中国物理B ›› 1996, Vol. 5 ›› Issue (3): 161-169.doi: 10.1088/1004-423X/5/3/001

• •    下一篇

CONJUGATE POINTS ALONG NULL GEODESICS IN A CLASS OF SPACETIMES

梁灿彬1, 吴月江1, 邝志全2   

  1. (1)Department of Physics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; (2)Institute of Mathematics, Academia Sinica, Beijing 100080, China
  • 收稿日期:1995-04-27 出版日期:1996-03-20 发布日期:1996-03-20
  • 基金资助:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

CONJUGATE POINTS ALONG NULL GEODESICS IN A CLASS OF SPACETIMES

KUANG ZHI-QUAN (邝志全)a, LIANG CAN-BIN (梁灿彬)b, WU YUE-JIANG (吴月江)b   

  1. a Institute of Mathematics, Academia Sinica, Beijing 100080, China; b Department of Physics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
  • Received:1995-04-27 Online:1996-03-20 Published:1996-03-20
  • Supported by:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

摘要: The existence and location of conjugate points along null geodesics in Taub's vacuum spacetime is investigated in detail. It is shown that every null geodesic η not confined in a t-z plane contains two pairs of segments (M,M) and (N, N) such that each point p in M(resp.N) has a unique conjugate point p along η that is located in M (resp. N) and vice versa, and what is more interesting, if p and p are conjugate points along η with p∈J+(p), then p∈I+(p). This presents a realistic example illustrating that there do exist null geodesics emanating from p that can get into I+(p) before meeting a point conjugate to p. All results are generalized to a class of spacetimes.

Abstract: The existence and location of conjugate points along null geodesics in Taub's vacuum spacetime is investigated in detail. It is shown that every null geodesic $\eta$ not confined in a t-z plane contains two pairs of segments ($\mathcal{M}$, $\widetilde{\mathcal{M}}$) and ($\mathcal{N}$ $\widetilde{\mathcal{N}}$) such that each point p in $\mathcal{M}$(resp.$\mathcal{N}$) has a unique conjugate point $\widetilde{p}$ along $\eta$ that is located in $\widetilde{\mathcal{M}}$ (resp. $\widetilde{\mathcal{N}}$) and vice versa, and what is more interesting, if p and $\widetilde{\mathcal{p}}$ are conjugate points along $\eta$ with $\widetilde{\mathcal{p}}$∈J+(p), then $\widetilde{\mathcal{p}}$∈I+(p). This presents a realistic example illustrating that there do exist null geodesics emanating from p that can get into I+(p) before meeting a point conjugate to p. All results are generalized to a class of spacetimes.

中图分类号:  (Classical general relativity)

  • 04.20.-q
02.40.-k (Geometry, differential geometry, and topology)