Equations of motion when masses move according to Newton's law of gravity. In general relativity, rotational motion is described by the relativistic angular momentum tensor, including the spin tensor, which enter the equations of motion under covariant derivatives with respect to proper time. The Mathisson–Papapetrou–Dixon equations describe the motion of spinning objects moving in a gravitational field. Unlike the equations of motion for describing particle mechanics, which are systems of coupled ordinary differential equations, the analogous equations governing the dynamics of waves and fields are always partial differential equations, since the waves or fields are functions of space and time. For a particular
Lovelock theory of gravity Lovelock theory of gravity In theoretical physics, Lovelock's theory of gravity (often referred to as Lovelock gravity) is a generalization of Einstein's theory of general relativity introduced by David Lovelock in 1971. It is the most general metric theory of gravity yielding conserved second order equations of motion in arbitrary number of spacetime dimensions "D". In this sense, Lovelock's theory is the natural generalization of Einstein's General Relativity to higher dimensions. In three and four dimensions ("D" = 3, 4), Lovelock's theory coincides with Einstein's theory, but in higher dimensions the theories are different. In fact, for "D" > 4