Momentum in general relativity: local versus quasilocal conservation laws
Bibliographic record
Abstract
We construct a general relativistic conservation law for linear and angular momentum for matter and gravitational fields in a finite volume of space that does not rely on any spacetime symmetries . This work builds on our previous construction of a general relativistic energy conservation law with the same features (McGrath et al 2012 Class. Quantum Grav. 29 215012). Our approach uses the Brown and York (1993 Phys. Rev. D 47 1407–19) quasilocal stress–energy–momentum tensor for matter and gravitational fields, plus the concept of a rigid quasilocal frame (RQF) introduced in (Epp et al 2009 Class. Quantum Grav. 26 035015; 2012 Classical and Quantum Gravity: Theory, Analysis, and Applications (Nova Science)). The RQF approach allows us to construct, in a generic spacetime, frames of reference whose boundaries are rigid (their shape and size do not change with time), and that have precisely the same six arbitrary time-dependent degrees of freedom as the accelerating and tumbling rigid frames we are familiar with in Newtonian mechanics. These RQFs, in turn, give rise to a completely general conservation law for the six components of momentum (three linear and three angular) of a finite system of matter and gravitational fields. We compare in detail this quasilocal RQF approach to constructing conservation laws with the usual local one based on spacetime symmetries, and discuss the shortcomings of the latter. These RQF conservation laws lead to a deeper understanding of physics in the form of simple, exact, operational definitions of gravitational energy and momentum fluxes, which in turn reveal, for the first time, the exact, detailed mechanisms of gravitational energy and momentum transfer taking place in a wide variety of physical phenomena, including a simple falling apple. As a concrete example, we derive a general relativistic version of Archimedes' law that we apply to understand electrostatic weight and buoyant force in the context of a Reissner–Nordström black hole.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.006 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.005 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".