Weatherall, James Owen (2017) Conservation, Inertia, and Spacetime Geometry. [Preprint]

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Abstract

As Harvey Brown emphasizes in his book Physical Relativity, inertial motion in general relativity is best understood as a theorem, and not a postulate. Here I discuss the status of the "conservation condition", which states that the energy-momentum tensor associated with non-interacting matter is covariantly divergence-free, in connection with such theorems. I argue that the conservation condition is best understood as a consequence of the differential equations governing the evolution of matter in general relativity and many other theories. I conclude by discussing what it means to posit a certain spacetime geometry and the relationship between that geometry and the dynamical properties of matter.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Weatherall, James Owen weatherj@uci.edu 2016-08-26
Keywords:	Harvey Brown Physical Relativity general relativity Newton-Cartan theory TeVes Unimodular gravity puzzleball view
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Cosmology Specific Sciences > Physics > Fields and Particles Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory General Issues > Structure of Theories
Depositing User:	James Owen Weatherall
Date Deposited:	08 Feb 2017 18:01
Last Modified:	08 Feb 2017 18:01
Item ID:	12798
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Cosmology Specific Sciences > Physics > Fields and Particles Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory General Issues > Structure of Theories
Date:	2017
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/12798

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• Conservation, Inertia, and Spacetime Geometry. (deposited 08 Feb 2017 18:01) [Currently Displayed]
  • Conservation, Inertia, and Spacetime Geometry. (deposited 16 Aug 2017 14:45)

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