Relativistic motion of a free particle in a uniform gravitational field

The problem of the motion of a free particle in a uniform gravitational field is considered. A relativistic solution based on the assumption that the motion is a consequence of the curvature of spacetime is obtained. The results are compared with various results based on the assumption that spacetime is flat in a region in which the gravitational field is uniform. In the curved spacetime approach, if a particle is projected from a point in a uniform gravitational field, the vertical distance covered by the particle in infinite coordinate time is infinite, but the horizontal distance covered and the elapsed proper time of the particle are finite. If spacetime is assumed to be flat and the gravitational motion of a particle a consequence of a relativistic force proportional to the relative mass of the particle, then the results obtained for the motion of a particle in a uniform gravitational field are close to the curved spacetime results. All other assumptions, including the assumption that the motion of a particle in a uniform gravitational field is equivalent to the motion of a particle in a uniformly accelerating frame of reference, lead to results in serious disagreement with the curved spacetime results.     

Relativistic orbital perturbations in a weak gravitational field

With the general third-order equations of motion for a test particle, Synge's third-order orbital equations at great distance in the weak gravitational field generated by a massive body are derived. The body has an axis of symmetry around which is rotating steadily. The results found for the advance of perihelion using first integrals of motion for the general equations show that the effect due to the inner stress of the body can be derived for orbits with inclination with respect to the equator of the body. Then, by means of the variation of the parameters method, we obtain with the equations at great distance the corresponding perturbations on the elements of such orbits in the field considered. These perturbations result to be of second order with regard to the mass of the body (the basis of the approximation).     

Equation of motion including the reaction of gravitational radiation

We consider a bounded distribution of perfect fluid in slow motion (c), the gravitational field being weak everywhere. The equations of motion are derived by a systematic discussion of the field equation: combined with the conservation law: The radiative terms of the metric are computed to the order in which radiation effects appear for the first time in the equation of motion. The expression for the gravitational radiation reaction force, appearing as a perturbation of the post-post-Newtonian equation of motion, is determined. This leads to a formula for the rate of energy loss of the system which is equivalent to the formula derived by Chandrasekhar and Esposito. For quasiperiodic motions the formula reduces to the classical Einstein formula for the gravitational quadrupole radiation.     

Einstein’s Gravitation for Machian Relativism of Nonlocal Energy-Charges

Tetrads require six metric bounds and energy-to-energy gravitation in the 1913 tensor generalization of the SR four-vector and the scalar four-interval. Only four energy-momentum components of the 1915 source equation can be relevant to flatspace gravitation of overlapping nonlocal carriers of energy-charges. New singularity-free metric equally works for the Einstein-Grossmann geodesic motion and for the r ⁻⁴ elementary source in non-empty flatspace with the local time dilatation. The GR energy integral of the nonlocal radial (astro)carrier is finite and determines its active/passive gravitational charges. The SR reference for self-contained Einstein’s relativity replaces the constant masses with their GR energies in the 1686 universal law of gravitation for the undivided world ensemble of overlapping radial matter. Gravitational/inertial energy-charges of nonlocal carriers depend on their global time-varying interactions with other elementary energy-charges that quantitatively address Machian relativism for gravitation and inertia. Electromagnetic waves change the gravitational/inertial energy-charge that can be tested in the Solar system. The non-empty space paradigm admits geometrization of the radial particle in the 1915 Einstein equation and suggests the similar field-energy nature for the distributed electric charge.     

Gravimagnetism,causality, and aberration of gravity in the gravitational light-ray deflection experiments

Experimental verification of the existence of gravimagnetic fields generated by currents of matter is important for a complete understanding and formulation of gravitational physics. Although the rotational (intrinsic) gravimagnetic field has been extensively studied and is now being measured by the Gravity Probe B, the extrinsic gravimagnetic field generated by the translational current of matter is less well studied. The present paper uses the post-Newtonian parametrized Einstein and light geodesics equations to show that the extrinsic gravimagnetic field generated by the translational current of matter can be measured by observing the relativistic time delay and/or light deflection caused by the moving mass. We prove that the extrinsic gravimagnetic field is generated by the relativistic effect of the aberration of the gravity force caused by the Lorentz transformation of the metric tensor and the Levi–Civita connection. We show that the Lorentz transformation of the gravity field variables is equivalent to the technique of the retarded Lienard–Wiechert gravitational potentials predicting that a light particle is deflected by gravitational field of a moving body from its retarded position so that both general-relativistic phenomena—the aberration and the retardation of gravity—are tightly connected and observing the aberration of gravity proves that gravity has a causal nature. We explain in this framework the 2002 deflection experiment of a quasar by Jupiter where the aberration of gravity from its orbital motion was measured with accuracy 20%. We describe a theory of VLBI experiment to measure the gravitational deflection of radio waves from a quasar by the Sun, as viewed by a moving observer from the geocentric frame, to improve the measurement accuracy of the aberration of gravity to a few percent.     

A coupled theory of electromagnetism and gravitation

A coupling electromagnetism with a previously developed scalar theory of gravitation is presented. The principle features of this coupling are: (1) a slight alteration to the Maxwell equations, (2) the motion of a charged particle satisfies an equation with the Lorentz force-appearing on the right side in place of zero, and (3) the energy density of the electromagnetic field appears in the gravitational field equation in a manner similar to the mass term in the Klein-Gordonequation. The field of a static, spherically symmetric charged particle is computed. The electromagnetic field gives rise to l/r ² terms in the gravitational potential.     

Bound states of a gravitational soliton and a test particle

Classical and quantum bound states of a test particle in the regular gravitational field of a gravitational soliton are investigated. The quantum spectrum is very similar to that of a Newtonian atom, except for the absence ofs orbitals.     

On Relativistic Generalization of Gravitational Force

In relativistic theories, the assumption of proper mass constancy generally holds. We study gravitational relativistic mechanics of point particle in the novel approach of proper mass varying under Minkowski force action. The motivation and objective of this work are twofold: first, to show how the gravitational force can be included in the Special Relativity Mechanics framework, and, second, to investigate possible consequences of the revision of conventional proper mass concept (in particular, to clarify a proper mass role in the divergence problem). It is shown that photon motion in the gravitational field can be treated in terms of massless refracting medium, what makes the gravity phenomenon compatible with SR Mechanics framework in the variable proper mass approach. Specifically, the problem of point particle in the spherical symmetric stationary gravitational field is studied in SR-based Mechanics, and equations of motion in the Lorentz covariant form are obtained in the relativistic Lagrangean problem formulation. The dependence of proper mass on potential field strength is derived from the Euler-Lagrange equations as well. One of new results is the elimination of conventional 1/r divergence, which is known to be not removable in Schwarzschild gravitomechanics. Predictions of particle and photon gravitational properties are in agreement with GR classical tests under weak-field conditions; however, deviations rise with potential field strength. The conclusion is made that the approach of field-dependent proper mass is perspective for development of SR gravitational mechanics and further studies of gravitational problems.     

Inertial and gravitational mass in quantum mechanics

We show that in complete agreement with classical mechanics, the dynamics of any quantum mechanical wave packet in a linear gravitational potential involves the gravitational and the inertial mass only as their ratio. In contrast, the spatial modulation of the corresponding energy wave function is determined by the third root of the product of the two masses. Moreover, the discrete energy spectrum of a particle constrained in its motion by a linear gravitational potential and an infinitely steep wall depends on the inertial as well as the gravitational mass with different fractional powers. This feature might open a new avenue in quantum tests of the universality of free fall.     

Conservation of vector-valued forms and the question of the existence of gravitational energy-momentum in general relativity

Recently, Dalton has shown that conserved vector-valued currents have nullcovariant (rather than partial) derivatives and has discussed the corollary that there is no gravitational energy-momentum in general relativity (GR). An equivalent statement on conservation of vector-valued currents was given by E. Cartan in 1922. Given the potential implications of the Dalton corollary, Cartan's contribution to this problem is reproduced here in more modern but very powerful and relatively simple language. For completeness, his accompanying work on the current of GR is also included. The question then arises of whether or not the absence of a gravitational source in GR is a problem. For the purpose of comparison, we consider the gravitational sector of teleparallelism-withtorsion theories. These exhibit field equations of the formG =T , whereG is the Einstein tensor for the Levi-Civita (part of the total) connection, which is conserved. The source now has two distinct parts, one depending on both the metric and the torsion and the other metric independent. They can be viewed as being respectively gravitational and non-gravitational. In addition, the conservation law of these theories is global. It thus follows that several unesthetic (and certainly controversial) features of GR should be viewed as real problems, and not as necessary concomitants of the geometrization of the physics.     

Chaos in a gravitational field with dipoles

In this paper we investigate the dynamics of a test particle in the gravitational field with dipoles. At first we study the gravitational potential by numerical simulations, we find that, for appropriate parameters, there are two different cases in the potential curve: one is the one-well case with a stable critical point, and the other is the three-well case with three stable critical points and two unstable critical points. By performing Poincare sections for different values of the parameters and initial conditions, we find a regular motion and a chaotic motion. From these Poincar6 sections,we further confirm that the chaotic motion of the test particle originates mainly from the dipoles.     

On the gravitational field of a massless particle

The gravitational field of a massless point particle is first calculated using the linearized field equations. The result is identical with the exact solution, obtained from the Schwarzschild metric by means of a singular Lorentz transformation. The gravitational field of the particle is nonvanishing only on a plane containing the particle and orthogonal to the direction of motion. On this plane the Riemann tensor has a -like singularity and is exactly of Petrov typeN.This work was supported in part by Fonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung.     

Application of energy and angular momentum balance to gravitational radiation reaction for binary systems with spin-orbit coupling

We study gravitational radiation reaction in the equations of motion for binary systems with spin-orbit coupling, at order (v/c)⁷ beyond Newtonian gravity, or O(v/c)² beyond the leading radiation reaction effects for non-spinning bodies. We use expressions for the energy and angular momentum flux at infinity that include spin-orbit corrections, together with an assumption of energy and angular momentum balance, to derive equations of motion that are valid for general orbits and for a class of coordinate gauges. We show that the equations of motion are compatible with those derived earlier by a direct calculation.     

Semiclassical gravitational effects near cosmic strings

The vacuum expectation value of the stress-energy tensor of an arbitrary collection of conformal massless free quantum fields (scalar, spinor, and vector) in the presence of a static, cylindrically symmetric cosmic string is found, up to an undetermined numerical constant. This quantum stress-energy tensor is then used as a source in the linearized semiclassical Einstein equations, which are solved to find the first-order (in Ł) corrections to the exterior metric of a static, cylindrically symmetric cosmic string. The main result is that, at first-order in Ł, the (r, ø) two-space is no longer a simple flat cone; to this order the (r, ø) two- space is a (linearized) hyperboloid, which asymptotically approaches the classical conical surface at large values of r. The asymptotic value of the deficit angle of the cone is unchanged, still being precisely 8πμ.     

The effect of a gravitational induction force on the stellar orbits in galaxies

This paper explores the effect of a gravitational induction force, similar to gravito-electromagnetism but of several orders of magnitude larger, on a spiral galaxy. This would provide, because of the huge amount of mass currents associated with spirals, a rather large gravitational induction force. Standard gravitational dynamics is modified by adding an anti-symmetric force tensor analogous to electromagnetism. By choosing a special free space solution to the Einstein field equations, it was found that the resulting force field would drop off by an r ⁻¹ rather than an r ⁻² rule. Thus this new induction force would grow to dominance over the large distances associated with galaxies. Any r ⁻¹ force will produce the flat rotation curves that are observed in disk galaxies as well as explain the Tully-Fisher relationship. It would also explain why the inner core of the spirals remain Newtonian. Quite surprisingly, this simple hypothesis also seems to offer explanations for many other observed phenomena as well.     

Trapped Bose condensate in a gravitational field

The Bose condensation of atoms in finite 1D and 2D parabolic traps placed in a gravitational field is considered. The distortion of the trap potential in this field is modeled by a combination of two rectangular 1D and 2D traps. The change in the critical temperature T _c is found with regard to the cutoff and renormalization of the spectrum of these model potentials. The shift of the critical temperature T _c in the gravitational field is calculated. The shift sign and magnitude depend on the way of introducing the gravitational field. For a certain choice, three critical temperatures can be sequentially observed. These temperatures can be attributed to three Bose condensations that occur in the cyclic motion of the trap along the Earth (I)-space (II)-Earth (III) route.     

One-dimensional finite motion of a particle in the field of a weak gravitational wave

The Hamiltonian formalism of classical mechanics can be used effectively to describe the motion of a particle (including a massless one) along a segment of material that is in a nonsteady gravitational field. The problem of applying this formalism to the detection of gravitational waves using a Michelson or Fabry—Perot interferometer is considered. The existence of a phase shift of an electromagnetic wave due to the interaction of the electromagnetic and gravitational fields is noted. Moscow State Aviation Institute. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 8, pp. 13–17, August, 1997.     

Is active gravitational mass equal to inertial mass?

It is possible, within the framework of general relativity, to define an active gravitational mass density of incoherent matter. It is not equal to the inertial mass density, except when at rest. The concept can be specialized to a single massive particle; again, its active gravitational mass is not equal to its inertial mass, except when it rests. A measurement of the impulse imparted to a test particle by a massive body passing nearby can establish the difference, and it may be possible to carry out this measurement in a laboratory. As a by-product of our computations we obtain a generalization to nonradial motion of the slowing-down effect in a Schwarzschild field.     

Confinement of charged particles by an electromagnetic wave leaving the region of a strong gravitational field

The interaction of a charged particle in vacuum with a circularly polarized wave leaving the region of a strong static gravitational field in the direction of a magnetostatic field is considered. It turns out that this combination of fields forms, generally speaking, two capture regions (CR₁ and CR₂) on the phase cylinder of the particle. The evolution of these regions is determined by the gravitational field. The influence of the gravitational field on the rigidity of confinement of the particle in one of these regions (CR₁) is investigated. It is shown that the rigidity of confinement of particles with relatively high energies may increase toward the periphery of the gravitational field. The possibility of particle escape by the wave is demonstrated for particles whose initial energy is insufficient to leave the gravitational field region in the absence of the wave. In this case, the particle is trapped by the wave in CR₁ and subsequently confined. The mechanism of trapping the particle is discussed. Taganrog State Radio-Engineering University. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 6, pp. 3–10, June, 2000.