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The equivalence principle allows Riemann normal coordinates in which the first derivatives of the metric tensor vanish at a chosen point. A purported local gravitational stress-energy tensor built from those first derivatives would vanish there in that chart and therefore, if tensorial, in all charts. Such an expression cannot encode the gravitational energy assigned by a coordinate-dependent field description. This rules out an ordinary universal local covariant gravitational energy density, not the construction of local curvature tensors or boundary and averaged notions of gravitational energy. The Riemann curvature tensor still describes invariant tidal gravity.

A linear isometry between tangent spaces of complete simply connected Riemannian manifolds extends to a global isometry when parallel transport along corresponding broken geodesics identifies their Riemann curvature tensors. In particular, complete simply connected manifolds of the same dimension and constant sectional curvature are isometric: their curvature tensors are determined by that common constant and their Riemannian metrics. This is the constant-curvature form often called Cartan's theorem.

Metric compatibility makes the curvature action on a two-component spinor symplectic, so its lowered curvature spinor is symmetric in each pair. The pair-exchange symmetry of the Riemann curvature tensor makes $X_{ABCD}=X_{CDAB}$. This six-component tensor decomposes into the five-component totally symmetric Weyl curvature spinor ${\Psi }_{ABCD}=X_{(ABCD)}$ and one scalar term. In the displayed normalization, with alternating forms satisfying ${ϵ}^{AB}{ϵ}_{AB}=2$, its scalar is $\Lambda =X_{ABCD}{ϵ}^{AC}{ϵ}^{BD}/3$. This coefficient follows by contracting the displayed scalar term; different normalizations of that term give different scalar conventions.

The prescription replaces partial derivatives in flat-spacetime matter equations by the Levi-Civita connection and the Minkowski metric by the curved metric tensor. It implements minimal gravitational coupling and reproduces flat-spacetime physics at a point in a local inertial frame. It is not a unique rule for rearranged higher-derivative equations: commuting partial derivatives before replacement can conceal a Riemann curvature tensor term afterwards. The derivative-order ambiguity in covariant Maxwell potential equations is an explicit example. The equivalence principle removes uniform gravitational acceleration locally but does not erase tidal curvature over a finite experiment.

For a torsion-free connection, the commutator of coordinate covariant derivatives vanishes on a scalar field and acts on a vector field through the displayed Riemann curvature tensor. On a covector field it instead gives $[{\nabla }_{\alpha },{\nabla }_{\beta }]A_{\mu }=-R^{\nu }{}_{\mu \alpha \beta }{A}_{\nu }$. The curvature commutator is a tensor derivation, so each index of a general tensor contributes independently with the corresponding sign. Including the lower derivative index in the second covariant derivative is essential for this identity.

For a torsion-free linear connection on a manifold, the commutator of two covariant derivatives obeys the tensor-product Leibniz rule: mixed first-derivative terms cancel after antisymmetrizing. It vanishes on scalar fields, so ${\Delta }_{ab}(fQ)=f{\Delta }_{ab}Q$; its action is therefore pointwise tensorial. Its vector action defines the Riemann curvature tensor. Applying the commutator to a scalar contraction proves that every covariant tensor index contributes minus the corresponding curvature action, while every contravariant index contributes plus. Torsion-free does not by itself imply metric compatibility.

For a positive conformal factor in dimension $n\ge 3$, set $S_{ij}=-u_{ij}+u_i{u}_j-\frac{1}{2}|\nabla u{|}^2{\delta }_{ij}$. These are the coordinate components of the Schouten tensor. In the convention $R_{ijkl}=g(e_i,R(e_k,e_l)e_j)$, the Riemann curvature tensor is $R_{ijkl}=e^{2u}({\delta }_{ik}{S}_{jl}+{\delta }_{jl}{S}_{ik}-{\delta }_{il}{S}_{jk}-{\delta }_{jk}{S}_{il})$. The orthonormal coframe $e^{u}d{x}^i$ has connection 1-forms ${\omega }^i{}_j=u_{j}d{x}^i-u_{i}d{x}^j$; substituting into Cartan's second structure equation proves this expression directly. Its contractions give $R_{ij}=(n-2)S_{ij}+{\delta }_{ij}{\sum }_k{S}_{kk}$ and $R=e^{-2u}[-2(n-1)\Delta u-(n-1)(n-2)|\nabla u{|}^2]$.

Definitions of the Riemann curvature tensor can differ by an overall sign, independent of the metric signature. Reversing that definition reverses the Ricci tensor, Ricci scalar and Einstein tensor, as well as the curvature side of the geodesic deviation identity and the Palatini identity. A derivation must choose the contraction and derivative ordering explicitly before combining formulas from different conventions. Changing a metric signature alone is a separate operation.

Let $C^a{}_{bcd}={\partial }_d{\Gamma }_{bc}^a-{\partial }_c{\Gamma }_{bd}^a-{\Gamma }_{ec}^a{\Gamma }_{bd}^e+{\Gamma }_{ed}^a{\Gamma }_{bc}^e$, with all other index positions obtained by the metric tensor. This convention is the negative of the convention $[{\nabla }_c,{\nabla }_d]V^a=R^a{}_{bcd}{V}^b$. The Ricci identity is $k_{a;bc}-k_{a;cb}=C_a{}^d{}_{bc}{k}_d$, with $k_{a;bc}={\nabla }_c{\nabla }_b{k}_a$. For a Killing vector, the Killing equation makes this second derivative antisymmetric in $a,b$. Applying the commutator three times gives $2k_{a;bc}=(C_a{}^d{}_{bc}+C_c{}^d{}_{ba}-C_b{}^d{}_{ac})k_d=-2C_{abc}{}^d{k}_d$, where the last step uses the first Bianchi identity. Switching the sign of the Riemann curvature tensor switches the sign in this identity; moving a raised index by ordinary metric contraction does not switch it.

A curvature singularity is an incomplete spacetime boundary approached by curves along which a scalar curvature invariant or a component of the Riemann curvature tensor in a parallel-propagated frame becomes unbounded. Such divergence cannot be removed by changing coordinates.

With the metric and stress-energy tensor fixed and zero cosmological constant, changing the sign convention for the Riemann curvature tensor changes the signs of the Ricci tensor, scalar curvature and Einstein tensor. The same physical field equation is therefore written with the opposite coupling sign. For signature $(+---)$, the convention $R^a{}_{bcd}={\partial }_d{\Gamma }_{bc}^a-{\partial }_c{\Gamma }_{bd}^a-{\Gamma }_{ec}^a{\Gamma }_{bd}^e+{\Gamma }_{ed}^a{\Gamma }_{bc}^e$ and $R_{ab}=R^c{}_{acb}$ gives $R_{00}\simeq -\Delta \Phi$ in a static Newtonian limit. The trace-reversed equation and $\Delta \Phi =4\pi G\rho$ then require $G_{ab}=-8\pi G{T}_{ab}$.

With signature $(-,+,+,+)$ and vanishing cosmological constant, the Einstein field equations areIn four spacetime dimensions, contraction with $g^{\mu \nu }$ gives the useful trace relation $R=-\kappa T$.

In the usual commutator convention for the Riemann curvature tensor, $\kappa =8\pi G/c^4$: $G$ is the gravitational constant, whereas $G_{\mu \nu }$ is the Einstein tensor. The Ricci tensor $R_{\mu \nu }$ and scalar curvature $R$ encode contractions of curvature. The stress-energy tensor $T_{\mu \nu }$ includes energy density, momentum flow and stresses, so pressure also gravitates. A cosmological constant adds $\Lambda g_{\mu \nu }$ to the left-hand side. See Tong's Einstein equations and matter coupling.

For a concrete consequence, set $T_{\mu \nu }=0$ and $\Lambda =0$. The trace gives $R=0$, and substitution gives $R_{\mu \nu }=0$. Yet the exterior Schwarzschild spacetime still has the tidal forces computed under geodesic deviation: vanishing Ricci tensor does not imply vanishing Riemann curvature tensor. Geometry carries gravitational effects through empty space. Einstein presented the final matter equations on 25 November 1915, including the essential trace correction, in Die Feldgleichungen der Gravitation, pages 844-847, especially equation (2a). His symbols and sign conventions differ from modern ones; the displayed formula uses modern notation.

The equivalence principle states that gravity couples universally to energy-momentum and that a freely falling local frame removes uniform gravitational acceleration at a point. Tidal curvature remains measurable over a finite region.

Imagine releasing a ball inside a small falling elevator. Relative to the cabin it initially floats, because cabin and ball share the same free fall. The weak equivalence principle says this trajectory is independent of the test particle's composition for identical initial conditions. The Einstein equivalence principle further identifies local nongravitational experiments with those of special relativity. It is a statement about experiments in a local inertial frame, not just equality of two masses.

The word local is essential. Coordinates can make the metric tensor equal to the Minkowski metric and its first derivatives vanish at one event. They generally cannot erase the Riemann curvature tensor, which involves second derivatives. Two separated balls can therefore approach or recede even inside the falling cabin. A sufficiently extended experiment detects these tidal forces; a long observation can accumulate them even when the cabin is small. The equivalence principle does not identify an entire planetary gravitational field with acceleration in flat spacetime. See Tong's discussion of normal coordinates and local equivalence.

For a hypersurface with unit normal vector $n$, put $\epsilon =g(n,n)=\pm 1$, $P=1-\epsilon n\otimes n^{♭}$, and $K(X,Y)=g({\nabla }_{X}n,Y)$ for tangent vectors. The induced metric is nondegenerate precisely when the normal is non-null. With $R(X,Y)Z=[{\nabla }_X,{\nabla }_Y]Z-{\nabla }_{[X,Y]}Z$ and $R_{abcd}=g(e_a,R(e_c,e_d)e_b)$, the Gauss formula is ${\nabla }_{X}Y=D_{X}Y-\epsilon K(X,Y)n$. Substituting twice into the ambient Riemann curvature tensor and projecting tangentially gives the displayed Gauss equation. Its normal projection gives $g(n,R(X,Y)Z)=-(D_{X}K)(Y,Z)+(D_{Y}K)(X,Z)$, the curved-ambient Codazzi equation. A null hypersurface needs additional geometric data because its induced metric is degenerate.

Rolling a sheet into a circular cylinder bends it without changing its internal lengths and angles. Fitting that same sheet smoothly onto a sphere requires distortion of its first fundamental form. Gaussian curvature distinguishes these situations: it measures the intrinsic curvature of a smooth surface, even though its simplest definition uses how the surface bends in Euclidean space.

The Gaussian curvature at a point is the determinant of the shape operator, or the product of the two principal curvatures:Here $I=Ed{u}^2+2Fdudv+Gd{v}^2$ is the first fundamental form and $II=ed{u}^2+2fdudv+gd{v}^2$ is the second fundamental form, with $S=-dN$. Regularity makes $EG-F^2>0$. Reversing the unit normal negates $e,f,g$ and both principal curvatures, leaving Gaussian curvature unchanged. ^[ref]

The sign describes bending at the point: positive Gaussian curvature means the principal curvatures have the same nonzero sign, as at an elliptic point; negative Gaussian curvature means opposite signs, as on a saddle; zero Gaussian curvature means at least one principal curvature vanishes. Zero Gaussian curvature at a single point does not imply that a neighborhood is a plane. ^[ref]

Four worked models make the signs concrete:

The patches use a common length unit, with $R=1$ for the sphere and circular cylinder. The marked red and blue curves have principal directions at the black point; the arrow is the chosen unit normal. For physical lengths, principal curvature and mean curvature have units of inverse length, while Gaussian curvature has units of inverse squared length. Rescaling a surface by $\lambda >0$ divides its principal curvatures by $\lambda$ and its Gaussian curvature by ${\lambda }^2$. Writing the saddle as $h=(x^2-y^2)/(2L)$ restores an explicit length scale: $K(0)=-1/L^2$.

The Theorema Egregium says that Gaussian curvature depends only on the first fundamental form and its first two coordinate derivatives. A local isometry therefore preserves Gaussian curvature, even if the shape operator and the principal curvatures change. ^[ref]

Here is the outline, rather than a full proof. The Gauss formula splits second derivatives of a parametric surface into tangential Christoffel symbols and the second fundamental form. The Christoffel symbols are determined by the first fundamental form and its first derivatives. Commuting the next partial derivatives gives the Gauss equation, which identifies $\det S$ with the intrinsic sectional curvature computed from the Riemann curvature tensor. Thus the apparently extrinsic product $k_1{k}_2$ is determined by the Riemannian metric. ^[ref]

One can see the distinction directly by rolling a plane strip with coordinates $(u,v)$ into the circular cylinder $X(u,v)=(R\cos (u/R),R\sin (u/R),v)$. Both have $I=d{u}^2+d{v}^2$, so the map is a local isometry, and is one-to-one on an open strip of width less than $2\pi R$. Extending $u$ over all real numbers wraps around periodically; it does not give a global isometry between the entire plane and the entire circular cylinder. A nonempty open patch of a sphere cannot be flattened by a local isometry into a plane, because its Gaussian curvature $1/R^2$ cannot become zero. The obstruction concerns preservation of the first fundamental form, rather than a particular drawing or choice of seam.

For a family of affinely parametrized geodesics with tangent $U$ and connecting field $J$, the Jacobi equation in the convention used here isIt describes the relative acceleration produced by spacetime curvature.

Here $J$ describes an infinitesimal separation and the covariant derivatives compare it in a frame transported along the reference geodesic. The Riemann curvature tensor thus becomes something measured with neighboring trajectories. The Newtonian version follows by differentiating gravitational acceleration with respect to position. In the exterior of a spherical mass, let ${\xi }_r$ be radial separation and ${\xi }_{\perp }$ separation in either transverse direction. Newton's law of universal gravitation givesThe upper particle falls less strongly than the lower one, stretching their radial separation; side-by-side particles accelerate toward converging radial directions, compressing their transverse separation. See Oregon State's derivation of tidal acceleration.

For a spherical Earth model with $r=R_{\oplus }=6.371\times 10^6\mathrm{m}$, $g=9.81\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-2}$ and $GM=g{R}_{\oplus }^2$, a one-metre radial separation gives ${\ddot{\xi }}_r=2g/R_{\oplus }=3.07958\times 10^{-6}\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-2}$; a one-metre transverse separation gives $-1.53979\times 10^{-6}\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-2}$. Initially comoving particles therefore change separation after one second by approximately $\frac{1}{2}\ddot{\xi }{t}^2$: $+1.54$ micrometres radially or $-0.770$ micrometres transversely. This short-time calculation holds the reference radius fixed to leading order. Its beauty is that common falling motion drops out, leaving a measurable stretching pattern that reveals curvature.

With the Riemann curvature tensor convention $R^{\mu }{}_{\nu \rho \sigma }={\partial }_{\rho }{\Gamma }^{\mu }{}_{\nu \sigma }-{\partial }_{\sigma }{\Gamma }^{\mu }{}_{\nu \rho }+\cdots$, harmonic coordinates remove the mixed second derivatives from the Ricci tensor. The remainder $Q_{ab}$ contains at most first derivatives of the metric tensor. The vacuum Einstein field equations become a system of quasilinear partial differential equations with a Lorentzian wave equation principal part. Harmonic coordinate constraints must be maintained when using the reduced system.

At linear order in $ϵ=GM/R$ and the leading rotation term, this coordinate change takes the interior shell metric to Minkowski spacetime. Consequently the retained interior Riemann curvature tensor vanishes although inertial axes rotate relative to distant reference axes. A freely moving particle has $\mathbf{X}={\mathbf{X}}_0+\mathbf{V}T$, while its original coordinates obey $d^2\mathbf{x}/d{t}^2=2\mathbf{\omega }\times d\mathbf{x}/dt$ to first rotation order. Terms of order ${\omega }^2$ would include centrifugal acceleration and are outside this approximation. A gyroscope at rest to the retained order has its parallel-transported spin precessing at $\mathbf{\omega }$ in the original coordinates.

A circular cylinder of radius $\rho$ has induced metric locally equal to $d{u}^2+d{z}^2$ with $u=\rho \phi$. Its Riemann curvature tensor therefore vanishes, despite its nonzero extrinsic curvature. With outward unit normal and convention $K_{ij}=e_i^a{e}_j^b{\nabla }_a{n}_b$, its trace is $1/\rho$ and its principal curvatures are $1/\rho$ and zero. Its averaged mean curvature is $1/(2\rho )$. The angular identification changes global topology, not local flatness.

For the Riemann curvature tensor convention $R(X,Y)Z={\nabla }_X{\nabla }_{Y}Z-{\nabla }_Y{\nabla }_{X}Z-{\nabla }_{[X,Y]}Z$, define ${\mathcal{R}}_X(v)=R(v,X)X$. Curvature pair interchange makes this operator self-adjoint. If $v\perp X$, then $⟨{\mathcal{R}}_{X}v,v⟩=K(v,X)|v{|}^2|X{|}^2$. The Jacobi field equation is $D_t^{2}J+{\mathcal{R}}_{\dot{\gamma }}J=0$. The operator $v\mapsto R(X,v)X$ is $-{\mathcal{R}}_X$ and is likewise self-adjoint; this sign distinction matters when testing curvature inequalities.