Series expansion tetrad Fermi coordinates

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the calculations in Fermi normal coordinates, specifically focusing on the series expansion of a rotating tetrad along a central worldline. Participants are examining the mathematical details and implications of the tetrad's expansion to second order in the context of space-like geodesics and parallel transport.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes the need for a rotating tetrad propagated along the central worldline, emphasizing the requirement for calculations to second order in Fermi normal coordinates.
  • The participant references a paper that provides a series expansion but expresses difficulty in reproducing certain calculations, particularly in relation to equations (66) and (68).
  • There is a detailed examination of the differentiation process applied to the tetrad expansion, with a focus on the implications of the geodesic equation and the terms involved in the expansion.
  • Another participant suggests looking at a specific equation (2) and acknowledges a previous oversight regarding Riemann coordinates, indicating a connection to Fermi coordinates.
  • Further discussion touches on the validity of certain equations in Riemann normal coordinates and their applicability to Fermi coordinates, referencing a source (MTW) for clarification.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the vanishing of a specific term in the expansion. There are differing views on the applicability of certain equations to Fermi coordinates, and some participants express uncertainty regarding the implications of their findings.

Contextual Notes

The discussion involves complex mathematical expressions and assumptions that are not fully resolved, particularly concerning the conditions under which certain terms vanish or hold true in the context of Fermi normal coordinates.

WannabeNewton
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Hi all. I'm working on a project that requires me to perform calculations in Fermi normal coordinates to certain orders, mostly 2nd order in the distance along the central worldline orthogonal space-like geodesics. In particular I need a rotating tetrad propagated along the central worldline obeying an arbitrary transport law which is parallel transported along the space-like geodesics so as to generate a tetrad field at each point in the coordinates to 2nd order. I found a very handy paper http://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/0010096.pdf which computes the series expansion I need to arbitrary order but I'm not able to reproduce the calculation fully.

Appendix B of the paper is the relevant section for my question. In (66) the tetrad is expanded in a power series about the central worldline ##\gamma## in terms of the distance ##u## along the space-like geodesics orthogonal to and emanating from the worldline. In (67), ##\xi^{\mu}## is the unit tangent field to each space-like geodesic. The first thing to note is that ##\xi^{\mu}(e_0)_{\mu}|_{u = 0} = 0## by construction hence ##\xi^{\mu}(e_0)_{\mu} = 0## all along the space-like geodesic since both ##\xi^{\mu}## and ##e^{\mu}_0## are parallel transported along the geodesic. Now ## e^{\mu}_0|_{u = 0} = \delta^{\mu}_{0}## so ##\xi^{\mu}(e_0)_{\mu}|_{u = 0} = 0 \Rightarrow \xi^{0}|_{u = 0} = 0## but this does not mean that ##\xi^0 = 0## for all ##u## because ##\xi^{\mu}(e_0)_{\mu} = 0## does not imply ##\xi^{\mu}\delta^0_{\mu} = 0## as is clear both intuitively and from (65). So I will write ##\xi^{i}## in place of ##\xi^{\mu}## below because the final expression involves only ##\xi^{\mu}## and in the end we evaluate at ##u = 0## so we only need to consider the ##\xi^i## terms but you should keep the above in mind.

My first problem then is with (68). We differentiate (67) once with respect to ##\frac{d}{du}## to get [tex]\frac{d^2}{du^2}e^{(\nu)}_{\mu} - \Gamma^{\sigma}_{\mu i, l} e^{(\nu)}_{\sigma} \xi^l \xi^i - \Gamma^{\sigma}_{\mu i}\xi^i \frac{d}{du}e^{(\nu)}_{\sigma} - \Gamma^{\sigma}_{\mu i}e^{(\nu)}_{\sigma} \frac{d \xi^i}{du} \\= \frac{d^2}{du^2}e^{(\nu)}_{\mu} - \Gamma^{\sigma}_{\mu i, l} e^{(\nu)}_{\sigma} \xi^l \xi^i - \Gamma^{\sigma}_{\mu i}\Gamma^{\lambda}_{\sigma l}\xi^i \xi^l e^{(\nu)}_{\lambda} - \Gamma^{\sigma}_{\mu i}e^{(\nu)}_{\sigma} \frac{d \xi^i}{du}\\= \frac{d^2}{du^2}e^{(\nu)}_{\mu} - \Gamma^{\sigma}_{\mu i, l} e^{(\nu)}_{\sigma} \xi^l \xi^i - \Gamma^{\sigma}_{\mu i}\Gamma^{\lambda}_{\sigma l}\xi^i \xi^l e^{(\nu)}_{\lambda} + \Gamma^{\sigma}_{\mu i}e^{(\nu)}_{\sigma} \Gamma^{i}_{l m}\xi^l \xi^m \\ = \frac{d^2}{du^2}e^{(\nu)}_{\mu} - \Gamma^{\nu}_{\mu i, l} \xi^l \xi^i - \Gamma^{\sigma}_{\mu i}\Gamma^{\nu}_{\sigma l}\xi^i \xi^l + \Gamma^{\nu}_{\mu i}\Gamma^{i}_{l m}\xi^l \xi^m = 0[/tex]
where I've used ##\frac{d \xi^i}{du} = -\Gamma^{i}_{lm}\xi^l \xi^m## from the geodesic equation. We thus have [tex]\frac{1}{2!}\frac{d^2 e^{(\nu)}_{\mu}}{du^2}|_{u = 0}u^2 = \frac{1}{2!}(\overset{0}{\Gamma^{\nu}_{\mu i, l}} + \overset{0}{\Gamma^{\sigma}_{\mu i} }\overset{0}{\Gamma^{\nu}_{\sigma l}} - \overset{0}{\Gamma^{\nu}_{\mu m}}\overset{0}{\Gamma^{m}_{i l}})X^i X^l[/tex]
since ##X^i = u \xi^i|_{u = 0}##. As you can see this is clearly not what the paper has in (68). It doesn't have the extra ##- \overset{0}{\Gamma^{\nu}_{\mu m}}\overset{0}{\Gamma^{m}_{i l}}## term. I however do not see how this term necessarily vanishes. Could anyone help me out with this? Why does the aforementioned term vanish in (68)? Thanks in advance.
 
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Look at (2).
 
Haha yes of course, thanks George! I completely skipped over the section on Riemann coordinates and went straight to the section on Fermi coordinates so that was entirely my fault.

To be sure though, (2) is as given valid in Riemann normal coordinates, not necessarily Fermi normal coordinates. But it should hold in Fermi coordinates as well for exactly the same reason, as explained on p.331 of MTW, yes?
 
WannabeNewton said:
for exactly the same reason, as explained on p.331 of MTW, yes?

Didn't have MTW at home on the weekend.

Yes, it looks like it is given by something like the equation before (13.69b), i.e., by using the geodesic equation along the spacelike geodesic for the coordinates ##X^i = u \xi^i|_{u = 0}##.
 
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