andert
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My preferred way to think of momentum is as part of the stress-energy-momentum tensor which is a covariance matrix that becomes diagonal (assuming an orthogonal coordinate system) when the observer and the object are at rest with respect to one another. Momentum forms the time-space components (assuming a symmetric tensor) of the tensor. So we can think of momentum of a massive particle as the flux of its internal energy in the observer's frame. This means that momentum depends on the relative frames of the observer and the object, i.e. it depends on your state of motion.
A fascinating fact is that momentum is conserved in every reference frame even though it changes (covaries) from frame to frame, i.e. in the absence of forces \partial_\mu T^{\mu\nu} = 0 where, e.g., T^{\mu\nu}=mu^\mu u^\nu is the stress-energy-momentum tensor of a basic particle. This is quite different from other properties of particles. For example, for electric current, \partial_\mu J^{\mu} = 0. There's no second Lorentz index on the current. So while the conservation of the stress-energy-momentum tensor says that a Lorentz 4-vector, \partial_\mu u^\mu (mu^\nu), is conserved in an arbitrary frame, the conservation of the electric current only says that a scalar, the rest charge, q, is conserved in every frame.
A fascinating fact is that momentum is conserved in every reference frame even though it changes (covaries) from frame to frame, i.e. in the absence of forces \partial_\mu T^{\mu\nu} = 0 where, e.g., T^{\mu\nu}=mu^\mu u^\nu is the stress-energy-momentum tensor of a basic particle. This is quite different from other properties of particles. For example, for electric current, \partial_\mu J^{\mu} = 0. There's no second Lorentz index on the current. So while the conservation of the stress-energy-momentum tensor says that a Lorentz 4-vector, \partial_\mu u^\mu (mu^\nu), is conserved in an arbitrary frame, the conservation of the electric current only says that a scalar, the rest charge, q, is conserved in every frame.
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