<p>In general relativity, the nature of mass is non-local. However, an appropriate def-inition of mass at a quasi-local level could give a more detailed characterization ofthe gravitational field around massive bodies. Several attempts have been made tofind such a definition. One of the candidates is the Hawking mass. This thesispresents a method for calculating the spin coefficients used in the expression for theHawking mass, and gives a closed-form expression for the Hawking mass of ellipsoidal2-surfaces in Minkowski spacetime. Furthermore, the Hawking mass is shown to havethe correct limits, both in Minkowski and Schwarzschild, along particular foliationsof leaves approaching a metric 2-sphere. Numerical results for Schwarzschild are alsopresented.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA/oai:DiVA.org:liu-15414 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Hansevi, Daniel |
| Publisher | Linköping University, Department of Mathematics |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, text |
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