Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T13:44:10.359Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Dimensionally dependent divergences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

Gregory W. Horndeski
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Abstract

It is well known that in an even dimensional Riemannian space there always exists a particular scalar density which is such that its associated Euler–Lagrange tensor vanishes identically. In this note we show that each of these scalar densities can be expressed as the ordinary divergence of a contravariant vector density. Furthermore, there exists an entire class of contravariant vector densities which enjoy this property. These results are discussed with particular reference to the general theory of relativity.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1972

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

(1)Buchdahl, H. A.On functionally constant invariants of the Riemann tensor. Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 68 (1970), 179185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2)Lovelock, D.The Einstein tensor and its generalizations. J. Mathematical Phys. 12 (1971), 498501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(3)Lovelock, D.The Euler–Lagrange expression and degenerate Lagrange densities. J. Austral. Math. Soc. (1972). To appear.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(4)Buchdahl, H. A.On the nonexistence of a class of static Einstein spaces asymptotic at infinity to a space of constant curvature. J. Mathematical Phys. 1 (1960), 537541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(5)Lovelock, D.The Lanczos identity and its generalizations. Atti Accad. Naz. Lincei (VIII) 42 (1967), 187194.Google Scholar
(6)Lovelock, D.Dimensionally dependent identities. Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 68 (1970), 345350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar