An Evolving Spacetime Metric Induced by a ‘Static’ Source

Abstract

In a series of recent papers we developed a formulation of general relativity in which spacetime and the dynamics of matter evolve with a Poincaré invariant parameter τ. In this paper, we apply the formalism to derive the metric induced by a ‘static’ event evolving uniformly along its t-axis at the spatial origin x=0. The metric is shown to vary with t and τ, as well as spatial distance r, taking its maximum value for a test particle at the retarded time τ=t−r/c. In the resulting picture, an event localized in space and time produces a metric field similarly localized, where both evolve in τ. We first derive this metric as a solution to the wave equation in linearized field theory, and discuss its limitations by studying the geodesic motion it produces for an evolving event. By then examining this solution in the 4+1 formalism, which poses an initial value problem for the metric under τ-evolution, we clarify these limitations and indicate how they may be overcome in a solution to the full nonlinear field equations.