Equation 88 · Part 3 · The Bend an Elevator Cannot Fake
Symbol U^2
What this part means
The square of U: multiply U by itself.
Its job in the formula
is one of the signed contributions combined to compute the quantity on the left.
Full expression→Symbol U^2→Article meaning
The passage around this formula
What must therefore vanish, identically, is not the slope but the correctly defined curvature-frame component built from it. For any static metric of the form d = -U()^2\,d + \,d d — flat spatial slices, all the position dependence carried by U — the only nonzero Christoffel symbols are = U = and = , both following directly from the metric’s definition. Substituting into the Riemann tensor’s defining combination for the mixed component {}_{0j0} , every term built from purely spatial Christoffels vanishes because the spatial slices are exactly flat, and the two surviving pieces are…
Learn the underlying idea
An exponent tells how a base is used in multiplication. In x³, x is the base and 3 is the exponent: x³ = x × x × x.
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Sources cited in the surrounding passage
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