The inverse of spacetime curvature?

Click For Summary
SUMMARY

This discussion centers on the concept of spacetime curvature, specifically the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic curvature as described in general relativity. Participants explore the implications of negative mass on spacetime, suggesting that if spacetime were extrinsically curved, it would be undetectable. The analogy of a trampoline is used to illustrate how gravitational effects can be perceived differently depending on the observer's frame of reference. Key insights include the assertion that positive mass leads to positive intrinsic curvature, while negative mass would result in negative intrinsic curvature.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of general relativity and its principles
  • Familiarity with intrinsic and extrinsic curvature concepts
  • Basic knowledge of gravitational effects on mass
  • Awareness of the trampoline analogy in physics
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the implications of negative mass in theoretical physics
  • Study the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic curvature in detail
  • Examine the role of black holes in spacetime curvature and light deflection
  • Explore advanced concepts in general relativity, such as tidal forces and isometries
USEFUL FOR

Physics students, theoretical physicists, and anyone interested in the complexities of spacetime and gravitational theory.

LilPhysics
Messages
6
Reaction score
1
Let's say you can bend a paper...how about bending it upward. a slope
I'm saying as we saw spactime in 3d...we all know how it looks..the lines are attracted toward Earth but why doesn't it deflects them and maybe negative mass is linked with it.
In other words, someone under the trampoline pushing you up instead of you bending the trampoline.Instead curving...it deflects
Maybe black holes deflects light through spacetime and hence the problem is what occupies the void of 4D if deflected
 
Physics news on Phys.org
LilPhysics said:
Let's say you can bend a paper
That type of bending is called extrinsic curvature. General relativity deals only with intrinsic curvature. If you draw a triangle on a piece of paper then the angles sum to 180 deg regardless of how you fold it.
 
LilPhysics said:
...someone under the trampoline pushing you up instead of you bending the trampoline...
Someone living within the 2D trampoline sheet wouldn't notice any difference between these two symmetrical cases, because the sheet's intrinsic geometry (distances within the sheet) would be the same. That is what matters in this analogy, not how the curved 2D surface is oriented within the 3D embedding space.

See also:
http://demoweb.physics.ucla.edu/content/10-curved-spacetime
 
Then what if spacetime deal with extrinsic... Anyone watched the 3D visualized Spacetime curve of earth. You kr what it looked like but what happens when it deflects that's what I'm saying. You might want to google 3d spacetime...what if spacetime is extrinsic also , there must be a link for it with negative mass, -ve mass's inertia is different and so can the curvature be different
 
here
 

Attachments

  • download.jpeg
    download.jpeg
    13.1 KB · Views: 681
LilPhysics said:
Let's say you can bend a paper...how about bending it upward. a slope
I'm saying as we saw spactime in 3d...we all know how it looks..the lines are attracted toward Earth but why doesn't it deflects them and maybe negative mass is linked with it.
In other words, someone under the trampoline pushing you up instead of you bending the trampoline.Instead curving...it deflects
Maybe black holes deflects light through spacetime and hence the problem is what occupies the void of 4D if deflected

As John Baez describes here: https://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/0103044.pdf, the content of Einstein's theory of gravity can be understood in terms of what happens to a ball of dust, initially spherical and initially at rest in some locally inertial reference frame. If you release this ball in a gravitational field, its shape will be warped; it will become stretched in some directions and compressed in other directions. If the ball is in outer space, and is not passing through any matter (or energy), the volume will remain unchanged. It doesn't matter that there might be a gravitational source outside the ball; if the ball passes near the Earth, its shape will change but its volume will not. But if there is a source of gravity inside the ball, then the volume will contract. The fact that there is no negative mass means that if the ball is in freefall (no forces acting on it other than gravity), its volume can only contract or remain the same through interaction with gravity, it can never expand.
 
LilPhysics said:
Then what if spacetime deal with extrinsic...
We would have no way to notice any difference.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: LilPhysics
LilPhysics said:
Then what if spacetime deal with extrinsic
As @jbriggs444 mentioned, if spacetime is extrinsically curved in some higher dimensional embedding space then we would never know. All that we can detect is the intrinsic curvature, there is no way, even in theory, to measure the extrinsic curvature.

Edit: just noticed this
LilPhysics said:
there must be a link for it with negative mass, -ve mass's inertia is different and so can the curvature be different
No need to bring in extrinsic curvature here. Positive mass leads to positive intrinsic curvature (triangle has >180 deg). Negative mass leads to negative intrinsic curvature (triangle has <180 deg). Or at least it does if it exists, which is doubtful.
 
Last edited:
  • #10
Regarding the trampoline example, being pushed up or pushed down, am i to understand that since a simple change of coordinates can make the two situations identical (i.e., reverse the positive direction on your axes and suddenly “up” becomes “down”), then there isn’t any “curved spacetime,” that is, no tidal forces that are present in one situation but not the other?
 
  • #11
Sorcerer said:
Regarding the trampoline example, being pushed up or pushed down, am i to understand that since a simple change of coordinates can make the two situations identical (i.e., reverse the positive direction on your axes and suddenly “up” becomes “down”), then there isn’t any “curved spacetime,” that is, no tidal forces that are present in one situation but not the other?
Yes. It is an obvious isometry. However, that is not to say that there is no curvature. It is to say that the intrinsic curvature is identical in the two cases.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Dale
  • #12
Sorcerer said:
Regarding the trampoline example, being pushed up or pushed down, am i to understand that since a simple change of coordinates can make the two situations identical (i.e., reverse the positive direction on your axes and suddenly “up” becomes “down”), then there isn’t any “curved spacetime,”
The trampoline has intrinsic curvature, but it represents space, not spacetime.
 
  • #13
Thanks guys a lot, btw I'm just a student about to sit for A level exams and it's my first year plus physics is DOPE
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Dale

Similar threads

  • · Replies 19 ·
Replies
19
Views
988
  • · Replies 14 ·
Replies
14
Views
2K
  • · Replies 28 ·
Replies
28
Views
2K
  • · Replies 25 ·
Replies
25
Views
3K
  • · Replies 13 ·
Replies
13
Views
2K
  • · Replies 23 ·
Replies
23
Views
4K
  • · Replies 27 ·
Replies
27
Views
7K
  • · Replies 14 ·
Replies
14
Views
4K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
2K
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
2K