On The Electromagnetic Basis for Gravity

Journal of Mathematical Physics, 1966

A purely covariant treatment is made of those solutions of the Einstein field equations which represent pure gravitational radiation propagating in fluid and electromagnetic media. The analysis involves a discussion of the full Bianchi identities in carefully selected tetrad frames. In this way the interaction between the gravitational field and the medium is transferred to a coupling between a preferred frame for the gravitational field and one for the matter field. The gravitational radiation no longer propagates along shear-free null geodesics, as it does in vacuum, and the shear and ray curvature of the propagation vector are shown to depend directly on the properties of the medium. Some new solutions of the field equations, representing transverse gravitational waves propagating in an electromagnetic field, are exhibited and discussed in some detail. It is shown that no such solutions exist, at least in simple cases, for perfect fluids. Finally, the treatment presented here is compared with the more usual electromagnetic treatment, and it is shown why the theories require basically different approaches.

2011

We show that the Maxwell equations describing an electromagnetic wave are a mathematical consequence of the Einstein equations for the same wave. This fact is significant for the problem of the Einsteinian metrics corresponding to the electromagnetic waves.

2016

We show that the Maxwell equations describing an electromagnetic wave are a mathematical consequence of the Einstein equations for the same wave. This fact is significant for the problem of the Einsteinian metrics corresponding to the electromagnetic waves. Summary-Introduction-1. On a consequence of the fact that the light-rays are null geodesics in any spacetime manifold.-2. The Maxwell equations of an electromagnetic wave are a consequence of the Einstein equations for the same wave.-2bis. An example.-3. A result analogous to that of sect.2 holds in the linear version of GR.-3bis, 3ter. An example.-4. A final remark.-Appendix.

1983

The Maxwell equations in a weak gravitational field are reduced to a single scalar wave equation. An analogous result is also obtained for a slowly varying gravitational field of arbitrary intensity that is accurate to the second-order terms with respect to the photon wavelength. Calculations are made of the refractive index and of the phase and group velocities of the electromagnetic waves.

Physical Review D, 1999

This paper gives an account of the Gestalt Aether Theory of gravity. Gestalt Aether Theory clearly establishes the connection between electromagnetism and gravity and is able to account for every known or observed property of gravity. It offers a format for extremely precise calculations on the force of gravity.

Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 2007

By recognising that stress-energy-momentum tensors are fundamentally related to gravitation in spacetime it is argued that the classical electromagnetic properties of a simple polarisable medium may be parameterised in terms of a constitutive tensor whose properties can in principle be determined by experiments in non-inertial (accelerating) 1 frames and in the presence of weak but variable gravitational fields. After establishing some geometric notation, discussion is given to basic concepts of stress, energy and momentum in the vacuum where the useful notion of a drive form is introduced in order to associate the conservation of currents involving the flux of energy, momentum and angular momentum with spacetime isometries. The definition of the stress-energy-momentum tensor is discussed with particular reference to its symmetry based on its role as a source of relativistic gravitation. General constitutive properties of material continua are formulated in terms of spacetime tensors including those that describe magneto-electric phenomena in moving media. This leads to a formulation of a self-adjoint constitutive tensor describing, in general, inhomogeneous, anisotropic, magneto-electric bulk matter in arbitrary motion. The question of an invariant characterisation of intrinsically magneto-electric media is explored. An action principle is established to generate the phenomenological Maxwell system and the use of variational derivatives to calculate stress-energy-momentum tensors is discussed in some detail. The relation of this result to tensors proposed by Abraham and others is discussed in the concluding section where the relevance of the whole approach to experiments on matter in non-inertial environments with variable gravitational and electromagnetic fields is stressed.

American Journal of Physics, 2001

We consider the propagation of massive-particle de Broglie waves in a static, isotropic metric in general relativity. We demonstrate the existence of an index of refraction that governs the waves and that has all the properties of a classical index of refraction. We confirm our interpretation with a Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin solution of the general-relativistic Klein–Gordon equation. Finally, we make some observations on the significance of the optical action.

Physical Review A

Classical and Quantum Gravity, 2013

The effect of static electromagnetic fields on the propagation of light is analyzed in the context of a particular class of scalar-tensor gravitational theories. It is found that for appropriate field configurations and light polarization, anomalous amplitude variations of the light as it propagates in either a magnetized or electrified vacuum are strong enough to be detectable in relatively simple laboratory experiments.