Iva Stavrov, Lewis & Clark

Title: Interaction energy and effective mass of relativistic dust clouds

Abstract: The non-linearity of general relativity manifests
itself in the form of interaction energy between diffrent parts of a
matter distribution, making it difficult to view a cloud of matter as
being made up of point-source constituents. Consequently, and in
contrast to Newtonian (linear) theory of gravity, it is not possible
to view relativistic mass as being an integral of mass density. In
fact, defining a suitable notion of quasi-local mass is still one of
the most investigated problems in general relativity. The goal of this
talk is to argue that in certain relativistic frameworks it is in fact
possible to view a cloud of relativistic dust as being made up of
point-source constituents.