Coordinate conditions

In general relativity, the laws of physics can be expressed in a generally covariant form. In other words,
the description of the world as given by the laws of physics does not depend on our choice of coordinate
systems. However, it is often useful to fix upon a particular coordinate system, in order to solve actual
problems or make actual predictions. A coordinate condition selects such coordinate system(s).

Contents
Indeterminacy in general relativity
Harmonic coordinates
Synchronous coordinates
Other coordinates
Lorentz covariant coordinate conditions
Footnotes

Indeterminacy in general relativity

The Einstein field equations do not determine the metric uniquely, even if one knows what the metric
tensor equals everywhere at an initial time. This situation is analogous to the failure of the Maxwell
equations to determine the potentials uniquely. In both cases, the ambiguity can be removed by gauge
fixing. Thus, coordinate conditions are a type of gauge condition.[1] No coordinate condition is generally
covariant, but many coordinate conditions are Lorentz covariant or rotationally covariant.

Naively, one might think that coordinate conditions would take the form of equations for the evolution of
the four coordinates, and indeed in some cases (e.g. the harmonic coordinate condition) they can be put
in that form. However, it is more usual for them to appear as four additional equations (beyond the
Einstein field equations) for the evolution of the metric tensor. The Einstein field equations alone do not
fully determine the evolution of the metric relative to the coordinate system. It might seem that they
would since there are ten equations to determine the ten components of the metric. However, due to the
second Bianchi identity of the Riemann curvature tensor, the divergence of the Einstein tensor is zero
which means that four of the ten equations are redundant, leaving four degrees of freedom which can be
associated with the choice of the four coordinates. The same result can be derived from a Kramers-
Moyal-van-Kampen expansion of the Master equation (using the Clebsch–Gordan coefficients for
decomposing tensor products).

Harmonic coordinates
A particularly useful coordinate condition is the harmonic condition (also known as the "de Donder
gauge"):
Here, gamma is a Christoffel symbol (also known as the "affine connection"), and the "g" with
superscripts is the inverse of the metric tensor. This harmonic condition is frequently used by physicists
when working with gravitational waves. This condition is also frequently used to derive the post-
Newtonian approximation.

Although the harmonic coordinate condition is not generally covariant, it is Lorentz covariant. This
coordinate condition resolves the ambiguity of the metric tensor by providing four additional
differential equations that the metric tensor must satisfy.

Synchronous coordinates
Another particularly useful coordinate condition is the synchronous condition:

and

Synchronous coordinates are also known as Gaussian coordinates.[2] They are frequently used in
cosmology.[3]

The synchronous coordinate condition is neither generally covariant nor Lorentz covariant. This
coordinate condition resolves the ambiguity of the metric tensor by providing four algebraic
equations that the metric tensor must satisfy.

Other coordinates
Many other coordinate conditions have been employed by physicists, though none as pervasively as those
described above. Almost all coordinate conditions used by physicists, including the harmonic and
synchronous coordinate conditions, would be satisfied by a metric tensor that equals the Minkowski
tensor everywhere. (However, since the Riemann and hence the Ricci tensor for Minkowski coordinates
is identically zero, the Einstein equations give zero energy/matter for Minkowski coordinates; so
Minkowski coordinates cannot be an acceptable final answer.) Unlike the harmonic and synchronous
coordinate conditions, some commonly used coordinate conditions may be either under-determinative or
over-determinative.

An example of an under-determinative condition is the algebraic statement that the determinant of the
metric tensor is −1, which still leaves considerable gauge freedom.[4] This condition would have to be
supplemented by other conditions in order to remove the ambiguity in the metric tensor.

An example of an over-determinative condition is the algebraic statement that the difference between the
metric tensor and the Minkowski tensor is simply a null four-vector times itself, which is known as a
Kerr-Schild form of the metric.[5] This Kerr-Schild condition goes well beyond removing coordinate
ambiguity, and thus also prescribes a type of physical space-time structure. The determinant of the metric
tensor in a Kerr-Schild metric is negative one, which by itself is an under-determinative coordinate
condition.[4][6]
When choosing coordinate conditions, it is important to beware of illusions or artifacts that can be
created by that choice. For example, the Schwarzschild metric may include an apparent singularity at a
surface that is separate from the point-source, but that singularity is merely an artifact of the choice of
coordinate conditions, rather than arising from actual physical reality.[7]

If one is going to solve the Einstein field equations using approximate methods such as the post-
Newtonian expansion, then one should try to choose a coordinate condition which will make the
expansion converge as quickly as possible (or at least prevent it from diverging). Similarly, for numerical
methods one needs to avoid caustics (coordinate singularities).

Lorentz covariant coordinate conditions

If one combines a coordinate condition which is Lorentz covariant, such as the harmonic coordinate
condition mentioned above, with the Einstein field equations, then one gets a theory which is in some
sense consistent with both special and general relativity. Among the simplest examples of such
coordinate conditions are these:

1.
2.
where one can fix the constant k to be any convenient value.

Footnotes
1. Salam, Abdus et al. Selected Papers of Abdus Salam, (https://books.google.com/books?id=
Bw4FUKdDbaUC&pg=RA1-PA391&dq=%22metric+tensor%22+and+%22coordinate+condit
ions%22) page 391 (World Scientific 1994).
2. Stephani, Hans and Stewart, John. General Relativity, (https://books.google.com/books?id=
aUZNx_j2musC&pg=PA20&dq=synchronous+and+coordinate+conditions&num=100) page
20 (Cambridge University Press 1990).
3. C.-P. Ma and E. Bertschinger (1995). "Cosmological perturbation theory in the synchronous
and conformal Newtonian gauges". Astrophys. J. 455: 7–25. arXiv:astro-ph/9506072 (http
s://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9506072). Bibcode:1995ApJ...455....7M (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.
edu/abs/1995ApJ...455....7M). doi:10.1086/176550 (https://doi.org/10.1086%2F176550).
4. Pandey, S.N. “On a Generalized Peres Space-Time,” (http://www.new.dli.ernet.in/rawdataup
load/upload/insa/INSA_2/20005a83_1213.pdf) Indian Journal of Pure and Applied
Mathematics (1975) citing Moller, C. The Theory of Relativity (Clarendon Press 1972).
5. Chandrasekhar, S. The Mathematical Theory of Black Holes, (https://books.google.com/boo
ks?id=LBOVcrzFfhsC&pg=PA302&dq=%22Kerr+Schild%22+and+%22null+vector%22&nu
m=100) page 302 (Oxford University Press, 1998). Generalizations of the Kerr-Schild
conditions have been suggested; e.g. see Hildebrandt, Sergi. “Kerr-Schild and Generalized
Metric Motions,” (https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0209059v1) page 22 (Arxiv.org 2002).
6. Stephani, Hans et al. Exact Solutions of Einstein's Field Equations, (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=SiWXP8FjTFEC&pg=PA485&dq=%22Kerr-Schild%22+and+%22determinant+o
f+the+metric%22&num=100) page 485 (Cambridge University Press 2003).
7. Date, Ghanashyam. “Lectures on Introduction to General Relativity” (https://www.imsc.res.i
n/eprints/16/2/SERC-02_GR_Lectures.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20110720
130820/https://www.imsc.res.in/eprints/16/2/SERC-02_GR_Lectures.pdf) 2011-07-20 at the
Wayback Machine, page 26 (Institute of Mathematical Sciences 2005).
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