Newtonian gravitation in Maxwell spacetime.
Journal
Studies in history and philosophy of science
ISSN: 0039-3681
Titre abrégé: Stud Hist Philos Sci
Pays: England
ID NLM: 1250602
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
12 2023
12 2023
Historique:
received:
09
10
2020
revised:
07
07
2023
accepted:
21
08
2023
medline:
27
11
2023
pubmed:
6
10
2023
entrez:
5
10
2023
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
This paper argues for the appropriateness of Maxwell spacetime as the minimal spacetime structure in which one may formulate a theory of Newtonian gravity. I begin by presenting an intrinsic characterization of Maxwell gravitation that, eschewing covariant derivative operators, makes use only of a standard of rotation and other more primitive structures. I then revisit the question of whether Maxwell gravitation and Newton-Cartan theory are equivalent, demonstrating that previous results may be extended to all but the vacuum case since candidate geometrizations are not free to vary through purely gravitational degrees of freedom. Lastly, I consider the space of possible geometrizations of Maxwell gravitation more broadly and argue for a sense in which curvature is not entirely a matter of convention in classical spacetimes.
Identifiants
pubmed: 37797386
pii: S0039-3681(23)00104-8
doi: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2023.08.003
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
22-30Informations de copyright
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