Gravitational redshift revisited: Inertia, geometry, and charge.
Gravitational redshift effects undoubtedly exist; moreover, the experimental setups which confirm the existence of these effects—the most famous of which being the Pound–Rebka experiment—are extremely well-known. Nonetheless—and perhaps surprisingly—there remains a great deal of confusion in the lit...
| Published in: | Studies in History & Philosophy of Science Part A Vol. 108; pp. 19 - 28 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
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Elsevier B.V.
Dec2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=181601581&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 181601581 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00393681 HPS jtl: Studies in History & Philosophy of Science Part A issn: 00393681 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Dec2024 vid: 108 pid: 2410 pub: Elsevier B.V. artinfo: ui: 181601581 10.1016/j.shpsa.2024.09.001 ppf: 19 ppct: 9 formats: tig: atl: Gravitational redshift revisited: Inertia, geometry, and charge. aug: au: Fankhauser, Johannes Read, James affil: Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Innsbruck, Austria Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford, UK su: Special relativity (Physics) Gravitational effects Metric geometry Spacetime Redshift sug: subj: Special relativity (Physics) Gravitational effects Metric geometry Spacetime Redshift keyword: General Relativity geometry gravitational redshift inertia Reissner–Nordström metric spacetime theory ab: Gravitational redshift effects undoubtedly exist; moreover, the experimental setups which confirm the existence of these effects—the most famous of which being the Pound–Rebka experiment—are extremely well-known. Nonetheless—and perhaps surprisingly—there remains a great deal of confusion in the literature regarding what these experiments really establish. Our goal in the present article is to clarify these issues, in three concrete ways. First, although (i) Brown and Read (2016) are correct to point out that, given their sensitivity, the outcomes of experimental setups such as the original Pound–Rebka configuration can be accounted for using solely the machinery of accelerating frames in special relativity (barring some subtleties due to the Rindler spacetime necessary to model the effects rigorously), nevertheless (ii) an explanation of the results of more sensitive gravitational redshift outcomes does in fact require more. Second, although typically this 'more' is understood as the invocation of spacetime curvature within the framework of general relativity, in light of the so-called 'geometric trinity' of gravitational theories, in fact curvature is not necessary to explain even these results. Thus (a) one can often explain the results of these experiments using only the resources of special relativity, and (b) even when one cannot, one need not invoke spacetime curvature. And third: while one might think that the absence of gravitational redshift effects would imply that spacetime is flat (indeed, Minkowskian), this can be called into question given the possibility of the cancelling of gravitational redshift effects by charge in the context of the Reissner–Nordström metric. This argument is shown to be valid and both attractive forces as well as redshift effects can be effectively shielded (and even be repulsive or blueshifted, respectively) in the charged setting. Thus, it is not the case that the absence of gravitational effects implies a Minkowskian spacetime setting. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2024 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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