Weyl tensor

E287410

The Weyl tensor is the traceless part of the Riemann curvature tensor in differential geometry and general relativity, encoding the purely shape-distorting (conformal) aspects of spacetime curvature independent of matter content.

All labels observed (2)

Label Occurrences
Weyl tensor canonical 2
conformal curvature tensor 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf curvature tensor ⓘ
geometric object ⓘ
mathematical tensor ⓘ
alsoKnownAs Weyl tensor ⓘ
surface form: conformal curvature tensor
appearsIn Petrov classification ⓘ
canBeNonzeroIn vacuum regions of spacetime ⓘ
captures nonlocal aspects of gravitational field ⓘ
decomposition Riemann = Weyl + Ricci-part + scalar-curvature-part ⓘ
definedOn Riemannian manifold ⓘ
pseudo-Riemannian manifold ⓘ
describes free gravitational field ⓘ
tidal gravitational effects in vacuum ⓘ
dimensionRequirement manifold dimension ≥ 3 ⓘ
doesNotDependOn local matter content ⓘ
encodes conformal curvature ⓘ
shape-distorting aspects of curvature ⓘ
field differential geometry ⓘ
general relativity ⓘ
hasSymmetry antisymmetric in first and second index pairs ⓘ
satisfies first Bianchi identity ⓘ
symmetric under exchange of index pairs ⓘ
isComponentOf spacetime curvature ⓘ
isConformallyInvariant in dimension 4 ⓘ
isConstructedFrom Ricci tensor ⓘ
Riemann curvature tensor ⓘ
surface form: Riemann tensor

scalar curvature ⓘ
isDivergenceFreeIn vacuum Einstein equations ⓘ
isIndependentOf Ricci tensor ⓘ
isPartOf Riemann curvature tensor ⓘ
surface form: Riemann curvature tensor decomposition
isTraceless with respect to any pair of indices ⓘ
isTracelessPartOf Riemann curvature tensor ⓘ
isUsedIn conformal geometry ⓘ
mathematical relativity ⓘ
study of gravitational waves ⓘ
isUsedToDefine Newman–Penrose formalism ⓘ
surface form: Newman–Penrose Weyl scalars
isZeroIfAndOnlyIf spacetime is locally conformally flat (dimension ≥ 4) ⓘ
isZeroIn Minkowski space-time ⓘ
surface form: Minkowski spacetime
namedAfter Hermann Weyl ⓘ
rank (0,4) tensor ⓘ
(1,3) tensor ⓘ
relatedTo gravitational radiation ⓘ
satisfies Bianchi identities ⓘ
same index symmetries as Riemann tensor ⓘ
transformsHomogeneouslyUnder conformal rescalings of the metric ⓘ
usedFor classifying algebraic types of spacetime curvature ⓘ
vanishesIdenticallyIn all 2-dimensional manifolds ⓘ
all conformally flat manifolds ⓘ
vanishesIn FLRW cosmological models ⓘ
surface form: Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker spacetimes

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Ricci scalar → relatedTo → Weyl tensor ⓘ
Weyl → knownFor → Weyl tensor ⓘ
subject surface form: Hermann Weyl
Weyl tensor → alsoKnownAs → Weyl tensor ⓘ
this entity surface form: conformal curvature tensor