[Go to Google Groups Home] Groups € Advanced Groups Search € Groups Help Groups search result 861 for Charles McGrew From: Charles Francis (charles@clef.demon.co.uk) Search Result 861 Subject: Re: Just wondering whether electrons might be mini black holes... Newsgroups: sci.physics.research Date: 2000/05/26 View: Complete Thread (27 articles) | Original Format In article <392dfcff.3201691@nntp.iea.com>, thus spake Steve McGrew >On 25 May 2000 10:22:05 GMT, Charles Francis > wrote: > >>But this proposal should be treated as being >>speculative, and I would be extremely interested in any arguments which >>would show whether the electromagnetic field actually has a >>gravitational effect over and above the effect of the charged particles >>which generate it. > > If a photon is deflected by the gravitational field of a star, >the star *must* be deflected in turn. Isn't that the effect you are >asking for? > It may be, but I haven't convinced myself. For one thing, when you put the argument in simple terms like this it appears that you are invoking conservation of momentum in a Euclidean reference frame containing both the star and the photon. At the present time I only know about conservation of momentum in Lorentzian reference frames, and I only know how to use Lorentzian reference frames in local regions of space-time. When we start looking at space-time curvature such as we find in the Schwarzchild geometry surrounding a star, I do not know how to apply it, and when we go to large scale geometries I am pretty clear that conservation of momentum ceases to make sense and cannot be applied at all. For another, when a photon is transmitted from electron A to electron B it takes with it energy which modifies the geometry of space-time itself. I find that quite difficult to think about. The modification appears in the form of a gravitational wave, and although we can be pretty confident of the existence of gravitational waves, I believe we still cannot detect them, or discuss their empirical properties. If the photon is a gravitating source, as is normally assumed, then we should get one set of predictions. If it is not, then I think we should get another. I see no immediate reason that the latter assumption is inconsistent, and I do not see how we can detect the difference at the present time. Can JB or one of the relativists cast a light on this? -- Regards Charles Francis charles@clef.demon.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Google Home - Advertise with Us - Add Google to Your Site - News and Resources - Language Tools - Jobs, Press, Cool Stuff... ©2001 Google