Dierential Geometry

Fall Semester 2014

Matthew Johnson
Dierential Geometry: Tutorial 2
August 27, 2014
Problem 1
You are given a vector V with components:
V

= (1, 2, 0, 1) (1)
a one-form with components:

= (1, 0, 3, 1) (2)
and a metric tensor g

with components
g

1 1 0 0
1 1 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 0 0 1

(3)
a) Find the determinant, trace, and inverse of the metrc tensor.
b) Using the metric, determine if the vector V is timelike, spacelike, or null.
c) Using the inverse metric, construct a vector W from the one-form and determine its
components.
d) What is the real number resulting from acting on V ?
Problem 2
You are given the following tensors (in the two-dimensional (x, y) space):
S = x dx, T = x
x
dy (4)
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a) What is the rank of S and T?
b) What are the components of S and T?
c) What are the components of S T? What is the rank of S T?
d) What are the components of T(S)? What is the rank of T(S)?
Problem 3: Carving up Minkowski space
a) Rindler space is dened as the portion of Minkowski space satisfying: t
2
+ r
2
= a
2
. The
coordinates on Rindler space are dened by: t = a sinh, r = a cosh , = , = . Find the
metric in Rindler space. Are surfaces of constant a and = 0 timelike or spacelike?
b) Milne space is dened as the portion of Minkowski space satisfying t
2
+ r
2
= a
2
. The
coordinates on Milne space are dened by: t = a cosh , r = a sinh , = , = . Find the
metric in Milne space. Are surfaces of constant a timelike or spacelike?
c) Consider the tensor:
T = dt dt + p (dx dx + dy dy + dz dz) , (5)
where and p are constants. Write this tensor in terms of the Milne 1-form basis. How does your
result simplify when p = ?
d) Show that a Lorentz boost in the x-direction in Minkowski space corresponds to a translation
in for points along the x-axis in Milne space.
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