APS » PROLA » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 82 » Issue 22

Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 4384 - 4387 (1999)

Fixing Einstein's Equations

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Arlen Anderson and James W. York, Jr.
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3255

Received 18 February 1999

Einstein's equations are not a well-posed system of evolution equations for the spatial metric, except in special coordinates. A remarkable first-order symmetrizable hyperbolic formulation is found that is surprisingly close to Einstein's original equations yet does not require such coordinates. This system has only physical characteristic directions, the light cone and the normal to the spacelike foliation, and serves to unify all the physical hyperbolic formulations.


©1999 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v82/p4384
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.4384
PACS: 04.20.Cv, 04.25.-g

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