Five-Dimensional Tangent Vectors in Space-Time: III. Some Applications

Abstract

In this part of the series I show how five-tensors can be used for describing in a coordinate-independent way finite and infinitesimal Poincare transformations in flat space-time. As an illustration, I reformulate the classical mechanics of a perfectly rigid body in terms of the analogs of five-vectors in three-dimensional Euclidean space. I then introduce the notion of the bivector derivative for scalar, four-vector and four-tensor fields in flat space-time and calculate its analog in three-dimensional Euclidean space for the Lagrange function of a system of several point particles in classical nonrelativistic mechanics.