Does Warping Spacetime Generate Mass?

[daniel_i_l]

If mass warps ST then can warped ST generate mass? For example, if I warp ST around a point (in ST) will that point have inertia? Will it be atracted to masses that warp ST more. Does this question make any sense? Thanks.

 

[pervect]

Gravity waves are just ripples in space-time. However, they carry energy and momentum. As is the case for light, E^2 - p^2 = 0 (in geometric units), so a single gravity wave is massless. As is also the case for the light, if you have a pair of gravity waves traveling in opposite directions, the total momentum p is zero, but the total energy E is greater than zero, which means that the system comprising the pair of gravity waves has mass.

In GR gravity couples to energy (more precisely, the stress-energy tensor) rather than mass, anyway. The idea that gravity couples to mass is basically a carryover from Newtonian gravity.