Information transmittal, Newton’s law of gravitation, and tensor approach to general relativity

Abstract

The special relativity considered in [A. Einstein, Zur Elektrodynamik der bewegte Körper. Ann. Physik, 17 (1905) 891–921] is based on the concept of finite speed of information transmittal by the available signals (rays of light). It is demonstrated that the same concept applies to Newton’s law of universal gravitation since the magnitude of distances between attracting masses can be physically defined (carried, accounted in acting forces of gravity) only by signals (physical processes) propagating at finite velocities. It follows that the speed of propagation of gravity is finite. The linear transformations of special relativity are applied to Newton’s law of gravitation to take into account the relativistic effects of information transmittal in a field of central forces of attraction. Relativistic representations of Newton’s law are obtained with respect to the center of gravity exposing illusory effects that appear at high velocities. It is verified that in atomic physics the effect of Newtonian gravitation on the motion of elementary particles at high velocities is negligible also in relativistic consideration. Computational methods are developed to measure the intensity of gravitation at a distant space–time location using a body that travels in space, emitting uniform pulses of light that are received by the observer at a different space–time location. It is demonstrated that the tensor approach to the general relativity and the united theory of space, time and gravitation in which the geometrical properties (metric) of the four-dimensional space–time continuum depend on the distribution of gravitating masses in space and their motion represent a transformed Lorentz invariant with a new type of inertia in the field of forces changing in space and time. Real physical processes evolve according to the forces represented in the tensor form by this invariant which is equivalent to the coordinate-free local invariant of relativistic dynamics that defines the field and the motion of a body whose velocities and accelerations can be measured by relativistic identification methods at a point, time and direction of interest. The results open new avenues for research in the general relativity and can be used for software development, field measurements and experimental studies in application to distant or fast moving systems.