Understanding Papapetrou's Spinning Test Particles in GR

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The discussion focuses on the paper "Spinning Test Particles in General Relativity" by Papapetrou, specifically addressing the motivation behind the definitions of worldline coordinates ##X^{\alpha}## and arbitrary spacetime coordinates ##x^{\alpha}##. The participants clarify that the energy-momentum tensor ##\mathfrak{T}^{\mu \nu} = \sqrt{-g} T^{\mu \nu}## plays a crucial role in the equations governing the gravitational field, drawing parallels to electrodynamics through the concept of multipole expansions. They emphasize the significance of higher moments in determining the structure of particles, distinguishing between single-pole and pole-dipole particles based on the vanishing of integrals involving the energy-momentum tensor.

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I'd appreciate some clarification of this passage in the paper Spinning test particles in general relativity by Papapetrou,

1630061195931.png


The definition is easy enough to understand, but what's the motivation? ##X^{\alpha}## are the coordinates of points on the worldline whilst ##x^{\alpha}## are presumably arbitrary spacetime coordinates (of points near the worldline).

n.b. ##\mathfrak{T}^{\mu \nu} = \sqrt{-g} T^{\mu \nu}## and\begin{align*}
\nabla_{\nu} T^{\mu \nu} = \partial_{\nu} T^{\mu \nu} + \Gamma^{\nu}_{\sigma \nu} T^{\mu \sigma} + \Gamma^{\mu}_{\sigma \nu} T^{\sigma \nu} &= 0 \\ \\

\implies \dfrac{1}{\sqrt{-g}} \partial_{\nu} \left( \sqrt{-g} T^{\mu \nu} \right) + \Gamma^{\mu}_{\sigma \nu} T^{\sigma \nu} &= 0\\

\partial_{\nu} \left( \sqrt{-g} T^{\mu \nu} \right) + \Gamma^{\mu}_{\sigma \nu} \sqrt{-g} T^{\sigma \nu} &= 0 \\

\partial_{\nu} \mathfrak{T}^{\mu \nu} + \Gamma^{\mu}_{\sigma \nu}\mathfrak{T}^{\sigma \nu} &= 0
\end{align*}
 
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It looks like a Cartesian multipole expansion similar as in electrodynamics, where you have the electric current density ##J^{\mu}## as a source, while here it's of course the energy-momentum tensor as a source of the gravitational field.

BTW: The scans via JSTOR are much better in quality:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/98893
 
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ergospherical said:
I'd appreciate some clarification of this passage in the paper Spinning test particles in general relativity by Papapetrou,

View attachment 288176

The definition is easy enough to understand, but what's the motivation? ##X^{\alpha}## are the coordinates of points on the worldline whilst ##x^{\alpha}## are presumably arbitrary spacetime coordinates (of points near the worldline).
If beside \int d^3x \sqrt{-g} T^{\mu\nu} \neq 0, you have a vanishing higher moments, \int d^3x \sqrt{-g} \delta x^{\rho}T^{\mu\nu} = 0 for all \rho, \mu, \nu, then the object has no structure, i.e., a single-pole particle. And if the first moment does not vanish, i.e. for some values of the indices, \int d^3x \sqrt{-g} \delta x^{\rho}T^{\mu\nu} \neq 0, the object has a structure, i.e., pole-dipole particle. See equations 6,7 and 8 in
https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...-the-stress-energy-tensor.547502/post-3616065
 
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