A space-time calculus based on pairs of null directions
- 1 July 1973
- journal article
- research article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Journal of Mathematical Physics
- Vol. 14 (7), 874-881
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1666410
Abstract
A formalism is presented for the treatment of space‐times, which is intermediate between a fully covariant approach and the spin‐coefficient method of Newman and Penrose. With the present formalism, a pair of null directions only, rather than an entire null tetrad, is singled out at each point. The concept of a spin‐ and boost‐weighted quantity is defined, the formalism operating entirely with such quantities. This entails the introduction of modified differentiation operators, one of which represents a natural extension of the definition of the operator which had been introduced earlier by Newman and Penrose. For suitable problems, the present formalism should lead to considerable simplifications over that achieved by the standard spin‐coefficient method.
Keywords
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