29 June 2026 to 3 July 2026
Physicum, University of Tartu
Europe/Tallinn timezone

Philip Schwartz: Weyl-type theorems in Galilei and Carroll geometry

2 Jul 2026, 14:20
25m
A106 (Physicum, University of Tartu)

A106

Physicum, University of Tartu

W. Ostwaldi 1

Description

A classic theorem of Weyl (1921) states that a Weyl metric—a natural generalisation of a pseudo-Riemannian metric—is uniquely determined by its conformal and projective structures. This theorem forms the basis for the famous Ehlers–Pirani–Schild (EPS) axiomatic reconstruction (1972) of Lorentzian spacetime structure from light rays and the worldlines of massive particles.
An equivalent formulation of Weyl’s result is that a torsion-free linear connection compatible with a pseudo-Riemannian conformal structure is uniquely determined by its projective structure. We discuss analogous results for suitably defined notions of conformal structure for Galilei and Carroll geometry, i.e. for spacetime geometries arising as the Newtonian and ‘ultra-relativistic’ limits of Lorentzian geometry.

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