Tetrad formalism and reference frames in general relativity

This review is devoted to problems of defining the reference frames in the tetrad formalism of General Relativity. Tetrads are the expansion coefficients of components of an orthogonal basis over the differentials of a coordinate space. The Hamiltonian cosmological perturbation theory is presented in terms of these invariant differential forms. This theory does not contain the double counting of the spatial metric determinant in contrast to the conventional Lifshits-Bardeen perturbation theory. We explicitly write out the Lorentz transformations of the orthogonal-basis components from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) reference frame to the laboratory frame, moving with a constant velocity relative to the CMB frame. Possible observational consequences of the Hamiltonian cosmological perturbation theory are discussed, in particular, the quantum anomaly of geometric interval and the shift of the origin, as a source of the CMB anisotropy, in the course of the universe evolution.