All Questions
Tagged with gravity general-relativity
2,007
questions
21
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3
answers
2k
views
Can perfectly stable orbits exist in GR?
Defining "stable orbit" between two bodies as one where, in the absence of other bodies or non-gravitational forces, the distance stays between some value pair $r_{min}>0$ and $r_{max}$. ...
- 363
-3
votes
0
answers
44
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What is the cause of gravity according to general relativity? [duplicate]
The question is based on general relativity and it can help big bang theory.
1
vote
1
answer
33
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Cause of Coordinate Acceleration in Free Fall [duplicate]
So I understand that objects in free fall are in an inertial frame, at rest in terms of relativity. However, from a person on the surface of earth, a falling apple is accelerating constantly until it ...
- 475
0
votes
0
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35
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Energy of the gravitational field within a sphere of radius $R$ in the Schwarzschild metric
The Landau-Lifshitz energy-momentum pseudotensor $t^{μν}$ is defined by
$$16πt^{μν}
= -2G^{μν} - g^{-1} \left[ -g \left( g^{μν}g^{αβ} - g^{μα}g^{νβ} \right) \right]_{,αβ}$$
where $g=\text{det}[g^{μν}]...
- 366
-2
votes
3
answers
101
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What is the gravitational field of a hole in an infinite perfect crystal?
Or equivalently and more interestingly: In the early universe when there was uniform H/He gas everywhere, gravitational field was close to 0 everywhere. Every test particle was pulled from all sides ...
0
votes
2
answers
60
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Confused about Weinberg's result of gravitational time dilation
I am reading Weinberg's Gravitation and Cosmology. In section 3.5, the author got a result$$\frac{dt}{\Delta t}=(-g_{00})^{-1/2}\tag{3.5.2}.$$Here $dt$ is the time interval of a stationary observer in ...
- 613
1
vote
0
answers
50
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Does gravity accelerate you towards the geodesic of light between you and the mass?
If there's a planet far away, you will accelerate straight towards it due to gravity. If you place a Schwarzschild black hole right in the middle between you and the planet (the distance between the ...
- 171
3
votes
0
answers
52
views
Negative (absolute - not potential) energy of the gravitational field; how to generalize to GR?
Alan Guth gives a thought experiment to show that a gravitational field has negative energy. (See the picture below.) Consider a thin spherical shell of elastic, compressible matter, of radius $R_o$. ...
- 366
4
votes
0
answers
93
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Lorentz force error in the present 2024 version of the gravitoelectromagnetism Wikipedia page? [closed]
I noticed that the Gravitoelectromagnetism (GEM) Wikipedia page has been edited recently. The factor of 4 in the GEM Lorentz force equation is now missing. But the GEM field equations are identical to ...
- 41
2
votes
1
answer
76
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How to properly combine kinetic and gravitational time dilation effect?
I developed a time dilation calculator that includes both kinetic (Lorentz Factor) and gravitational (Schwarzschild Metric Formula) factors to assess the time difference between Earth and satellites. ...
8
votes
5
answers
1k
views
Do you always experience the gravitational influence of other mass as you see them in your frame?
You see a galaxy far away. That galaxy is attracting you with a certain amount of gravity. I'm wondering if the gravity influence of the galaxy on you, as measured by you, always ends up being what ...
- 171
3
votes
2
answers
86
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Tug of war between observers in frames with different rate of time
You have a very dense hollow sphere of matter. Observer A is inside the sphere inside a rocket. Observer B is in an identical rocket outside the sphere where the ring's gravity is negligible. They are ...
- 171
1
vote
3
answers
103
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Do clocks tick faster when gravitational forces are weaker?
A professor last year taught us that "gravity slows clocks," when teaching about the relationship between gravity and time. This led me to think about places, such as intergalactic space, ...
4
votes
1
answer
197
views
Binary black hole merging condition
Assuming two black holes with the same rest mass $m$ collid coming from infinity with velocity $v$ and impact parameter $b$. Lets ignore spin at first. For which values of $v$ and $b$ would these ...
- 41
2
votes
0
answers
33
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Second-order equations of motion for higher derivative gravity?
We know that Lovelock gravity is the most general theory of gravity possible for Lagrangians which depend only on the metric tensor and the Riemann tensor
\begin{equation*}
L = L \left(g_{\alpha\beta},...
- 1,588
11
votes
2
answers
513
views
Why is nonzero net charge density incompatible with the cosmological principle?
In an answer to a question about the overall charge-neutrality of the universe, benrg writes,
A nonzero net charge density is incompatible with the cosmological
principle. Unlike the gravitational ...
rob♦
- 91.5k
0
votes
0
answers
40
views
Topological illustration of spacetime dilation: which function should I use for isometric lines spacing?
Scientific popularization, when it comes to illustrating spacetime dilation around massive objects, often relies on the description of a two-dimensional square-grid, which can be regarded as a cross-...
0
votes
1
answer
57
views
When is it appropriate to say Newtonian gravity is a force? When is it not appropiate? [closed]
Please help me understand the notion of force when it is applied to Newtonian gravity. From my understanding forces in physics involve interactions with at least 2 objects and can cause an ...
- 431
5
votes
3
answers
414
views
Why is the universe charge-neutral?
The positive charges (such as from the protons) of the universe are almost neutralized by the negative charges (such as from the electrons).
Is there an explanation for this neutrality? Does it ...
- 4,452
7
votes
1
answer
747
views
Can gravity radiate?
In electromagnetism, when a charge accelerates, it emits radiation. We know this because we can write the retarded potentials, apply $\vec E=- \nabla V-\frac{\partial \vec{A}}{\partial t}$ and $\vec B=...
- 1,616
4
votes
4
answers
911
views
Thought experiment regarding gravity
Let there be a mass $M$ which is a spherical shell of radius $R$.
Now the Gaussian flux about a enclosing sphere of radius $r$ where $r>R$ will be proportional to $M$ or $GM$ (where $G$ is the ...
- 627
2
votes
1
answer
74
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Definition of the gravitational constant in 1+1 gravity
In this paper, the author formulates a $(1+1)$-dimensional theory of gravity by taking the trace of the Einstein equations
$$\left(1 - \frac{D}{2}\right)R = 8\pi G_D T,\tag{2}$$
(where $G_D$ is the ...
0
votes
1
answer
86
views
Is the Planck mass the "lower limit" for gravity?
The Planck units are often treated as being the "lower limits" to things: the Planck length for length, the Planck time for time, etc.
But the Planck mass, which is about $2.2\times10^{-5}$ ...
- 413
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votes
0
answers
27
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Detailed derivation of ESCK gravity and Extended Friedmann Equations with Torsion
Do you know a textbook on the Einstein-Cartan-Sciama-Kibble theory of Gravitation and its application to derive Extended Friedmann Equations with Torsion, which shows the calculations in detail?
0
votes
2
answers
83
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How could I calculate the time it will take for light and mass to go towards a black hole and come back, to and from constant radial distances?
If you have a "perfect mirror" and a "perfect trampoline" at some constant distance outside a black hole's event horizon:
a) How would a shell observer at some distance farther ...
- 171
4
votes
1
answer
169
views
How are objects inside a black hole affected by the gravity of objects outside the black hole?
There are many Q&As about whether something inside a black hole can escape the event horizon if another massive object gets close enough to pull it out. I realize the answer (I think universally ...
- 450
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votes
1
answer
85
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Questions about speed of gravity [duplicate]
If gravity "travels" at $c$, and the sun is travelling "forward", does it mean the planets are actually orbiting various points "behind" the center of the sun? Does it ...
2
votes
1
answer
60
views
Acceleration at peak of a gravitational wave
The amplitude of the strongest gravitational wave signal detected by LIGO sofar can maybe be expressed as an acceleration? If so, what would the numerical value be (in m/s^2)? I would like to compare ...
- 243
1
vote
0
answers
48
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How can you use gravity while trying to model gravity? [duplicate]
So consider the usual pop-science spacetime model, a bowling ball on a trampoline. Apparently, the ball should sink into the trampoline, causing a dip in the fabric which causes nearby objects to fall ...
- 141
3
votes
2
answers
84
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How is it that energy of matter yields gravity if the amount of energy in a system is frame dependent while the force caused by gravity is not?
I've been told that the gravitational field arises due to the energy density terms in the stress-energy tensor of matter and therefore that all energy of matter exerts a gravitational field effect, ...
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