From Taub Numbers to the Bondi Mass

Abstract

Taub numbers are studied on asymptotically flat backgrounds with Killing symmetries. When the field equations are solved for a background spacetime and higher order functional derivatives (higher order variational derivatives of the Hilbert Lagrangean) are solved for perturbations from the background, such perturbed space-times admit zeroth, first, and second order Taub numbers. Zeroth order Taub numbers are Komar constants (upto numerical factors) or Penrose-Goldberg constants of the background. For a Killing symmetry of the background, first order Taub numbers give the contribution of the linearized perturbation to the associated backgound quantity, such as the perturbing mass. Second order Taub numbers give the contribution of second order perturbations to the background quantity. The Bondi mass is a sum of first and second order Taubs numbers on a Minkowski background.