Geometry as an aspect of dynamics

Contrary to the predominant way of doing physics, it is shown that the geometric structure of a general differentiable space-time manifold can be determined by means of the introduction in that manifold of a minimal set of fundamental dynamical quantities associated to a free particle endowed with the fundamental property of momentum. Thus, general relativistic physics implies a general pseudo-Riemannian geometry, whereas the physics of the special theory of relativity is tied up with Minkowski space-time, and Newtonian dynamics is bound to Newtonian space-time. While in the relativistic instance, the Riemannian character of the manifold is basically fixed by means only of the Hamiltonian state function of the free particle (its kynetic energy), in the latter case, it has to resort, perhaps not unexpectedly, to the two dynamical entities mass and energy, separately. (Author)