Merced Montesinos*
* Associate Member of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy.
Departamento de Física, Cinvestav, Av. Instituto Politécnico Nacional 2508, San Pedro Zacatenco, 07360, Gustavo A. Madero, Ciudad de México, México, e–mail: merced@fis.cinvestav.mx.
Recibido el 18 de julio de 2005
Aceptado el 14 de marzo de 2005
]]> Resumen
Se introduce al lector en el llamado "problema del tiempo" inherente a la relatividad general. Se realiza primero una revisión de los fundamentos conceptuales de la relatividad especial y general con el fin de fijar las bases conceptuales y técnicas necesarias para la descripción del "problema del tiempo". Una vez hecho lo anterior, se enfatiza el hecho de que en el contexto de la relatividad general las coordenadas (o el atlas A) que etiquetan los puntos de la variedad no tienen siginificado físico per se y que este hecho requiere una forma (distinta de la que se usa en la relatividad especial) de describir la evolución de las variables dinámicas involucradas en una forma compatible con la covarianza bajo difeomorfismos de la teoría.
Descriptores: Problema del tiempo; evolución relacional; observador.
Abstract
The reader is introduced to "the problem of time" present inherently in general relativity. A review of the conceptual fundamentals of both special and general relativity is done with the aim of fixing the conceptual and technical bases required to make the description of the "problem of time". Once this done, it is emphasized the fact that in the context of general relativity the coordinates (or better, the atlas A) which label the points of the manifold do not have per se physical meaning and that this fact requires a suitable form (distinct to the one used in special relativity) of describing the evolution of the degrees of freedom of the dynamical variables involved in a way compatible with the diffeomorphism covariance of the theory.
Keywords: The problem of time; relational evolution; observer.
PACS: 04.20.–q; 04.20.Cv
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