corner
corner

Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 231101 (2003) [4 pages]

Relativistic Chaos is Coordinate Invariant

Download: PDF (97 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

Adilson E. Motter*
Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Nöthnitzer Strasse 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany

Received 5 May 2003; published 4 December 2003

The noninvariance of Lyapunov exponents in general relativity has led to the conclusion that chaos depends on the choice of the space-time coordinates. Strikingly, we uncover the transformation laws of Lyapunov exponents under general space-time transformations and we find that chaos, as characterized by positive Lyapunov exponents, is coordinate invariant. As a result, the previous conclusion regarding the noninvariance of chaos in cosmology, a major claim about chaos in general relativity, necessarily involves the violation of hypotheses required for a proper definition of the Lyapunov exponents.

© 2003 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.231101
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.231101
PACS:
98.80.Jk, 04.20.–q, 05.45.–a

*Electronic address: motter@mpipks-dresden.mpg.de