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When I say "SR" in this post, I mean the set of classical and quantum theories of particles and fields in Minkowski spacetime.
I'm trying to come up with a list of topics in SR that can be dealt with in a better way when we have defined Minkowski spacetime as a manifold instead of as a vector space (or an affine space). Maybe there aren't that many? The ones I can think of right away are
I'm trying to come up with a list of topics in SR that can be dealt with in a better way when we have defined Minkowski spacetime as a manifold instead of as a vector space (or an affine space). Maybe there aren't that many? The ones I can think of right away are
- Born rigidity (I've seen a definition that uses Lie derivatives, and I haven't seen one that would work with a spacetime that doesn't have a manifold structure)
- A classification of types of fields we might be interested in. (Sections of various vector bundles over Minkowski spacetime).
- The solid rotating disc, if we need to analyze it much more deeply than anyone wants to (except one person I know )
- Definitions of measurable quantities that we'd prefer to be explicitly coordinate independent (i.e. proper time).
- A coordinate independent definition of geodesics and inertial motion.