Proving Surface Gravity with Killing's, Hypersurface, Geodesic Equation

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on proving the formula for surface gravity, \(\kappa^2=-\frac{1}{2}(\nabla_{\mu}\chi_{\nu})(\nabla^{\mu}\chi^{\nu})\), utilizing Killing's equation, the hypersurface orthogonality condition, and the geodesic equation. Participants reference Eric Poisson's notes and the book "A Relativist's Toolkit: The Mathematics of Black Hole Mechanics" for guidance. The conversation also explores the relationship between four-acceleration \(a^{\mu}=U^{\mu}\nabla_{\sigma}U^{\mu}\) and the redshift factor \(V\), leading to a deeper inquiry into the covariant derivative's application in this context.

PREREQUISITES
  • Killing's equation in general relativity
  • Hypersurface orthogonality conditions
  • Geodesic equations and their implications
  • Covariant derivatives and their properties
NEXT STEPS
  • Study the application of Killing's equation in black hole mechanics
  • Explore the derivation of the redshift factor \(V\) in static spacetimes
  • Investigate the implications of hypersurface orthogonality in general relativity
  • Review covariant derivative techniques in differential geometry
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Students and researchers in theoretical physics, particularly those focusing on general relativity, black hole mechanics, and differential geometry. This discussion is beneficial for anyone seeking to understand the mathematical foundations of surface gravity and related concepts.

LAHLH
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Could someone point me in the right direction to prove that the surface gravity is given by \kappa^2=-\frac{1}{2}(\nabla_{\mu}\chi_{\nu})(\nabla^{\mu}\chi^{\nu})

I know it involves Killings equation, the hypersurface othog equation and the geodesic equation somehow but I'm not entirely sure where to go from there as I've tried expanding each of these and not really got anywhere.

Thanks
 
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See section 5.2.4 of Eric Poisson's notes,

http://www.physics.uoguelph.ca/poisson/research/agr.pdf,

which evolved into the excellent book, A Relativist's Toolkit: The Mathematics of Black Hole Mechanics.
 
Thanks a lot, just what I was looking for!

While I'm here, I'm also trying to figure out (a few pages later in Carroll ch6 where I was reading about surface gravity), why the four acceleration a^{\mu}=U^{\mu}\nabla_{\sigma}U^{\mu} can be written as a_{\mu}=\nabla_{\mu}\ln{(V)}

Here V is the so called "redshift factor", i.e. if you have a static observer with four velocity proportional to the time translation Killing Vector K then V(x) is the proportionality constant. V=\sqrt{-K_{\mu}K^{\mu}}

He says "as you can easily verify", so I tried to do so and didn't seem to reproduce what he has, I'm not sure if I'm treating the covariant derivative correctly, I'm just assuming the usual chain rules etc apply, because I was pretty sure that I remember they do, but hmm
 
Just out of curiosity; what did you get when you calculated it..?
 
Btw, I got;

\frac{1}{V^{2}}g_{\mu \nu} K^{\mu} K^{\nu}_{;\alpha}}

which sort of looks right..?
 
jarlostensen said:
Btw, I got;

\frac{1}{V^{2}}g_{\mu \nu} K^{\mu} K^{\nu}_{;\alpha}}

which sort of looks right..?

I got exactly this too. Given that U^{\mu}=K^{\mu}/V(x) it looks really close, but I don't know how to massage that into \frac{K^{\sigma}}{V} \nabla_{\sigma}\frac{K^{\mu}}{V}

We have

\frac{1}{V^2}K^{\rho} \nabla_{\mu}K_{\rho}. The K's are currently dotted with each other rather than with the cov deriv, and whilst you can combine the external K and one of the V's to give a U, you can't just take the other V inside the covariant deriv to create another U, so I'm kinda stuck...
 
Anyone know how to do this? or know any books with the same equation so I can double check it is actually given by this formula?
 
LAHLH said:
Anyone know how to do this?

I think that I have done it.
LAHLH said:
The K's are currently dotted with each other rather than with the cov deriv

Use Killing's equation to change this around. I also used the orthogonality of 4-velocity and 4-acceleration,

0 = U^\alpha U^\beta \nabla_\beta U_\alpha .[/itex]
 
Ok, that gets me to;

0 = \frac{K^{\alpha} K^{\beta}}{V^4} ( K_{\alpha;\beta} V - K_{\alpha} V_{;\beta})

Can we have just one more hint please? :smile:
 
  • #10
jarlostensen said:
Ok, that gets me to;

0 = \frac{K^{\alpha} K^{\beta}}{V^4} ( K_{\alpha;\beta} V - K_{\alpha} V_{;\beta})

Can we have just one more hint please? :smile:

To kill the last term, expand

0 = U^\alpha U^\beta \nabla_\beta U_\alpha[/itex]<br /> <br /> in terms of K^\mu and V, explicitly calculate the derivative involved, and use the fact that something symmetric contracted with something antisymmetric gives zero.
 
Last edited:
  • #11
This site has been intermittently down for me the last couple of days and I had actually found a proof coming at this from the a^{\mu}=U^{\mu}\nabla_{\sigma}U^{\mu} direction, but it sounds like exactly the same techniques used here, I'd be happy to write it out if anyone wants to see it explicitly.

Thanks a lot for the replies George, very helpful.
 

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