The Universe of General Relativity

384 Pages·2005·1.477 MB·English

by  John Stachel (auth.), A. J. Kox, Jean Eisenstaedt (eds.)

Einstein Studies
Editors: Don Howard John Stachel
Published under the sponsorship
of the Center for Einstein Studies,
Boston University
Volume 1: Einstein and the History of General Relativity
Don Howard and John Stachel, editors
Volume 2: Conceptual Problems of Quantum Gravity
Abhay Ashtekar and John Stachel, editors
Volume 3: Studies in the History of General Relativity
Jean Eisenstaedt and A.J. Kox, editors
Volume 4: Recent Advances in General Relativity
Allen I. Janis and John R. Porter, editors
Volume 5: The Attraction of Gravitation: New Studies
in the History of General Relativity
John Earman, Michel Janssen and
John D. Norton, editors
Volume 6: Mach’s Principle: From Newton’s Bucket
to Quantum Gravity
Julian B. Barbour and Herbert Pfister, editors
Volume 7: The Expanding Worlds of General Relativity
Hubert Goenner, Jürgen Renn, Jim Ritter,
and Tilman Sauer, editors
Volume 8: Einstein: The Formative Years, 1879–1909
Don Howard and John Stachel, editors
Volume 9: Einstein from ‘B’ to ‘Z’
John Stachel
Volume 10: Einstein Studies in Russia
Yuri Balashov and Vladimir Vizgin, editors
Volume 11: The Universe of General Relativity
A.J. Kox and Jean Eisenstaedt, editors
A.J. Kox Jean Eisenstaedt
Editors
The Universe of General Relativity
Birkha¨user
Boston • Basel • Berlin
A.J.Kox JeanEisenstaedt
UniversiteitvanAmsterdam ObservatoiredeParis
InstituutvoorTheoretischeFysica SYRTE/UMR8630–CNRS
Valckenierstraat65 F-75014ParisCedex
1018XEAmsterdam France
TheNetherlands
AMSSubjectClassification(2000):01A60,83-03,83-06
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Theuniverseofgeneralrelativity/A.J.Kox,editors,JeanEisenstaedt.
p.cm.–(Einsteinstudies;v.11)
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
ISBN-13978-0-8176-4380-5(alk.paper)
ISBN-10:0-8176-4380-X(alk.paper)
1.Relativity(Physics)–History–Congresses.2.Generalrelativity
(Physics)–History–Congresses.3.Gravitation–History–Congresses.4.
Cosmology–History–Congresses.5.Unifiedfieldtheories–History–Congresses.6.Einstein,Albert,
1879-1955.I.Kox,AnneJ.,1948-II.Eisenstaedt,JeanIII.Series.
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Contents
PREFACE......................................................... ix
1 Fresnel’s(Dragging)CoefficientasaChallengeto19thCenturyOpticsof
MovingBodies
JOHNSTACHEL ................................................... 1
2 Poincare´’sRelativisticTheoryofGravitation
SHAULKATZIR ................................................... 15
3 StandingontheShouldersofaDwarf:GeneralRelativity—ATriumphof
EinsteinandGrossmann’sErroneousEntwurfTheory
JU¨RGENRENN .................................................... 39
4 BeforetheRiemannTensor:TheEmergenceofEinstein’sDoubleStrategy
JU¨RGENRENN .................................................... 53
5 AConjectureonEinstein,theIndependentRealityofSpacetimeCoordinate
SystemsandtheDisasterof1913
JOHND.NORTON ................................................. 67
6 EinsteinandthePrincipleofGeneralRelativity,1916–1921
CHRISTOPHLEHNER............................................... 103
7 EinsteinandtheProblemofMotion:ASmallClue
DANIELKENNEFICK ............................................... 109
8 ANoteonGeneralRelativity,EnergyConservation,andNoether’sTheorems
KATHERINEBRADING ............................................. 125
9 Weylvs.ReichenbachonLichtgeometrie
ROBERTRYNASIEWICZ............................................. 137
viii Contents
10 DingleanddeSitterAgainsttheMetaphysicians,orTwoWaystoKeep
ModernCosmologyPhysical
GEORGEGALE.................................................... 157
11 GeorgeGamowandthe‘FactualApproach’toRelativisticCosmology
HELGEKRAGH ................................................... 175
12 GeorgeMcVittie,TheUncompromisingEmpiricist
JOSE´ M.SA´NCHEZ-RON............................................ 189
13 False Vacuum: Early Universe Cosmology and the Development of
Inflation
CHRISSMEENK ................................................... 223
14 Hilbert’s“WorldEquations”andHisVisionofaUnifiedScience
U.MAJERANDT.SAUER........................................... 259
15 Einstein,Kaluza,andtheFifthDimension
DANIELAWU¨NSCH ................................................ 277
16 UnifiedFieldTheory:EarlyHistoryandInterplayBetweenMathematics
andPhysics
HUBERTF.M.GOENNER ........................................... 303
17 IsQuantumGravityNecessary?
JAMESMATTINGLY ................................................ 327
18 EinsteinintheDailyPress:AGlimpseintotheGehrckePapers
MILENAWAZECK ................................................. 339
19 Syracuse:1949–1952
JOSHUAGOLDBERG ............................................... 357
20 A Biased and Personal Description of GR at Syracuse University,
1951–1961
E.T.NEWMAN ................................................... 373
Preface
Acenturyago,in1905,AlbertEinsteinpublished,“OntheElectrodynamicsofMov-
ingBodies,”inwhichthefoundationswerelaidfortheSpecialTheoryofRelativity.
TenyearslaterhisrelativistictheoryofgravitationandtheGeneralTheoryofRelativ-
ityappeared.Fiftyyearsago,EinsteinpassedawayinPrinceton.
Inthe1980s,JohnStachel,thenEditoroftheCollectedPapersofAlbertEinstein,
brought together a group of historians, philosophers, physicists, and mathematicians
who had one thing in common: a lively interest in the history and foundations of
the theories of relativity. At a meeting in 1986 at Osgood Hill, this group met for
the first time to discuss the prehistory, development, reception, and other aspects of
relativity.Itwasthebeginningofavaluabletradition.Sincetheneverythreeorfour
years a meeting has been organized during which historical and foundational issues
ingeneral(andspecial)relativityhavebeendiscussed.OsgoodHillwasfollowedby
Luminy in 1988. Then came Johnstown (1991), Berlin (1995), Notre Dame (1999),
andfinallyAmsterdam(2002),theproceedingsofwhicharepresentedinthisvolume
(supplementedwithsomepapersfromtheprecedingmeeting).
Onceagainthesearticlesclearlyshowthatanhistoricalapproachcanleadtonew
insights into the development and elaboration of relativity. The prehistory of special
relativityandanearlyattemptatarelativistictheoryofgravitationarecoveredinpa-
persbyJohnStachelandShaulKatzir,respectively.Thebirthandearlyhistoryofgen-
eralrelativityarethetopicsofthepapersbyJu¨rgenRenn,JohnNorton,andChristoph
Lehner.TheyarefollowedbyDanielKennefick’scontribution,whichfocusesonone
ofthemajorproblemsingeneralrelativity:theproblemofmotion.Thatgeneralrela-
tivityhasclosetiestomathematicsbecomesclearfromKatherineBrading’spaperon
the conservation laws and Robert Rynasiewicz’s article on the axiomatization of the
theory.
Five papers then follow on cosmology, a topic of research that owes much of its
existence to General Relativity. George Gale, Helge Kragh, and Jose´ Sa´nchez-Ron
takeacloserlookattheworkofHerbertDingleandWillemdeSitter,GeorgeGamov,
and George McVittie, respectively, while Chris Smeenk discusses an aspect of more
contemporarycosmology.
x Preface
As is well known, during the second part of his active life Einstein pursued the
goalofcreatingaunifiedfieldtheorytounifygravitationandelectromagnetism.That
hewasnottheonlyonesearchingforaunifiedtheorybecomesclearfromthecontri-
butionsofUlrichMajerandTilmanSauerontheworkofDavidHilbertandofHubert
Goenner on the early history of unified field theory. Next, Daniela Wu¨nsch studies
the work of Einstein and Theodor Kaluza, which is not just of historical value but
in recent years has provoked much interest. Finally, James Mattingly presents some
considerationsonthenecessityofquantumgravity.
Thevolumeconcludeswiththreecontributionsonamore“personal”level.First,
Milena Wazeck uses the recently-discovered papers of the physicist Ernst Gehrcke
to provide a view of the reception of relativity by the general public. Next, the two
renownedrelativistsJoshGoldbergandTedNewmansharewithustheirrecollections
of the time when they were both actively contributing to the further development of
theGeneralTheoryofRelativity.
A.J.Kox,Amsterdam
J.Eisenstaedt,Paris
August2005
The Universe of General Relativity