GEODESICS - PATHS OF LONGEST PROPER TIME

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Post date: 1 Feb 2021.
One of the central problems in general relativity is the determination of
geodesic curves, or just geodesics for short. These are the curves that a free
particle (that is, a particle upon which no force acts, where ’force’ in this
case excludes gravity, since the effects of gravity are felt entirely through
the curvature of space-time) will follow in a curved space-time.
To analyze this problem, it is useful to start, as always, with flat space-
time in special relativity. In this case, a free particle travels in a straight line
with constant velocity. If we look at this particle in its rest frame and place
it at spatial coordinates x = y = z = 0, its world line (in 2-d) is the t axis.
That is, the particle starts off at the origin and just moves up the t axis with
a constant x coordinate of x = 0.
Now suppose we consider another particle that is not free, that is, it is
acted on by some forces and as a result its world line is not a straight line.
Suppose, however, that both particles start off at event A, which is at the
origin at t = 0, and also both pass through the event B at x = 0, t = 1.
The free particle’s world line between these two events is a straight line, as
we’ve said, while the non-free particle’s world line will be some path that
can wander around any way it likes (as long as its speed doesn’t exceed 1),
provided that it comes back to meet the first particle at event B.
An invariant quantity for each particle is the proper time (that is, the time
as measured by a clock that moves with the particle) that elapses between
A and B. In the case of the free particle, the proper time is also the time co-
ordinate in the measurement frame since the particle is at rest, so the proper
time interval ∆τ is just the time interval ∆t = 1. For the other particle, its
proper time will not be the same as ∆t, since the particle has a non-zero
speed for part or all of its world line.
Intuitively, you might think that the non-free particle’s proper time would
be greater than that of the free particle, since the path length of its world line
is larger. However, remember that the invariant interval in special relativity
is calculated using the flat spacetime metric ηij , whose 00 component is
−1, so intuition leads you astray here. In the non-free particle’s frame, its
velocity is zero, so its interval is equal to its own proper time: −ds2 = dτ 2 .
In the free particle’s frame (assuming motion only in the x direction):
1
 GEODESICS - PATHS OF LONGEST PROPER TIME 2

−ds2 = dt2 − dx2 (1)

2 2


= dt 1 − β (2)
Thus the relation between the two time intervals is
p
dτ = 1 − β 2 dt (3)
That is, the proper time interval for the moving particle is less than the
time interval measured in the free particle’s frame, since 0 < β < 1. In
fact, if we integrate this between the times t0 and t1 (the time interval as
measured by the free particle at rest), we get
Z t1 p
∆τ = 1 − β 2 dt (4)
t0
The square root is always between 0 and 1, so the maximum possible
value of this integral is if β = 0 for the entire world line; that is, the particle
is at rest. In other words, the free particle has the maximum proper time of
all possible world lines that connect two events.
If the space-time metric had η00 = +1 instead of −1 (with the other
diagonal components of ηij remaining at +1), then the integral would be
R t1 p
t0 1 + β 2 dt, and then the minimum proper time would occur when β = 0,
which is what our intuition (falsely) told us was true. Thus the non-intuitive
result is purely the result of the metric having a negative time component.
Don’t confuse this result with the time dilation principle, since they are
considering different cases. Time dilation is an effect that occurs when two
different observers (one moving at a speed v relative to the other) measure
the time interval between two events on the same world line. In the current
case, we’re looking at the difference in proper time between two different
world lines (whose endpoints happen to be the same, but the world lines
connecting the events are different), as analyzed in the same inertial frame.
This is why the limits on the integral in 4 are the same for all world lines;
we’re using the same time coordinate t (the time in the free particle’s rest
frame) in every case.
In flat space, then, the geodesic curve between two events is the one
having the largest proper time for an object moving along that curve. The
problem is therefore how to find a curve that maximizes the proper time.
Readers familiar with classical mechanics may recognize this problem as
one that can be solved using the calculus of variations. We won’t go through
the derivation here, but the idea is that if we can identify a function called
the Lagrangian L, which depends on a set of generalized coordinates qi and
 GEODESICS - PATHS OF LONGEST PROPER TIME 3

generalized velocities q̇i (where the dot indicates a time derivative) then we
can define the action as
Z tB
S≡ Ldt (5)
tA

The idea is that we need to minimize the action to find the path actually
travelled by the object in the given time interval, and we do that by varying
the path it follows until we minimize S. It turns out that this leads to the set
of differential equations called the Euler-Lagrange equations
 
d ∂L ∂L
− =0 (6)
dt ∂ q̇i ∂qi
The solutions of these equations give the coordinates and velocities as func-
tions of time; that is, they give the trajectory followed by the object.
In classical mechanics, the Lagrangian is the difference between the kin-
etic and potential energies: L = T − V in those cases where V depends only
on coordinates and not on velocities. In relativity, as we’ve seen above, the
Lagrangian is the proper time interval. (If you haven’t seen this before, you
can take it as god-given at this point. The important thing to understand is
that, to find the path actually followed by an object, we need to find some-
thing we can maximize or minimize (the action in classical mechanics, the
proper time in relativity), and then write that quantity as an integral over
some parameter that describes the path followed.)
We’ve already found the solution of the Lagrangian problem for a free
particle in flat space: the particle travels between the two events in a straight
line at a constant velocity. The fundamental assumption that is made is that
we can generalize this method of solution to curved space-time.
First, we use the fact that the proper time interval ∆τ between two events
A and B is given by integrating the invariant interval over the world line of
the object. That is
Z Bp
∆τ = −ds2 (7)
A

The minus sign occurs because ds2 = dx2 + dy 2 + dz 2 − dt2 , so in the rest
frame of the object ds2 = −dτ 2 .
Now suppose we have a general world path (we’ll call it a ’path’ rather
than a ’line’ since in general it need not be a straight line) that is described
by a parameter σ that ranges from 0 at event A to 1 at event B. That is, all
four coordinates on the world path are functions of σ: xi = xi (σ). Then in
a general curved space-time, we can say, for some general metric gij :
 GEODESICS - PATHS OF LONGEST PROPER TIME 4

ds2 = gij dxi dxj (8)

 i  j 
dx dx
= gij dσ dσ (9)
dσ dσ
dxi dxj 2
= gij dσ (10)
dσ dσ
Then for a given world path, the proper time that elapses along that path as
we move from A to B is
Z 1r
dxi dxj
∆τ = −gij dσ (11)
0 dσ dσ
Remember that both the metric gij and the coordinates are, in general, func-
tions of σ, so they can all vary as we move along the world path. This equa-
tion is in precisely the right form for a Lagrangian treatment. The proper
time interval ∆τ plays the role of the action S above, and the square root
term becomes the Lagrangian L. The parameter σ plays the role of t in the
classical equation.
Before we continue the analysis by plugging this form of the Lagrangian
into 6 to get a differential equation involving the metric and coordinates, it’s
worth looking at an example of a relativistic system that can be analyzed
without the full mathematical toolbox.
Consider an experimental setup in which we fire a laser downwards from
the top of a tower of height z on the Earth’s surface. One of the fundament-
als of general relativity is the principle of equivalence, which states that a
frame at rest in a gravitational field is equivalent to an accelerating frame in
flat space. One way of visualizing this is to think of what it would feel like
to be in an elevator in free space. As the elevator accelerates, you will feel
a force pressing you into the floor in the same way you feel a force pressing
you onto the ground if you stand still on the Earth’s surface.
Applying this principle to our experiment, we see that in the time the
light takes to reach the ground, the lab frame will have ’accelerated’ from
rest to a speed β = gz, where g is the acceleration of gravity. (Remember
we’re using c = 1, so the time t taken to reach the ground is z/c = z.) That
is, the observer on the ground is effectively moving towards the light source
with speed β so the light will appear blue-shifted, with the relation between
the emitted wavelength λe and observed wavelength λ being
s
λ 1−β
= (12)
λe 1+β
(For a blue-shift, we must have λ < λe .)
 GEODESICS - PATHS OF LONGEST PROPER TIME 5

If β  1, we can approximate this by

s     
1−β 1 1
≈ 1− β 1+ − (β) (13)
1+β 2 2
= 1 − β + O β2


(14)
≈ 1 − gz (15)
Therefore

λ
1− ≈ gz (16)
λe
λe − λ
≈ gz (17)
λe
The ground observer measures the time interval dt = λ/c = λ between suc-
cessive crests of the light wave. Since this is the same light wave as that
emitted by the laser, the time interval between successive crests as meas-
ured at the laser must be dT = λe = λλe λ = λλe dt ≈ 1−gz
1
dt ≈ (1 + gz) dt.
Now suppose that we fire a clock upwards from the ground, and that at
a height of z it has a speed v. Due to time dilation, the proper time dτ
between two infinitesimally close events measured by this moving clock
will be shorter than √ the interval dT measured by a clock at rest at height
z according to dτ = 1 − v 2 dT . (Remember that moving clocks run slow,
so the elapsed time on the moving clock is less than on the laser’s clock.)
Therefore, the proper time for the clock that travels from the ground up to
the laser is related to the time measured by the clock on the ground by
p
dτ = 1 − v 2 dT (18)
p
≈ 1 − v 2 (1 + gz) dt (19)
 
1 2
≈ 1 − v (1 + gz) dt (20)
2
 
1 2
≈ 1 − v + gz dt (21)
2
This gives us the Lagrangian as

1
L = 1 − v 2 + gz (22)
2
1
= 1 − ẋ2 + ẏ 2 + ż 2 + gz


(23)
2
 GEODESICS - PATHS OF LONGEST PROPER TIME 6

We can now write out the Lagrangian differential equations from 6:

d ∂L ∂L
− = −ẍ = 0 (24)
dt ∂ ẋ ∂x
d ∂L ∂L
− = −ÿ = 0 (25)
dt ∂ ẏ ∂y
d ∂L ∂L
− = −z̈ − g = 0 (26)
dt ∂ ż ∂z
The solutions are

x (t) = x1 t + x0 (27)
y (t) = y1 t + y0 (28)
1
z (t) = − gt2 + z1 t + z0 (29)
2
where x0 , x1 and so on are constants of integration. The motion is there-
fore the standard parabolic trajectory, with constant speed in the x and y
directions and the parabolic motion in the z direction.
P INGBACKS
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