Correction term to Newtons gravitation law

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concept of a correction term to Newton's law of gravitation when considering general relativity. Participants explore the implications of this correction, its mathematical formulation, and its relevance to experimental setups, particularly in the context of the Cavendish experiment.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Experimental/applied

Main Points Raised

  • One participant mentions a correction term to Newton's law of gravitation, suggesting it could be represented as a perturbation force for small masses, particularly in the context of orbital precession.
  • Another participant expresses uncertainty about the actual formula for the correction term and its significance for their experimental measurements.
  • Some participants refer to the non-relativistic limit of Einstein's equations and the need to consider second-order effects, although specific details are not recalled.
  • References are made to the Einstein-Infeld-Hoffmann Hamiltonian and relevant literature, indicating that the topic has been addressed in academic sources.
  • There is a discussion about the difficulty of explaining these concepts without using tensor calculus, highlighting the complexity of the topic.
  • One participant shares their experimental setup, which is based on the Cavendish experiment, and questions the feasibility of measuring the correction term with available equipment.
  • Concerns are raised about the practicality of measuring the correction term, with one participant suggesting that a significant deviation in the value of G would be considered a success.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying levels of understanding and agreement regarding the correction term and its implications. There is no consensus on the exact formulation or applicability of the correction term, and multiple competing views remain regarding its significance and measurement.

Contextual Notes

Participants note the limitations of their understanding, particularly regarding the mathematical complexities involved in general relativity and the specific conditions under which the correction term might be applicable.

Kurret
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Hey!
My teacher told me that there is a correction term to Newtons law of gravitation when you take general relativity into account, somthing lik:

<br /> F=G\frac{M_1M_2}{r^2}+F_{correction}<br />
I been searching like mad but can't find it on the internet anywhere. The only things I found was a set of insane differential equations and a lot of tensor notation, which is too advanced for me to convert to a force equation. Anyone know what my teacher means?

thanks in advance!
 
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I'm sure one could come up with a one of limited applicability--call it a 'perturbation force', for small masses and correct for orbital precession such as the Sun acting on the orbit of Mercury.

If you had such a corrective force in hand, it would fail to account for the deflection of light by gravity and fail to model black holes.
 
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Yea, I only need to approximate the correction terms magnitude to see if if an experiment i will do is good enough to measure it (i guess not), but it gets kind of hard when I don't know the real formula for it/dont know any general relativity...
 
In every textbook you can find the non-relativistic limit of the Einstein equations. It's just a matter of taking into account second order effects, I would say. But I can't remember where these kind of calculations are done in detail.
 
This is called the Einstein-Infeld-Hoffmann Hamiltonian. The original paper is

A. Einstein, L. Infeld, B. Hoffmann, "The Gravitational Equations and the Problem of Motion",
Ann. Math., 39 (1938), 65.

You can also find it in section 106 of

L. Landau, E. Lifgarbagez, "Course of theoretical physics, Volume 2, Field theory"

Eugene.
 
haushofer said:
In every textbook you can find the non-relativistic limit of the Einstein equations. It's just a matter of taking into account second order effects, I would say. But I can't remember where these kind of calculations are done in detail.

I think you're right, if you mean second order terms in the pertubation of the Minkowski metric. Now, can you explain this to Kurret without using tensor calculus? :rolleyes:
 
meopemuk said:
This is called the Einstein-Infeld-Hoffmann Hamiltonian. The original paper is

A. Einstein, L. Infeld, B. Hoffmann, "The Gravitational Equations and the Problem of Motion",
Ann. Math., 39 (1938), 65.

You can also find it in section 106 of

L. Landau, E. Lifgarbagez, "Course of theoretical physics, Volume 2, Field theory"

Eugene.
Cool, i will check my library. You don't happen to have an internet source?

Phrak said:
I think you're right, if you mean second order terms in the pertubation of the Minkowski metric. Now, can you explain this to Kurret without using tensor calculus? :rolleyes:
that would be great :|
altough i don't really need the explanation, just the final expression for force interaction between two bodies...
 
Kurret said:
...although i don't really need the explanation, just the final expression for force interaction between two bodies...

Can you describe your intended experimental setup?
 
  • #10
OK then. Your first challenge is to get Netwon. Worry about Einstein much later.
 
  • #11
Phrak said:
OK then. Your first challenge is to get Netwon. Worry about Einstein much later.
Yea I know, i doubt my teacher really meant that I should try to measure that term, since he said that a value of G differing with maybe 20% should be considered a success. I think he just wanted me to think through if it was possible to measure that therm with the equipment available, and I believe the answer will be no but I still have to motivate it.
 
  • #12
The concept is summarized (but not derived) in section 10.2 of IERS Technical Note #32 entitled "Equations of Motion for an Artificial Earth Satellite." Here is a link to chapter 10 of that note:
http://www.iers.org/nn_11216/SharedDocs/Publikationen/EN/IERS/Publications/tn/TechnNote32/tn32__104,templateId=raw,property=publicationFile.pdf/tn32_104.pdf

For more on the topic (a whole lot more; 121 pages) see http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0403068.
 
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