100 years and still no mathematical beauty

On Aug 25, 5:20*am, Tom Roberts wrote:
wrote in sci.physics.relativity:
I dont understand, relativity is the only theory I know with no
mathematical beauty whatsoever

Then you quite clearly do not understand relativity. It is among the
most ELEGANT physical theories ever. Mathematical elegance is the sine
qua non of "beauty" in theories.

As an example, the basic equation of GR is:

* * * * G = T

Where on the left is the Einstein curvature tensor, and on the right is
the energy-momentum tensor. So this relates geometrical properties of
the manifold to physical properties of the mass/energy inhabiting it (I
use natural units with c = 8piG = 1).

Another aspect of the elegance of GR is its Lagrangian density:

* * * * L = R + Lagrangian(matter)

Where R is the Ricci curvature scalar. Note this applies to any type of
matter.... Interestingly, EVERY mainstream fundamental theory of physics
is of the form:

* * * * L = {curvature scalar} + Lagrangian(matter)

They only differ in the type of manifold used, and thus in the relevant
curvature scalar. GR was, of course, the first such theory discovered.

* * * * [Do not be deceived by the complexity of the Lorentz
* * * * *transform and think it has anything to do with the
* * * * *basis of Relativity. It doesn't. It just happens to
* * * * *be the relationship among inertial coordinates in
* * * * *flat spacetime, and there's no reason or expectation
* * * * *that this should be simple; but a flat spacetime is
* * * * *a terrible model for the world we inhabit. SR is a
* * * * *useful approximation to GR for many experiments, and
* * * * *as an approximate basis for LOCAL theories; nothing
* * * * *more.]

Tom Roberts

Another example demonstrating the mathematical beauty of relativity,
Honest Roberts:

http://groups.google.com/group/sci.p...ed9796681f9728
Tom Roberts: "As I keep stressing: in an accelerated system (like a
rotating disk), geometry is INHERENTLY AMBIGUOUS. You can get whatever
answer you want by defining differently what you mean by
"circumference of the rotating disk"."

Pentcho Valev