The Principle of Equivalence: Periastron Precession, Light Deflection, Binary Star Decay, Graviton Temperature, Dark Matter, Dark Energy and Galaxy Rotation Curves

Abstract

The nature of the principle of equivalence is explored. The path of gravitons is analyzed in an accelerating system equivalent to a gravitating system. The finite speed of the graviton results in a delay of the gravitational interaction with a particle mass. From the aberration found in the path of the graviton we derive the standard expression for the advancement of the periastron of the orbit of the mass around a star. In a similar way, by analysing the aberrations of the graviton and light paths in an accelerating reference frame, the expression for the deflection of light by a massive body is obtained identically to the standard result. We also examine the binary star system and calculate the decay in its orbital period. The decay is attributed to the redshift of the graviton frequency relative to the accelerating system. Here too, we obtain good agreement with experimental measurements. Also, hypothesizing that gravitons behave like photons, we determine the temperature of the gravitons in a binary star system and form the Bose-Einstein distribution. Finally, we show how the redshift of gravitons may be the source of dark matter, dark energy and flat line spiral galaxy rotation curves.