GEODESICS IN LORENTZIAN MANIFOLDS

<p>We present an extension of Geodesics in Lorentzian Manifolds (Semi-Riemannian Manifolds or pseudo-Riemannian Manifolds ). A geodesic on a Riemannian manifold is, locally, a length minimizing curve. On the other hand, geodesics in Lorentzian manifolds can be viewed as a distance between ``events''. They are no longer distance minimizing (instead, some are distance maximizing) and our goal is to illustrate over what time parameter geodesics in Lorentzian manifolds are defined. If all geodesics in timelike or spacelike or lightlike are defined for infinite time, then the manifold is called ``geodesically complete'', or simply, ``complete''. It is easy to show that the magnitude of a geodesic is constant, so one can characterize geodesics in terms of their causal character: if this magnitude is negative, the geodesic is called timelike. If this magnitude is positive, then it is spacelike. If this magnitude is 0, then it is called lightlike or null. Geodesic completeness can be considered by only considering one causal character to produce the notions of spacelike complete, timelike complete, and null or lightlike complete. We illustrate that some of the notions are inequivalent.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts in Mathematics

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mathematics

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Botros, Amir A

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Corey Dunn

• geodesic completeness
• Lorentzian manifolds
• pseudo-Riemannian manifolds
• Geometry and Topology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/275

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu:etd-1305