Open AccessPhysicsMathematics
DOI: 10.1063/1.1665613

tlooto Summary

The Einstein tensorGij and its generalizations are displayed explicitly, with only metric and Einstein tensors independent in 4D space.

Abstract

The Einstein tensorGij is symmetric, divergence free, and a concomitant of the metric tensorgab together with its first two derivatives. In this paper all tensors of valency two with these properties are displayed explicitly. The number of independent tensors of this type depends crucially on the dimension of the space, and, in the four dimensional case, the only tensors with these properties are the metric and the Einstein tensors.

Citation format

LOVELOCK, D. The einstein tensor and its generalizations. JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS, 1971, 12: 498–501.