Mass and Averaging Procedures for Spherically Symmetric Metric in General Relativity
Harsh Harsh K. Mishra (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
Ana Achúcarro – Mentor (Universiteit Leiden)
B. Janssens – Mentor (TU Delft - Analysis)
B.M. Terhal – Mentor (TU Delft - QCD/Terhal Group)
A.A.F.M. Artaud – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - QN/Artaud Lab)
R.C. Kraaij – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Applied Probability)
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Abstract
In general relativity, mass cannot generally be defined as the volume integral over some density, as it is in Newtonian physics. This thesis investigates this question and how a spherically symmetric spacetime provides the tools to construct a volume integral expression for mass. However, the volume integral for this mass contains no ’curvature factor’, which would normally be expected for volume integral in a general relativistic setting. The static and dust solutions, important special cases of spherically symmetric spacetimes, are reviewed to demonstrate this peculiar property. In addition, we comment on the implications of this mass definition for the averaging procedures in cosmology.