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Positive-definite metric and the problem of the charged particle in the Einstein-Maxwell theory

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:6042161
The Einstein-Maxwell theory, with sources, but without current terms in the energy-momentum tensor, is shown to admit a particle-like solution. The solution has a timelike Killing vector as one of its symmetries; this Killing vector is not hypersurface orthogonal, so that the metric contains off-diagonal terms which cannot be removed by coordinate transformations. A second Killing vector, akin to a rotation about the z-axis, is also admitted, so that the putative particle appears to have just sufficient structure to represent a classical charged particle with spin. It is shown that the Einstein-Maxwell theory, with the type of sources and symmetries discussed, has a natural interpretation in terms of a Riemannian V/sub 4/ with a positive-definite metric. The geometry of this V/sub 4/ is simpler both conceptually and formally than the geometry of the Einstein-Maxwell theory, with or without sources, in an indefinite V/sub 4/.
Research Organization:
North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh (USA)
OSTI ID:
6042161
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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