Summary
A new interpretation is given of Afred N. Whitehead's 1922 theory of gravity, which was considered a viable alternative to Einstein's theory until 1971. The strong equivalence principle is satisfied by this new interpretation. The history, motivation and pedagogical advantages underlying the new interpretation are discussed. This version of Whitehead's theory passes the gravimeter tests which the old version failed. Tests such as the Nordtvedt effect and the binary pulsar are considered here, but no final conclusions are given.
Riassunto
Si dà una nuova interpretazione della teoria di Alfred N. Whitehead del 1922 sulla gravità, che è stata considerata una valida alternativa alla teoria di Einstein fino al 1971. Il principio di forte equivalenza è soddisfatto da questa nuova interpretazione. Si discutono la storia, le ragioni e i vantaggi pedagogici che sottolineano la nuova interpretazione. Questa versione della teoria di Whitehead passa i test del gravimetro mancati dalla vecchia versione. Si considerano qui test come l'effetto di Nordtvedt e il pulsar binario ma non si danno conclusioni finali.
Резюме
Предлагается новая интерпетация теории гравитации Альфреда Н. Уайтхеда, сформулированной в 1922г., которая рассматривалась, как альтернативная теории Эйнштейна до 1971г. Эта новая интерпретация позволяет удовлетворить сильному принципу эквивалентности. Обсуждаются история, мотивация и педагогические преимущества новой интерпретации. Предложенный вариант теории Уайтхеда удовлетворяет гравиметрическим исследованиям, которым не удовлетворял старый вариант теории. В этой работе рассматриваются такие тесты, как эффект Нордведа и бинарный пульсар, однако не предлагаются окончательные выводы.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A. N. Whitehead:The Principle of Relativity (Cambridge University Press, London, 1922).
J. L. Synge:Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A,211, 303 (1952).
C. M. Will:Astrophys. J.,169, 141 (1971).
R. P. Feynman, R. B. Leighton andM. L. Sands:The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. 1 (Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1964), p. 28–2.
C. M. Will:Theory and Experiment in Gravitational Physics (Cambridge University Press, London, 1981), p. 17.
S. Weinberg:Gravitation and Cosmology (Wiley, New York, N.Y., 1972), Chapt. 3.
D. Hilbert:Gesammelte Abhandlungen, Vol. 3 (Springer, Berlin, 1970), p. 271.
A. S. Eddington:Nature (London),113, 192 (1924).
R. Adler, M. Bazin andM. Schiffer:Introduction to General Relativity (McGraw-Hill, New York, N. Y., 1975), p. 238. A time reversal reconciles the formulae.
C. W. Misner, K. S. Thorne andJ. A. Wheeler:Gravitation (Freeman, San Francisco, Cal., 1973), p. 828; see also ref. (6)S. Weinberg:Gravitation and Cosmology (Wiley, New York, N.Y., 1972), Chapt. 3, p. 208.
C. C. Chiang andV. H. Hamity:Lett. Nuovo Cimento,13, 471 (1975). These authors obtain the results of ref. (3)C. M. Will:Astrophys. J.,169, 141 (1971), in a much simpler way.
C. B. Rayner:Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A,222, 509 (1954).
J. D. North:The Measure of the Universe (Oxford University Press, London, 1965), p. 194.
J. D. Jackson:Classical Electrodynamics, (Wiley, New York, N.Y., 1975), p. 657.
See ref. (6), p. 212.
J. L. Synge andB. S. De Witt: inRelativity, Groups, and Topology, edited byC. De Witt andB. De Witt (Blackie, London, 1964), p. 37 and p. 735.
A. Schild: inEvidence for Gravitational Theories, edited byC. Moller (Academic Press, New York, N.Y., 1962), p. 82.
See ref. (6), p. 163.
S. W. Hawking:A Brief History of Time (Bantam, New York, N.Y., 1988), p. 94.
See ref. (5), subsect. 33.
See ref. (6) p. 26.
G. L. Clark:Proc. R. Soc. Edinburgh, Sect. A,64, 49 (1954).
See ref. (5), p. 10.
See ref. (5), p. 96.
See ref. (5), p. 90.
See ref. (5), p. 267 and p. 239.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Traduzione a cura della Redazione.
Переведено редакцией.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hyman, A.T. A new interpretation of Whitehead’s theory. Nuov Cim B 104, 387–398 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02725671
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02725671