1999/06/23 by S. Antoci, L. Mihich · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #gr-qc
published as Nuovo Cim. B114 (1999) 873 · AMS LaTeX, 8 pages, Nuovo Cimento B (in press)
arxiv created 1999/06/23 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
The question is examined, whether the formally straightforward extension of Hooke's time-honoured stress-strain relation to the four dimensions of special and of general relativity can make physical sense. The four-dimensional Hooke's law is found able to account for the inertia of matter; in the flat space, slow motion approximation the field equations for the ``displacement'' four-vector field can encompass both linear elasticity and inertia. In this limit one just recovers the equations of motion of the classical theory of elasticity.