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Title: Physical stress, mass, and energy for non-relativistic matter

Journal Article · · Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States). Center for Quantum Mathematics and Physics (QMAP)
  2. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Cornell Lab. for Accelerator-based Sciences and Education (CLASSE)
  3. Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States). Kadanoff Center for Theoretical Physics
+ Show Author Affiliations

For theories of relativistic matter fields there exist two possible definitions of the stress-energy tensor, one defined by a variation of the action with the coframes at fixed connection, and the other at fixed torsion. These two stress-energy tensors do not necessarily coincide and it is the latter that corresponds to the Cauchy stress measured in the lab. In this note we discuss the corresponding issue for non-relativistic matter theories. We point out that while the physical non-relativistic stress, momentum, and mass currents are defined by a variation of the action at fixed torsion, the energy current does not admit such a description and is naturally defined at fixed connection. Any attempt to define an energy current at fixed torsion results in an ambiguity which cannot be resolved from the background spacetime data or conservation laws. In conclusion, we also provide computations of these quantities for some simple non-relativistic actions.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-13ER41958; SC0009924
OSTI ID:
1465514
Journal Information:
Journal of High Energy Physics (Online), Vol. 2017, Issue 6; ISSN 1029-8479
Publisher:
Springer BerlinCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 9 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (3)

Covariant Poisson’s equation in torsional Newton-Cartan gravity journal April 2019
Newton-Cartan gravity and torsion journal October 2017
Covariant Poisson's equation in torsional Newton-Cartan gravity text January 2019

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Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
Space-Time Symmetries
Differential and Algebraic Geometry
Effective Field Theories