Wednesday, 2 October 2019

general relativity - Relationship between Coordinate Time and Proper Time


While I was reading Ta-Pei Cheng's book on relativity, I was unable to derive the correct relationship between coordinate time $dt$ (the book defined it as the time measured by a clock located at $r=\infty$ from the source of gravity) and proper time $d\tau$ from the definition of metric.


The book states that for a weak and static gravitational field, $g_{00}(r)=-\left(1+\frac{2\Phi(r)}{c^2}\right)$ (with the metric signature $(-1,1,1,1)$ and $\Phi(r)$ is the gravitational potential) and the proper time $d\tau=\sqrt{-g_{00}}\,dt$.


From the gravitational redshift result I know that the above result is correct (in a more unambiguous form $d\tau=\sqrt{-g_{00}(r_\tau)}\,dt$).


However, if I simply use the formula for spacetime interval $ds^2=g_{\mu\nu}dx^\mu dx^\nu$ (assuming two clocks that measure proper time and coordinate time are at rest relative to each other), I have


$$ ds^2=g_{00}(r_\tau)c^2d\tau^2=g_{00}(r_t)c^2dt^2=-c^2dt^2\\ \implies \sqrt{-g_{00}(r_\tau)}\,d\tau=dt$$ This suggests that time flows faster with a lower gravitational potential which is incorrect.


I'm not sure why the above method lead to a wrong conclusion, did I misunderstood the the definition of proper time, coordinate time or spacetime interval?





Update:



  1. One mistake I've made is letting $ds^2=g_{00}(r_\tau)c^2d\tau^2$, which should be $ds^2=-c^2d\tau^2$ by definition. However, I'm confused about two definitions of $ds^2$ now. $ds^2=-c^2d\tau^2=g_{\mu\nu}dx^\mu dx^\nu$, this suggests that $g_{00}$ is always $-1$ for the frame that measures proper time, but in my problem $g_{00}$ is a function of $r$ which is only equals to $-1$ if $r=\infty$, how could two both be true at the same time?

  2. Assuming $ds^2=-c^2d\tau^2$ is true, as all the answers pointed out that $d\tau=\sqrt{-g_{00}}\,dt$. But by the definition of $g_{00}$ and $ds^2$ the $g_{00}$ used here must be $-(1+2\Phi(r_t)/c^2)=-1$, but I want $g_{00}$ here to be $-(1+2\Phi(r_\tau)/c^2)$ so that $$d\tau=\sqrt{-g_{00}}\,dt=\sqrt{1+2\Phi(r_\tau)/c^2}\,dt\approx (1+\Phi(r_\tau)/c^2)\,dt\\ \implies \frac{d\tau-dt}{dt}=\frac{\Phi(r_\tau)}{c^2}=\frac{\Phi(r_\tau)-\Phi(r_t)}{c^2}$$


Please correct me if I've made any mistakes!




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