Gravity and massless particles

[dschwie]

Just finished reading Sean Carroll's "The Higgs Boson and Beyond". I would be grateful if someone could explain how gravity, which I understand to be a function of mass, can interact with massless particles as evidenced by the phenomenon of gravitational lensing. I understand that gravity is a local curvature of spacetime and photons move through spacetime so that makes sense. Is the explanation as simple as that?

Thanks and regards.

 

[jtbell]

I understand that gravity is a local curvature of spacetime and photons move through spacetime so that makes sense. Is the explanation as simple as that?

Basically, yes.

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/why-are-massless-photons-affected-by-gravity.511173/

 

[Buckleymanor]

Yes but would massless particles like photons moving through space make gravity.
So in effect could massless particles moving through space time attract each other.

 

[DrStupid]

So in effect could massless particles moving through space time attract each other.

Yes, an extreme example is a Geon:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geon_(physics)

 

[jtbell]

would massless particles like photons moving through space make gravity.

Yes. In general relativity, the "source" of gravity is the stress-energy tensor, whose components contain the energy and momentum of an object. Mass is only one form of energy.

 

[whit3r0se-]

Energy mass equivalence, gravity can also therefore be described as a function of energy.