Spacetime metric from local and linear electrodynamics: a new axiomatic scheme

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dc.creatorHehl, Friedrich W.
dc.creatorObukhov, Yuri N.
dc.date2005-08-07
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T10:28:11Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T10:28:11Z
dc.descriptionWe consider spacetime to be a 4-dimensional differentiable manifold that can be split locally into time and space. No metric, no linear connection are assumed. Matter is described by classical fields/fluids. We distinguish electrically charged from neutral matter. Electric charge and magnetic flux are postulated to be conserved. As a consequence, the inhomogeneous and the homogeneous Maxwell equations emerge expressed in terms of the excitation H and the field strength F, respectively. H and F are assumed to fulfill a local and linear "spacetime relation" with 36 constitutive functions. The propagation of electromagnetic waves is considered under such circumstances in the geometric optics limit. We forbid birefringence in vacuum and find the light cone including its Lorentzian signature. Thus the conformally invariant part of the metric is recovered. If one sets a scale, one finds the pseudo-Riemannian metric of spacetime.
dc.descriptionLatex, 27 pages, 8 eps figures (better quality files are available from the authors). Invited lecture, 339th WE Heraeus Seminar on Special Relativity, Potsdam, Germany, 13-18 February 2005, To be published in the Proceedings
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0508024
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0508024
dc.identifierLect.NotesPhys.702:163-187,2006
dc.identifierdoi:10.1007/3-540-34523-X_7
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/177363
dc.subjectGeneral Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
dc.subjectHigh Energy Physics - Theory
dc.subjectClassical Physics
dc.titleSpacetime metric from local and linear electrodynamics: a new axiomatic scheme
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