Metric Tensor’s Problem Set Solution

Enrique A. Segura
Classical Mechanics
September 16, 2019

1 Introducing Coordinate System From this equation, we can observe the summation pat-
tern i from 1 to 4 for this coordinate system allowing us to
We start with the defining a position vector as follows: represent the displacement vector as:
⃗ = r1 (x, y, z, t) x̂ + r2 (x, y, z, t)ŷ + r3 (x, y, z, t)ẑ (1)
R
⃗ = ∂q i ∂ ⃗
dR R (15)
Using Einstein notation, we represent the same equa- ∂q i
tion as follows: However, we can also represent the displacement vector
⃗ = ri · êi
R (2) as follows:
The next step is to introduce a new set of coordinates
∂ i
(q 1 , q 2 , q 3 , t). We can express both the old and the new ⃗ =
dR (r · êi )∂q i (16)
set of coordinates as follows: ∂q i
i
⃗ = ∂r ∂q i êi
dR (17)
x = x(q 1 , q 2 , q 3 , t) (3) ∂q i
1 2 3
y = y(q , q , q , t) (4)
1 2 3 I prefer this form because it lends itself useful to calculate
z = z(q , q , q , t) (5)
relevant elements of this system, such as the basis vectors:
q 1 = q 1 (x, y, z, t) (6)
q 2 = q 2 (x, y, z, t) (7) ⃗
⃗λi = ∂ R (18)
3 3
q = q (x, y, z, t) (8) ∂q i
i
t=t (9) ⃗λi = ∂ (ri · êi ) ∂q (19)
∂q i ∂q i
⃗ as fol-
Taking these new coordinates we can express R
lows: ⃗λi = ∂ (ri · êi ) (20)
∂q i
⃗ = r1 (q 1 , q 2 , q 3 , t) x̂ + . . . + r3 (q 1 , q 2 , q 3 , t) ẑ i
R (10) ⃗λi = ∂r êi (21)
∂q i
Provided a position vector we can find the displacement
vector as follows: Using this equation, we show that for ⃗λ1 :
⃗ = dr1 x̂ + dr2 ŷ + dr3 ẑ
dR (11) 1 2 3
⃗λ1 = ∂r x̂ + ∂r ŷ + ∂r ẑ (22)
To show how we can find the appropriate equation on ∂q 1 ∂q 1 ∂q 1
Einstein notation representing displacement, let’s first in-
troduce a function f depending on (x, y, z). We can cal- We can use the same logic to define the canonical basis:
culate its full differential as follows: ⃗λ = {⃗λ1 , ⃗λ2 , ⃗λ3 , ⃗λ4 } (23)
∂f ∂f ∂f
df = dx + dy + dz (12)
∂x ∂y ∂z Having constructed the canonical basis, we can con-
struct an invariant interval length follows:
Let’s use this notion to construct the x̂ component of the
position vector: ⃗ · dR⃗
ds2 = dR (24)
⃗ = r1 (q 1 , q 2 , q 3 , t) x̂ (13)
R ∂r i
∂r j
( 1 1 1 1
) ds2 = ( i ∂q i êi ) ( j ∂q j êj ) (25)
∂q ∂q
⃗ = ∂r dq 1 + ∂r dq 2 + ∂r dq 3 + ∂r dt x̂ (14)
dR
∂q 1 ∂q 2 ∂q 3 ∂t (26)

1
 2

Those expressions above can rearranged into the follow- Which means that by putting this form into the frame-
ing equation: work developed in this write-up:

∂ri ∂rj 1
ds2 = ( ê i ) ( êj )∂q i ∂q j (27) T =p⃗i · p⃗j (37)
∂q i ∂q j 2m
i j
1 ∂r ∂r
Having this equation in this form shows that the ele- T = (m i q˙i ) (m êj j q˙j êj ) (38)
2m ∂q ∂q
ments in parenthesis are elements of the basis of this sys-
tem. Thus, we can yield: 1 ∂ri ∂rj
T = (m i êi ) (m j êj )q˙i q˙j (39)
2m ∂q ∂q
ds2 = ⃗λi · ⃗λj ∂q i ∂q j (28) m2 ⃗ ⃗ ˙i ˙j
T = λi · λj q q (40)
This equation shows us that the mapping of the space in 2m
this coordinate system is directly related to the basis of this m2
T = gij q˙i q˙j (41)
space. We can represent this mapping via the geodesics of 2m
this system represented by the metric: And by simple algebra, we can yield,
gij = ⃗λi · ⃗λj (29) m
T = gij q˙i q˙j (42)
2
Thus, we can bring this together:
Looking at that equation above, its clear we can describe
ds2 = gij ∂q i ∂q j (30) another quantity to study any changes in ⃗v , the accelera-
tion ⃗a of a body follows:

More Physical Quantities d⃗v j

⃗aj = (43)
dt
Having a displacement vector, we can start estimating
∂rj ¨j
more physical parameters of interest - such as the veloc- ⃗aj = q êj (44)
ity of motions, its related momentum and kinetic energy. ∂q j
Let’s start with defining the velocity a body on this system And, as a bonus, if you can calculate either the change
with mass m: of velocity a body experiences during motion on this sys-
dR⃗ ∂ri dq i
= i êi (31) tem, you can measure the change in momentum of the
dt ∂q dt body. Thus we can define the resulting quantity due to
We can represent q˙i = dq i this change : a force.
dt , thus yielding ⃗
v in the canon-
ical coordinates:
∂ri ˙i
⃗vi = q êi (32) pj
d⃗
∂q i = F⃗ j (45)
dt
⃗ = ri · êi ,
And, by remembering that R d ∂rj
m j q˙j êj = F⃗ j (46)
dt ∂q
∂ ⃗
⃗vi = q˙i i R (33) ∂rj
∂q m j q¨j êj = F⃗ j (47)
∂q
And finally, we can put this together to find the momen- (48)
tum of a body on this system as a function of its ⃗v :

p⃗ = m⃗v (34)

We can use the framework built in the previous equa-

tions to define the pj in terms of q j :
j
∂r
p⃗j = m j q˙j êj (35)
∂q

By defining pj we have the final piece to define the ki-

netic energy of this system, T , in its canonical form:
p⃗ · p⃗
T = (36)
2m