Date of Award
12-2023
Degree Type
Report
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Physics
Committee Chair(s)
James Wheeler
Committee
James Wheeler
Committee
Charles Torre
Committee
Mark Riffe
Abstract
In 1972 Ehlers Pirani and Schild, published a paper The geometry of free fall and light propagation. The authors established a constructive set of axioms for building a relativistic space time geometry based on the compatibility of projective and conformal structures. In recent years two papers have been published addressing the validity of these results. The first of these papers by Matveev and Trautman claim to give the necessary and sufficient conditions for the projective and conformal structures to be compatible, and in doing so conclude that the central claim of the EPS paper is wrong. In 2020 Matveev and Scholz produce a follow up paper showing that the assumptions made in the Matveev and Trautman paper were incorrect, and that the EPS paper is in fact true.
Recommended Citation
Atkin, Eli, "Compatibility of Conformal and Projective Structures" (2023). All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present. 7.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/gradreports2023/7
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