A consideration of the possibility of negative mass

Abstract

The inclusion of negative mass into Newton's laws of motion and gravitation is considered, and, as in previous investigations, no contradictions are discovered. A necessary modification to the principle of least action is proposed, which takes into account negative mass. The statistical thermodynamics of an ideal classical gas, composed of negative-mass particles, is then examined. The proposal that such systems can only be described by a negative temperature provides an extra constraint, and lends support to the already conjectured hypothesis that positive and negative mass cannot coexist. This rules out runaway motion commented upon in previous papers. The conclusion is, then, that negative mass can only exist at negative temperature, and must be adiabatically separate from positive mass.