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Gravitation and mass decrease

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Abstract

Consequences in physical theory of assuming the general relativistic time transformation for the de Broglie frequencies of matter, v = E/h = mc2/h, are investigated in this paper. Experimentally it is known that electromagnetic waves from a source in a gravitational field are decreased in frequency, in accordance with the Einstein general relativity time transformation. An extension to de Broglie frequencies implies mass decrease in a gravitational field. Such a decrease gives an otherwise missing energy conservation for some processes; also, a physical alteration is then associated with change in gravitational potential. Further, the general relativity time transformation that is the source of gravitational action in the weak field (Newtonian) approximation then has a physical correlate in the proposed gravitational mass loss. Rotational motion and the associated equivalent gravitational-field mass loss are considered; an essential formal difference between metric (gravitational) mass loss and special relativity mass increase is discussed. For a spherical, nonrotating mass collapsed to its Schwarzschild radius the postulated mass loss is found to give a 25% decrease in the mass acting as origin of an external gravitational field.

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Schlegel, R. Gravitation and mass decrease. Found Phys 12, 781–795 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00731690

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00731690

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