Construct · 1 fields · 3 citations

general relativity: a standalone construct

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generalrelativity1 CONSTRUCTGeneral relativityEINSTEIN · SPACETIME

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Physics

Einstein's geometric theory of gravity as spacetime curvature

Albert Einstein set out general relativity in his 1916 paper Die Grundlage der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie (The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity), completing a theory he had announced in late 1915. It recasts gravity not as a force that pulls objects across space but as the curvature of spacetime, the combined four-dimensional fabric of space and time: mass and energy bend this fabric, and freely moving bodies follow the straightest available paths through the curved geometry, which is what we observe as falling and orbiting. Its governing field equations tie the distribution of matter and energy to the geometry of spacetime, and they reproduce Newton's older law of gravitation where gravity is weak while departing from it in strong fields and at high speeds. The theory predicted effects later confirmed by observation, including the bending of starlight passing the Sun, measured during the 1919 solar eclipse, the slowing of clocks in gravitational fields, and gravitational waves, ripples in spacetime first detected directly in 2015. It also describes black holes and the expanding universe, and it remains the standard framework physicists use to model gravity on scales from the Solar System to the cosmos.[1][2][3]

Unit
A physical theory: a set of field equations relating the distribution of mass and energy to the geometry of spacetime
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Tested through its predictions, including light deflection near massive bodies, gravitational time dilation and redshift, the perihelion precession of Mercury, gravitational lensing, and the direct detection of gravitational waves

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Nearby constructs

gravity4 fields · 6 citationsjingle · one word, four constructscurvature3 fields · 4 citationsjingle · one word, three constructscovariance3 fields · 3 citationsjingle · one word, three constructs

References

  1. Einstein, A. (1916). Die Grundlage der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie. Annalen der Physik, 354(7), 769–822. https://doi.org/10.1002/andp.19163540702
  2. Dyson, F. W., Eddington, A. S., & Davidson, C. (1920). A determination of the deflection of light by the sun's gravitational field, from observations made at the total eclipse of May 29, 1919. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, 220, 291–333. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1920.0009
  3. Abbott, B. P., et al. (2016). Observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger. Physical Review Letters, 116(6), 061102. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102

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