8
votes
Can perfectly stable orbits exist in GR?
As you say, GR implies that all orbits lose energy (very slowly) over time, due to gravitational waves. Also the vacuum of space is not true vacuum and there is some drag from the intergalactic medium ...
- 6,104
8
votes
Can perfectly stable orbits exist in GR?
In the literature, the orbits you are looking for a called “floating orbits”. Floating orbits are not possible in plain GR (See e.g. 1302.1016).
- 12.5k
5
votes
Can perfectly stable orbits exist in GR?
In the 1979 paper "Time without end", Freeman Dyson calculates a time in the order of 1020 years until the earth would fall into the sun due to gravitational decay alone, based on the ...
- 345
1
vote
Accepted
Cause of Coordinate Acceleration in Free Fall
The acceleration on a particle following a geodesic is defined by the Christoffel symbols which are in turn defined in terms of the metric.
More properly, all inertially-moving objects not affected by ...
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