The MapleCloud now provides the GRTensorIII package for component tensor calculations in general relativity. This package is an update of the established GRTensorII package, last updated in 1999.  In early June, I had the opportunity to present this update at the recent Atlantic General Relativity meeting. The GR community was delighted to have an updated version that works well with more recent versions of Maple. Several talks specifically called out the key role GRTensorIII had in establishing the results presented.

GRTensorIII supports the calculation of the standard curvature objects in relativity. It also provides the command grdef() which allows the definition of new tensor objects via a simple definition string (without programming). This command is the key reason for GRTensor’s continued use in the GR community. GRTensorIII also provides a new, more direct API to define a spacetime via the spacetime() command. This command allows for the metric or line element definition within a worksheet – removing the need for storing the metric in a file and allowing example worksheets to be self-contained. GRTensorIII has significant new functionality to support the definition of hyper-surfaces and the calculation of junction conditions and thin-shell stress energy. An extensive series of example worksheets based on Eric Poisson’s “A Relativist’s Toolkit” are included.

GRTensorIII is available from the MapleCloud window within Maple in the list of available packages or via a download from Maple. It can be loaded directly via the command line as: PackageTools:-Install(5664396396199936); 

It is also available on github. The source code is available on github in a separate repository: grtensor3src .  

GRTensorIII was developed in collaboration with Kayll Lake and Denis Pollney. I would like to thank Maple for access to the beta program and Eric Poisson for testing and feedback.