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In General
> s.a. general relativity / mach's principle;
tests of general relativity; tests
with orbiting bodies.
* Einstein: Einstein arrived at his
field equations for gravitation partly by a physical strategy including the Newtonian
limit, the electromagnetic analogy, and energy conservation; He first found them
in 1913, but he initially thought they must be wrong, because of the hole argument
and because of some incorrect calculations on the Newtonian limit; He settled on
the field equations, and checked that they gave the correct perihelion advance for
Mercury, during a series of four weekly lectures to the Prussian Academy of Sciences
in Berlin culminating in the final lecture of November 25, 2015.
* Early work: The first few decades
saw calculations of the simplest physical consequences, like propagation of light,
correction to planet orbits, simple cosmologies; The formulation in terms of modern
differential geometry came with @ Lichnerowicz 55.
* Lie group methods: Introduced
into cosmology by Gödel (> see gödel
solution) and Taub (> see Taub-NUT solution).
* 1980s: Links were developed with
astrophysics, gauge theory, particle physics; General relativity became a more
balanced (but also chaotic) field, and more confidence in the classical theory
made it less necessary to look for alternatives before quantizing.
@ General references: Mehra 74;
Chandrasekhar AJP(79)mar;
Torretti 83;
Hickman IJTP(84) [and electrodynamics];
Pyenson 85;
Stachel in(86);
Glick ed-87; Ray 87;
Bergmann in(89);
Howard & Stachel ed-89;
Eisenstaedt & Kox ed-92;
Earman et al 93;
Hu HSPBS(04) [criticism in China];
Kox & Eisenstaedt ed-05;
Dadhich phy/05 [and the future];
Crelinsten 06;
Eisenstaedt 06;
Renn 07;
Ellis in-a1509,
news sn(15)oct [100 years];
Goenner GRG(17)-a1607 [remarks];
Dadhich fs(17)-a1609;
Debono & Smoot Univ(16)-a1609 [status and future directions];
Ni ch(16)-a1612;
Kiefer a1812-conf [62 years after GR0, Bern 1955];
Bodziony a1901;
Blum & Brill a1905-in [Wheeler's contribution];
Petkov ed-20.
@ After 1915: Schutz in(12)-a1203 [isolation during the 1930s-1950s and subsequent reinvigoration];
Ashtekar GRG(14)-a1312 [advances 1962-2013];
Wazeck 14 [1920s opposition];
Will APS(15) [re centennial];
Trimble a1711,
a1807 [the impact of World War I];
Lalli 17 [cold war, 1955-1974].
@ Dynamics: Logunov et al PU(04)phy [field equations];
Ostermann gq/04 [variational principle];
Ebner phy/06 [Hilbert's derivation of the field equation];
Choquet-Bruhat a1410 [Cauchy problem, early work];
Deser PS(15)-a1501,
a2103 [ADM formulation];
Choquet-Bruhat CQG+(15) [initial-value formulation].
@ Differing views: Coleman phy/05 [Synge on Whitehead's 1922 Principle of Relativity],
a0704 [Whitehead's theory];
Arciniega PT(19)jul [Einstein-Graef debate].
@ Quantum gravity: Rüger HSPS(88) [quantum spacetime];
Gorelik in(92);
Rovelli gq/00-MG9;
DeWitt GRG(09)-a0805;
Misner GRG(09) [Wheeler];
Gorelik PU(05)
+ webpage [Bronstein];
Rocci JPCS(13)-a1309 [first speculations, 1916-1930];
Pullin CQG(15)-a1505 [the ADM papers and loop quantum gravity];
Peruzzi & Rocci EPJH(18)-a1802 [Léon Rosenfeld];
Salisbury a1909-in [Syracuse 1949-1962];
> s.a. history of quantum theory [field theory in curved spacetime].
@ Conceptual:
Renn Isis(04) [and historical epistemology];
Lombardi in(07)-a0705 [and conception of reality].
@ Specific topics: Halpern 04 [higher dimensions];
Ravndal a1309 [5th dimension];
Pitts SHPMP(16)-a1604 [Einstein, symmetries, conservation laws, and particle physics],
a1909-proc [insights from particle physics];
> s.a. kerr metric; singularities.
> Online resources: see
St-Andrews University page;
Perimeter Institute June 2015 lecture by Jürgen Renn.
Milestones
[@ see Will CQG(15)]
> s.a. history of relativistic cosmology.
* 1859: Precursor,
Le Verrier discovers the Mercury perihelion advance anomaly.
* 1870: Precursor,
Clifford tried to show that matter curves space with an observation
on light polarization.
* 1915: Publication
of Einstein's paper on general relativity.
* 1919: Measurement
of the deflection of light by the Sun
[@ Will CQG(15)-a1409].
* 1929: Hubble's observation of the expansion of the universe
[@ MacCallum CQG(15)].
* 1952: Yvonne Choquet-Brouhat's work on the initial value problem
[@ Ringström CQG(15)].
* 1955: The Bern conference that later became known as GR0.
* 1959: The Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) paper
[@ Pullin CQG(15)].
* 1963: The Wheeler-DeWitt equation
[@ Rovelli CQG(15)];
The Kerr metric [@ Teukolsky CQG(15)].
* 1965: Discovery of the cosmic background radiation
[@ Durrer CQG(15)];
The singularity theorems [@ Senovilla & Garfinkle CQG(15)].
* 1970: Joe Weber's 'announcement' of gravitational-wave detection.
* 1973: First developments in black-hole thermodynamics.
* 1974: Discovery of the binary pulsar by Hulse & Taylor
[@ Damour CQG(15)].
* 1997:
Einstein/Hilbert paternity suit settled by paper proofs [@ Corry et al
Sci(97)nov];
Frame dragging observation [@ news pn(97)nov].
* 1998: The AdS/CFT correspondence
[@ Hubeny CQG(15)].
* 2000: The interferometric
gravitational wave detectors began their runs to accumulate data.
* 2005: Numerical
relativity breakthrough for binary black holes [@ Sperhake
CQG(15)].
* 2016: LIGO announces
the first direct detections of gravitational waves; MICROSCOPE
satellite launched; LISA Pathfinder demonstrates key technologies.
* 2019: First
(radio) image of a black hole, the core of M87, released.
Specific People, Places and Events
@ Places, events: Almassi SHPMP(09) [Eddington's expedition and British acceptance];
Gangui & Ortiz RBHC-a1203 [Argentina in the 1920s];
Janis GRG(11) [Syracuse in the mid-1950s];
van Besouw & van Dongen a1311-fs [reception in the Netherlands];
Dadhich CS-a1511 [post-independence India];
Goenner EPJH(17)-a1607 [Germany from 1915 to the 1990s];
Robinson a1811 [King's College London 1955-1980];
Kiefer a1812 [GR0, Bern 1955];
ten Hagen a2002 [Belgium, 1910s and 1920s].
@ Precursors: Galindo & Cervantes-Cota RMF-a1807 [Clifford's gravitation hypothesis];
Anjum & Mishra a2011 [early history].
@ Einstein: Sauer AHES(99)phy/98 [Einstein-Hilbert question];
Sauer phy/04 [Einstein 1916];
Todorov talk-phy/05 [Einstein & Hilbert];
Schücking a0903 [Einstein's first principle of equivalence, 1907];
Straumann AdP(11)-a1106 [Einstein's "Zürich notebook"];
Weinstein a1201,
a1201,
a1201
[from the 1914 Einstein-Grossmann theory to Einstein's 1916 general relativity];
Weinstein a1202 [Einstein's 1912-1913 struggles];
Weinstein a1202 [Einstein and Levi-Civita, 1914];
Weinstein a1204 [Grossmann's help, 1912-1914];
Giulini a1306-conf [Einstein's "Prague field equation"];
Weinstein a1310 [and the conservation of energy-momentum];
Weinstein a1310 [Einstein's 1916 derivation of the field equations];
Betancort-Rijo & Jiménez a1410 [Einstein's first field equation];
Weinstein a1411 [Einstein and Schwarzschild, 1915-1916];
Weinstein a1412 [and Hilbert];
Janssen & Renn PT(15)nov;
Weinstein a1511
[the two-body problem as a heuristic guide for other work];
Smolin a1512;
Walters a1608;
Dieks a1801 [intuition and derivations];
Lehmkuhl SHPMP(17)-a1803 [the problem of motion];
Peruzzi & Rocci a1811 [Kaluza-Klein higher-dimensional models];
Weinstein a1904 [the November tensor, 1912 to 1915];
> s.a. equivalence principle.
@ Other personal contributions: Deser IJMPA(04)gq/03 [Dirac];
Brading & Ryckman SHPMP(08) [Hilbert's axiomatic approach];
Rindler AJP(09)jun [Gödel's solution and implications];
Sauer a1312-MG13 [Marcel Grossmann];
Milton CJP(14)-a1312 [Julian Schwinger];
Di Mauro et al a2102 [Feynman].
Other Theories of Gravity
> s.a. Scalar Theory; scalar-tensor theories;
unimodular gravity.
@ References: Norton AHES(92) [general relativity and Nordström's scalar theory];
Pitts a1906-in
[cosmological constant vs massive gravitons].
Tests and Phenomenology > s.a. cosmology;
kaluza-klein theory; pulsars.
@ General references:
Peebles EPJH(16)-a1603 [Robert Dicke].
@ Gravitational waves:
Collins HSPBS(03) [LIGO];
Saulson GRG(11) [physical reality];
Kennefick a1407-conf [role of the binary pulsar];
Berti Phy(16) [background to first detection];
Weinstein a1602 [Einstein in 1916-1918];
Holst et al BAMS-a1607
[historical overview of gravitational-wave science];
Cervantes-Cota et al Univ(16)-a1609;
Chen et al ChJP(17)-a1610;
news forbes(17)mar [physical reality, Feynman and the sticky bead argument];
Salisbury a1910
[Trautman and Robinson, and equations of motion];
Bonolis & León a2003-ch;
> s.a. gravitational-wave detection.
@ Black holes: Miller 05;
Baumgarte AIP(06)ap,
Carter AIP(06)gq;
Kundt GRG(09)-a0905;
Trimble a1411-IAU [early quest];
blog pt(15)sep [thermodynamics and information];
Ortega-Rodríguez et al PiP(17)-a1703 [J Robert Oppenheimer];
Herdeiro & Lemos a1811 [genesis of the name];
news sn(19)apr [timeline];
Lemos et al a1911 [and gravitational waves];
Weinstein a2102 [black hole thermodynamics];
> s.a. schwarzschild black hole.
@ 1919 eclipse and light deflection:
Coles ASP-ap/01;
Kennefick a0709-proc,
PT(09)mar;
Will CQG(15)-a1409;
Crispino & Kennefick nPhys(19)-a1907;
Lemos RBEF-a1912;
Cervantes-Cota et al Univ-a1912;
Lemos et al a1912;
Crispino IJMPD-a2004,
Crispino & Paolantonio nAstr-a2004 [the 1912 attempt];
Gilmore & Tausch-Pebody RSNR(20)-a2010.
@ Other phenomenology: Pfister GRG(07) [Lense-Thirring effect];
> s.a. gravitational lensing.
main page
– abbreviations
– journals – comments
– other sites – acknowledgements
send feedback and suggestions to bombelli at olemiss.edu – modified 2 apr 2021