\dfrac{\text{d}x^{\nu}}{\text{d}\tau}=\dfrac{\text{d}}{\text{d}\tau}\bigg(\eta_{\mu\nu}+\dfrac{1}{2}g_{\mu\nu,\alpha\beta}(0)\tilde{x}^{\alpha}\tilde{x}^{\beta}\bigg)\dfrac{\text{d}x^{\nu}}{\text{d}\tau}=##

##\dfrac{1}{2}\,g_{\mu\nu,\alpha\beta}(0)\bigg[\dfrac{\text{d}\tilde{x}^{\alpha}}{\text{d}\tau}\,\tilde{x}^{\beta}+\tilde{x}^{\alpha}\,\dfrac{\text{d}\tilde{x}^{\beta}}{\text{d}\tau}\bigg]\dfrac{\text{d}x^{\nu}}{\text{d}\tau}=##

##g_{\mu\nu,\alpha\beta}(0)\bigg[\dfrac{\text{d}\tilde{x}^{\alpha}}{\text{d}\tau}\,\tilde{x}^{\beta}\bigg]\dfrac{\text{d}x^{\nu}}{\text{d}\tau}##

Concerning the second term on RHS of ##eq(4)##, maybe I could write :

##g_{\mu\nu}\dfrac{\text{d}^2x^{\nu}}{\text{d}\tau^2}=\eta_{\mu\nu}\dfrac{\text{d}^2x^{\nu}}{\text{d}\tau^2}## by neglecting the term ##\dfrac{1}{2}g_{\mu\nu,\alpha\beta}(0)\tilde{x}^{\alpha}\tilde{x}^{\beta}## in the expression of ##g_{\mu\nu}##.

Another problem, How can I transform the second term on LHS of ##(eq2)## :

##-\dfrac{1}{2}\dfrac{\partial g_{\lambda\nu}}{\partial x^{\mu}}\dfrac{\text{d}x^{\lambda}}{\text{d}\tau}\dfrac{\text{d}x^{\nu}}{\text{d}\tau}\quad\quad eq(5)## ??

Indeed, it seems that we can deduce from this term the wanted term :

##\dfrac{1}{2}\,\eta^{\alpha\gamma}\,g_{\mu\nu,\gamma\beta}\tilde{x}^{\beta}\dfrac{\text{d}\tilde{x}^{\mu}}{\text{d}\tau}\dfrac{\text{d}\tilde{x}^{\nu}}{\text{d}\tau}##

But ##\tilde{x}## coordinates ("Free Fall coordinates") appear in this last expression instead of "Comobile coordinates" ##x^{\mu}## into ##eq(5)## , so I don't know how to get it ?

Any help is welcome
 
Last edited:
Can't anyone bring a little help ?
 

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