• Trick or Truth Essay Contest (2015)
  • When physics is geometry: a new proof for general relativity through geometric interpretation of Mössbauer rotor experiment. Celebration of the 100th anniversary of general relativity by Christian Co

The equivalence principle simply states that freely falling frames are equivalent to a purely inertial frame independent of gravity. Similarly a frame that is accelerated and one on the surface of a gravitating body are equivalent:

we ... assume the complete physical equivalence of a gravitational field and a corresponding acceleration of the reference system. -- Einstein, Albert (2003). The Meaning of Relativity.

Departures come about for two reasons. The weak EP is a form of Galileo's principle, and it says the motion of a particle in a gravity field is the same as on an accelerated frame. This insures Galileo's observation on the independence of mass of a body with respect to its motion. With the weak equivalence principle the main departure is due to tidal forces and the radial direction of gravity. so the WEP requires that the size of the frame in a gravity field, say the dimensions of a lab sitting on the surface of a gravitating body, be very small relative to the dimensions of the gravitating body. The Einstein EP (EEP) says that any local non-gravitational experiment in a freely falling laboratory is independent of the velocity of the laboratory and its location in spacetime. This is the inertial idea of being in a freely falling frame, such as the infamous elevator. Again if this frame falls through a region of a gravity field so that tidal forces are apparent there are departures. The strong EP (SEP) says that the velocity of the frame relative to any outside frame, such as a distant coordinate system, is not a determinant of the measured physics on that local frame. There is again locality of measurements required to eliminate tidal forces. This means that gravitational physics is purely geometric. This is "strong" because it makes reference to regions of spacetime that are removed from any local frame.

When it comes to the rotating frame and the EP, we have certain stipulations that are required. Certainly for the WEP and EEP we require that the dimensions of any local frame be small. This holds for the SEP as well, but we have another stipulation that physics in the lab frame be independent of motion relative to the outside world. This does not happen with the rotating frame. One clear departure is the Coriolis acceleration 2ωxv, which in the rotating frame is rather apparent if there is some motion of a particle relative to the rotating frame. An observer on a frame which observes motion of a freely moving particle as cycles or circles, with no central gravitating body present, suspects then that they are on a rotating frame. As a result the additional caveat for the SEP with rotating frames is that the motion of a particle not under any local force in that frame must have a small velocity v

Dear Christian,

An interesting essay, offering a simple and elegant resolution to a puzzling experimental problem. Very nice work.

Do you know this paper by Bini et al.? http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0106013

Best wishes and good luck in the contest!

Christine

    Hi Christian,

    I always look forward to your essays, because I know I can expect a maximum of theoretical prediction and numerical result, with a minimum of blah,blah, blah ...

    It is evidenced that relativists do not often get due respect in this forum -- I hope you are an exception. The time synchronization issue does indeed cross boundaries of classical and quantum gravity, and rotation is key to the geometry of time synchronized systems.

    I hope you get a chance to visit my essay where, in part, I examine rotation in the complex plane (Euler's geometric interpretation of C) that may have the potential to join Hilbert space quantum dynamics to the continuous functions of classical spacetime.

    All best,

    Tom

      Dear Christine,

      Thanks for finding very nice my Essay. I was not aware of the paper by Bini et al. on rotating frames. It will be my pleasure to read it. Thanks for pointing out it to me.

      I wish you best luck in the Contest.

      Cheers, Ch.

      Hi Tom,

      It is a pleasure to meet you again in FQXi Essay Contest. I am very honoured by your statement that "always look forward to your essays, because I know I can expect a maximum of theoretical prediction and numerical result, with a minimum of blah,blah, blah ..." It is really a great compliment, thank you very much.

      It will be my pleasure to read, comment and score your Essay asap.

      I wish you best luck in the Contest.

      Cheers, Ch.

      Dear Christian,

      I enjoyed your essay, and I agree with you that "General relativity is [...] the best example showing that Mathematics is Truth instead of Trick." And what is the best way to show once more this, than to confirm its validity by explaining the deviation in the Mössbauer rotor experiment, deviation which was even considered an evidence against general relativity's adequacy. That's a good way to answer the contest's question, and in the same time to celebrate 100 years of general relativity. Congratulations!

      Best wishes,

      Cristi Stoica

        Hi Cristi,

        I am very happy to meet you again in FQXi Essay Contest. You indeed know that I am an estimator of your research work. Thus, I am extremely honoured by your good judgement on my Essay and by your congrats, thank you very much.

        I will be pleasured to read, comment and score your Essay asap.

        I wish you best luck in the Contest.

        Cheers, Ch.

        Dear Christian,

        Your essay as always is a rich educational resource, and it's a perfect sentiment for the 100th celebration of General Relativity - a strong and independent proof which reveals the full geometric interpretation of gravity. You provide an excellent analysis of the Mossbauer effect - one I haven't seen before, and your geometric interpretation of time dilation and clock synchronization are absolutely enlightening! You spell out specific pivotal ideas and back them up with technical rigor and lucid experimental evidence; I thoroughly thank you for this solid approach. I also appreciated the application to GPS systems at the end of your essay, a field I briefly consulted in many years ago. A class act contribution to this topic and the forum, I give it the highest rating.

        My essay also brings out how changing the mathematical representation can educe quite amazing revelations in physical explanation, and discusses General Relativity's geometric interpretation as a key feature. Furthermore, it mentions the geometric effect on the Turing machine, and uses relativity theory in understanding the multiverse explanation of self referentially induced superposition. Please take a moment to read my essay and rate it as well,

        Thanks, Steve

          Hi Steve,

          Nice to meet you again here in FQXi Essay Contest.

          Thanks for your kind words and for the highest rating which honour me.

          I must confess that the application to GPS systems at the end of my essay was suggested by a referee of reference [16] in my Essay, which is my research paper published in Ann. Phys. 355, 360 (2015). In fact, I formally thanked that very expert referee in both that research paper and this Essay, which is founded on such a research paper.

          I will be very pleasured to read, comment and rate your Essay asap.

          Thanks again, I wish you best luck in the Contest.

          Cheers, Ch.

          5 days later

          Dr. Corda,

          I also was pleased to see someone celebrate the centennial of General Relativity and had read your abstract immediately. I was not surprised to recognize that I'm not equipped to venture in without a guide and browsing for information confirmed that. The salient feature appears to be the disjunct between SR and GR, and the lack of a unified field resolution that would make GR definitive of a discrete non-zero point particle applicable to QM.

          Though a novice to GR, and only dragged kicking and screaming by the persistence of Thomas Ray to an understanding of it being a selection of interconnecting maths that operate more like a computational device than 'a theory' which is its own co-ordinate system, I was finally disabused of what is probably a common niave assumption that GR is an extension of SR. And while SR is perhaps the most experimentally confirmed theory to date, the time metric remains under constant challenge.

          At issue is the observer experience commonly illustrated by Einstein's epiphany of riding a beam of light and time 'stops'. It is mathematically complete but is based on the metric that the speed of time is one second per second at relative rest and ,Lorentz fashion, is zero second per second at light velocity. If we look at that in reverse, gravitation is the negative acceleration linearly from 1 sec/sec at c, down to relative rest at 0 sec/sec, and perhaps analogous to Unruh's 'uneven flow of time'.

          If we look at SR from a paradigm that time in a stationary frame appears to stop in the experience of an observer in the light velocity frame, because light velocity is equivalent to the limit rate to which time can extend, then both observers can proceed through time at their respective gravitational rate. Energy is mass existing at light velocity but doesn't have to extend spatially to infinity. It remains mathematically complete, and suggests that 0 sec/sec @c | | 1 sec/sec @ 0 , is a 5th dimension.

          I think it was Fitzgerald whom remarked that the finite speed of light is 'astonishingly slow'. Coming down from instantaneous at infinity (?), yeah, he's right. It's like a stone. Thank-you for daring to push the limits in such a public forum, and giving feast for thought. Sincerely, jrc

          OOPS! drat...

          at end of paragraph 4 should read ' 1 sec/sec @ c || 0 sec/sec @ 0 '

          jrc

          Dear John,

          Thanks for your kind words with interesting comments. Actually, today GR is experimentally confirmed almost in the same quantity of SR. Although, on one hand, the time metric remains under constant challenge, on the other hand it has some experimental tests in the so-called gravitational time dilation, i.e. the stronger the gravitational potential (the closer the clock is to the source of gravitation), the slower time passes.

          Thanks again, I will be pleasured to read, comment and rate your Essay asap.

          I wish you best luck in the Contest.

          Cheers, Ch.

          Christian,

          Great essay. You maintain an exceptional standard. I also agree the wisdom of your approach, which I also use, not attacking Einstein for incompleteness or flaws but helping complete it and improve the understanding. I also found your writing very clear and concise. I think it should be another top essay (in the community scoring at least - certainly for me) but I hope may also now seem more palatable to those more theoretically entrenched.

          You should be aware of the other commonalities, but this year I also identify and analyze the consequences of the great mathematical self-deception underlying QM and hampering unification. i.e. I show we CAN trick ourselves by carelessly 'abusing' mathematics in application. I do hope you'll read and comment as I'm sure you'll like and agree it and also maybe find it helpful

          Very well done and thank you for a different vista on the reality we agree on.

          Best of luck

          Peter

            Christian,

            Great opportunity to celebrate GR and Einstein's 100th anniversary. You provide a cogent explanation of a strong and independent proof which reveals the full geometric interpretation of gravity.

            Indeed, Math is truth rather than trick. I have done modelling and simulation and always valued the power of math to lend understanding to operation of weapon systems in aerospace and solve practical problems. I also see its need in bringing us forward in quantum biology, a better understanding of the universe's beginnings (LHC) and the origins of life (DNA). These are sort of my proofs.

            Jim

            Dear Peter,

            It is a pleasure to meet you again here in FQXi. Thanks for the very good judgement on my Essay. I am honoured by this.

            I am going to read, comment and rate your Essay asap.

            Thanks again.

            Cheers,Ch.

            Hi Jim,

            I am happy to meet you again here in FQXi Essay Contest. I am honoured by your good judgement on my Essay, thank you very much.

            I will read, comment and rate your Essay asap.

            Thanks again.

            Cheers, Ch.

            Dear Christian,

            I think Newton was wrong about abstract gravity; Einstein was wrong about abstract space/time, and Hawking was wrong about the explosive capability of NOTHING.

            All I ask is that you give my essay WHY THE REAL UNIVERSE IS NOT MATHEMATICAL a fair reading and that you allow me to answer any objections you may leave in my comment box about it.

            Joe Fisher

              Christian,

              Thanks for taking the time to read my essay. Regarding your comment on Santilli, have you seen this latest report? I don't know all the nuances. What is your reaction?

              http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/01/prweb12448979.htm

              Jim

                Dear Joe,

                It is very hard for me to think that Einstein, Newton and Hawking were wrong as there are tons of experimental and observing data and tons of computations which show that they were correct instead. In any case, I will read, comment and rate your Essay soon.

                Cheers, Ch.

                Dear Jim,

                Thanks for raised this point. It permits indeed to clarify my position with Santilli also here in FQXi. Santilli is indeed considered a crackpot and a crank by the Scientific Community, see here. Differently from this general judgement, I think that there are parts of Santilli's research which should deserve a better attention, in particular Santilli's research on new clean energies. In fact, my general opinion is that although the 98% of the work of a researcher can be, in principle, wrong, it is a good thing to save the remaining 2%. This is the criteria on which I judge the research work, not only of Santilli, but of every researcher. But there are various other issues of Santilli's research on which I completely disagree. In particular, I completely disagree with Santilli's visions of astrophysics, gravitation and cosmology. I collaborated with Santilli in the recent past, but I ultimately ended my collaboration with Santilli and his running dogs this year. My collaboration with Santilli started to fall into crisis during a Greek Conference in September 2015. In that Conference, I criticized Santilli's stuff on antimatter, gravitation and cosmology. I am indeed very tired, bored and irritated in listening wrong claims as "general relativity is wrong" and/or "Hubble's law establishes that the cosmological redshift is the same for all galaxies having the same distance from Earth in all directions in space. Consequently, the conjectures on the expansion of the universe, the acceleration of the expansion and the big bang necessarily imply a return to the Middle Ages with Earth at the center of the universe". The last statements on the lack of the expansion of the universe can be easily dismissed with the simple example of the similarity between the expanding Universe and the expanding surface of a balloon... I also add that Santilli does not understand he difference between tensors and pseudo-tensor when he claims that general relativity is wrong, see here. I clarified that, although I think that part of Santilli research work should deserve a better attention by the scientific community, particularly what concerns the research of new clean energies, this does not mean that I agree with all Santilli's claims. In particular, I completely disagree with his claims on gravitation astrophysics and cosmology, which are completely wrong. After that issue, the Santilli Foundation started to reduce my salary and I was attacked various times by Santilli's servants (which I suspect to be mere sockpuppets...). It seems that the slaves do not permit their messiah to be criticized... Thus, I ultimately stopped to organize any conference activity for them. They also asked me to write papers criticizing Santilli's stuff on gravitation and cosmology. Thus, I decided to satisfy them by writing a strong rebuttal against those wrong claims. But I will not submit it in the American Journal of Modern Physics Special Issue that they are organizing. I will write a very strong paper in a serious journal which will show that Santilli's stuff on general relativity and cosmology is completely wrong.

                Concerning the report that you cited, its author,i.e. Pamela Fleming is one of Santilli's slaves, a crackpot and ignorant woman who claims that Santilli is the Messiah of science and that people who criticize him are corrupted and/or criminal. On the other hand, S. Beghella-Bartoli from Italy, P. M. Bhujbal from India, and A. Nas from the U.S.A., who should be "the scientists having independently confirmed the first detection in history of antimatter galaxies, antimatter cosmic rays and antimatter asteroids achieved by Santilli" are three collaborators of Santilli. In my personal opinon, Santilli did not detected antimatter galaxies, antimatter cosmic rays and antimatter asteroids while Beghella-Bartoli, Bhujbal and Nas confirmed nothing.

                Cheers, Ch.