- History of general relativity
Creation of General Relativity
Early investigations
As
Albert Einstein later said, the reason for the development ofgeneral relativity was that the preference of inertial motions withinspecial relativity was unsatisfactory, while a theory which from the outset prefers no state of motion (even accelerated ones) should appear more satisfactory. [Albert Einstein, [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-lecture.html Nobel lecture] in 1921] So in1908 he published an article on acceleration underspecial relativity . In that article, he argued thatfree fall is really inertial motion, and that for a freefalling observer the rules of special relativity must apply. This argument is called theEquivalence principle . In the same article, Einstein also predicted the phenomenon ofgravitational time dilation . In1911 , Einstein published another article expanding on the 1907 article, in which additional effects such as the deflection of light by massive bodies were predicted.General relativity (GR) is a theory of gravitation that was developed by Albert Einstein between 1907 and 1915. According to general relativity, the observed gravitational attraction between masses results from the warping of space and time by those masses.
Before the advent of general relativity, Newton's law of universal gravitation had been accepted for more than two hundred years as a valid description of the gravitional force between masses. Under Newton's model, gravity was the result of an attractive force between massive objects. Although even Newton was bothered by the unknown nature of that force, the basic framework was extremely successful at describing motion.
However, experiments and observations show that Einstein's description accounts for several effects that are unexplained by Newton's law, such as minute anomalies in the orbits of Mercury and other planets. General relativity also predicts novel effects of gravity, such as gravitational waves, gravitational lensing and an effect of gravity on time known as gravitational time dilation. Many of these predictions have been confirmed by experiment, while others are the subject of ongoing research. For example, although there is indirect evidence for gravitational waves, direct evidence of their existence is still being sought by several teams of scientists in experiments such as the LIGO and GEO 600 projects.
General relativity has developed into an essential tool in modern astrophysics. It provides the foundation for the current understanding of black holes, regions of space where gravitational attraction is so strong that not even light can escape. Their strong gravity is thought to be responsible for the intense radiation emitted by certain types of astronomical objects (such as active galactic nuclei or microquasars). General relativity is also part of the framework of the standard Big Bang model of cosmology.
General covariance and the hole argument
By 1912, Einstein was actively seeking a theory in which
gravitation was explained as ageometric phenomenon. At the urging ofTullio Levi-Civita , Einstein began by exploring the use ofgeneral covariance (which is essentially the use of curvaturetensors ) to create a gravitational theory. However, in1913 Einstein abandoned that approach, arguing that it is inconsistent based on the "hole argument ". In 1914 and much of 1915, Einstein was trying to createfield equations based on another approach. When that approach was proven to be inconsistent, Einstein revisited the concept of general covariance and discovered that the hole argument was flawed.The development of the Einstein Field Equations
When Einstein realized that general covariance was actually tenable, he quickly completed the development of the field equations that are named after him. However, he made a now-famous mistake. The field equations he published in October 1915 were
:R_{mu u} = T_{mu u},,
where R_{mu u} is the
Ricci tensor , and T_{mu u} theenergy-momentum tensor . This predicted the non-Newtonianperihelion precession of Mercury, and so had Einstein very excited. However, it was soon realized that they were inconsistent with the localconservation of energy-momentum unless the universe had a constant density of mass-energy-momentum. In other words, air, rock and even a vacuum should all have the same density! This inconsistency with observation sent Einstein back to the drawing board. However, the solution was all but obvious, and in November 1915 Einstein published the actual Einstein field equations::R_{mu u} - {1over 2}R g_{mu u} = T_{mu u},
where R is the
Ricci scalar and g_{mu u} themetric tensor . With the publication of the field equations, the issue became one of solving them for various cases and interpreting the solutions. This and experimental verification have dominated general relativity research ever since.Einstein and Hilbert
Although Einstein is credited with finding the field equations, the German mathematician
David Hilbert published them in an article before Einstein's article. This has resulted in accusations ofplagiarism against Einstein (never from Hilbert), and assertions that the field equations should be called the "Einstein-Hilbert field equations". However, Hilbert did not press his claim for priority and some have asserted that Einstein submitted the correct equations before Hilbert amended his own work to include them. This suggests that Einstein developed the correct field equations first, though Hilbert may have reached them later independently (or even learned of them afterwards through his correspondence with Einstein). [Leo Corry, Jürgen Renn, John Stachel: "Belated Decision in the Hilbert-Einstein Priority Dispute", SCIENCE, Vol. 278,14 November 1997 - [http://www.tau.ac.il/~corry/publications/articles/science.html article text] ] However, others have critizised those assertions. [ [http://physics.unr.edu/faculty/winterberg/Hilbert-Einstein.pdf Friedwart Winterberg's response to the Cory-Renn-Stachel paper] as printed in "Zeitschrift für Naturforschung" [http://www.znaturforsch.com/c59a.htm 59a] , 715-719.]ir Arthur Eddington
In the early years after Einstein's theory was published, Sir Arthur Eddington lent his considerable prestige in the British scientific establishment in an effort to champion the work of this German scientist. Because the theory was so complex and abstruse (even today it is popularly considered the pinnacle of scientific thinking; in the early years it was even more so), it was rumored that only three people in the world understood it. There was an illuminating, though probably apocryphal, anecdote about this. As related by
Ludwik Silberstein , [John Waller (2002), "Einstein's Luck", Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-860719-9] during one of Eddington's lectures he asked "Professor Eddington, you must be one of three persons in the world who understands general relativity." Eddington paused, unable to answer. Silberstein continued "Don't be modest, Eddington!" Finally, Eddington replied "On the contrary, I'm trying to think who the third person is."Solutions
The Schwarzschild solution
Since the field equations are
non-linear , Einstein assumed that they were insoluble. However, in1916 Karl Schwarzschild discovered anexact solution for the case of a spherically symmetricspacetime surrounding a massive object inspherical coordinates . This is now known as theSchwarzschild solution . Since then, many other exact solutions have been found.The expanding universe and the cosmological constant
In
1922 ,Alexander Friedmann found a solution in which the universe may expand or contract, and laterGeorges Lemaître derived a solution for an expanding universe. However, Einstein believed that the universe was apparently static, and since a static cosmology was not supported by the general relativistic field equations, he added acosmological constant Λ to the field equations, which became:R_{mu u} - {1over 2}R g_{mu u} + Lambda g_{mu u} = T_{mu u}.
This permitted the creation of steady-state solutions, but they were unstable: the slightest perturbation of a static state would result in the universe expanding or contracting. In
1929 ,Edwin Hubble found evidence for the idea that the universe is expanding. This resulted in Einstein dropping the cosmological constant, referring to it as "the biggest blunder in my career". At the time, it was anad hoc hypothesis to add in the cosmological constant, as it was only intended to justify one result (a static universe).More exact solutions
Progress in solving the field equations and understanding the solutions has been ongoing. The solution for a spherically symmetric charged object was discovered by Reissner and later rediscovered by Nordström, and is called the Reissner-Nordström solution. The black hole aspect of the Schwarzschild solution was very controversial, and Einstein did not believe that singularities could be real. However, in
1957 (two years after Einstein's death in1955 ),Martin Kruskal published a proof that black holes are called for by the Schwarzschild Solution. Additionally, the solution for a rotating massive object was obtained by Kerr in the 1960s and is called theKerr solution . TheKerr-Newman solution for a rotating, charged massive object was published a few years later.Testing the theory
The perihelion precession of Mercury was the first evidence that general relativity is correct. Sir
Arthur Stanley Eddington 's 1919 expedition in which he confirmed Einstein's prediction for the deflection of light by the Sun helped to cement the status of general relativity as a likely true theory. Since then many observations have confirmed the correctness ofgeneral relativity . These include studies ofbinary pulsar s, observations of radio signals passing the limb of the Sun, and even theGPS system. For more information, see theTests of general relativity article.Alternative theories
Finally, there have been various attempts through the years to find modifications to general relativity. The most famous of these are the
Brans-Dicke theory (also known asscalar-tensor theory ), andRosen's bimetric theory . Both of these proposed changes to the field equations, and both suffer from these changes permitting the presence of bipolar gravitational radiation. As a result, Rosen's original theory has been refuted by observations of binary pulsars. As for Brans-Dicke (which has a tunable parameter "ω" such that "ω = ∞" is the same as general relativity), the amount by which it can differ from general relativity has been severely constrained by these observations. However, general relativity andquantum mechanics (a theory that has been experimentally verified more than GR) are known to be inconsistent. Much speculation exists that modifications of GR (but not QM) are needed on the smallest scales (as GR has not been tested rigorously on the smallest scales). In the other camp, speculation exists that QM needs to be modified (for example, it usually assumes a fixed (flat) spacetime background). Most researchers believe that both theories are in need of modification.Notes
References
*cite book | author=Pais, Abraham | title= Subtle is the lord: the science and life of Albert Einstein| location=Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1982 | id=ISBN 0-19-853907-X
* [http://www.bun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~suchii/gen.GR.html Genesis of general relativity series]
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