Newtonian tidal eigenvalues outside a point mass

ID: newtonian-tidal-eigenvalues-outside-a-point-mass

For , the acceleration tidal tensor is
Its radial eigenvalue is and its two transverse eigenvalues are . This stretches a small freely falling cloud radially and compresses it transversely. The zero trace expresses the vacuum Poisson equation outside the source; within matter the trace is .

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