Experimental evidence for general relativity
Soon after the theory of general relativity was published in 1915, the English astronomer Arthur Eddington considered Einstein’s prediction that light rays are bent near a massive body, and he realized that it could be verified by carefully comparing star positions in images of the Sun taken during a solar eclipse with images of the same region of space taken when the Sun was in a different portion of the sky. Verification was delayed by World War I, but in 1919 an excellent opportunity presented itself with an especially long total solar eclipse, in the vicinity of the bright Hyades star cluster, that was visible from northern Brazil to the African coast. Eddington led one expedition to Príncipe, an island off the African coast, and Andrew Crommelin of the Royal Greenwich Observatory led a second expedition to Sobral, Brazil. After carefully comparing photographs from both expeditions with reference photographs of the Hyades, Eddington declared that the starlight had been deflected about 1.75 seconds of arc, as predicted by general relativity. (The same effect produces gravitational lensing, where a massive cosmic object focuses light from another object beyond it to produce a distorted or magnified image. The astronomical discovery of gravitational lenses in 1979 gave additional support for general relativity.)
Further evidence came from the planet Mercury. In the 19th century, it was found that Mercury does not return to exactly the same spot every time it completes its elliptical orbit. Instead, the ellipse rotates slowly in space, so that on each orbit the perihelion—the point of closest approach to the Sun—moves to a slightly different angle. Newton’s law of gravity could not explain this perihelion shift, but general relativity gave the correct orbit.
Another confirmed prediction of general relativity is that time dilates in a gravitational field, meaning that clocks run slower as they approach the mass that is producing the field. This has been measured directly and also through the gravitational redshift of light. Time dilation causes light to vibrate at a lower frequency within a gravitational field; thus, the light is shifted toward a longer wavelength—that is, toward the red. Other measurements have verified the equivalence principle by showing that inertial and gravitational mass are precisely the same.
The most striking prediction of general relativity is that of gravitational waves. Electromagnetic waves are caused by accelerated electrical charges and are detected when they put other charges into motion. Similarly, gravitational waves would be caused by masses in motion and are detected when they initiate motion in other masses. However, gravity is very weak compared with electromagnetism. Only a huge cosmic event, such as the collision of two stars, can generate detectable gravitational waves. Efforts to sense gravitational waves began in the 1960s, and such waves were first detected in 2015 when LIGO observed two black holes 1.3 million light-years away spiralling into each other.
Applications of relativistic ideas
Although relativistic effects are negligible in ordinary life, relativistic ideas appear in a range of areas from fundamental science to civilian and military technology.
Elementary particles
The relationship E = mc2 is essential in the study of subatomic particles. It determines the energy required to create particles or to convert one type into another and the energy released when a particle is annihilated. For example, two photons, each of energy E, can collide to form two particles, each with mass m = E/c2. This pair-production process is one step in the early evolution of the universe, as described in the big-bang model.
Particle accelerators
Knowledge of elementary particles comes primarily from particle accelerators. These machines raise subatomic particles, usually electrons or protons, to nearly the speed of light. When these energetic bullets smash into selected targets, they elucidate how subatomic particles interact and often produce new species of elementary particles.
Particle accelerators could not be properly designed without special relativity. In the type called an electron synchrotron, for instance, electrons gain energy as they traverse a huge circular raceway. At barely below the speed of light, their mass is thousands of times larger than their rest mass. As a result, the magnetic field used to hold the electrons in circular orbits must be thousands of times stronger than if the mass did not change.
Fission and fusion: bombs and stellar processes
Energy is released in two kinds of nuclear processes. In nuclear fission a heavy nucleus, such as uranium, splits into two lighter nuclei; in nuclear fusion two light nuclei combine into a heavier one. In each process the total final mass is less than the starting mass. The difference appears as energy according to the relation E = Δmc2, where Δm is the mass deficit.
Fission is used in atomic bombs and in reactors that produce power for civilian and military applications. The fusion of hydrogen into helium is the energy source in stars and provides the power of a hydrogen bomb. Efforts are now under way to develop controllable hydrogen fusion as a clean, abundant power source.
The global positioning system
The global positioning system (GPS) depends on relativistic principles. A GPS receiver determines its location on Earth’s surface by processing radio signals from four or more satellites. The distance to each satellite is calculated as the product of the speed of light and the time lag between transmission and reception of the signal. However, Earth’s gravitational field and the motion of the satellites cause time-dilation effects, and Earth’s rotation also has relativistic implications. Hence, GPS technology includes relativistic corrections that enable positions to be calculated to within several centimetres.
Cosmology
Cosmology, the study of the structure and origin of the universe, is intimately connected with gravity, which determines the macroscopic behaviour of all matter. General relativity has played a role in cosmology since the early calculations of Einstein and Friedmann. Since then, the theory has provided a framework for accommodating observational results, such as Hubble’s discovery of the expanding universe in 1929, as well as the big-bang model, which is the generally accepted explanation of the origin of the universe.
The latest solutions of Einstein’s field equations depend on specific parameters that characterize the fate and shape of the universe. One is Hubble’s constant, which defines how rapidly the universe is expanding; the other is the density of matter in the universe, which determines the strength of gravity. Below a certain critical density, gravity would be weak enough that the universe would expand forever, so that space would be unlimited. Above that value, gravity would be strong enough to make the universe shrink back to its original minute size after a finite period of expansion, a process called the “big crunch.” In this case, space would be limited or bounded like the surface of a sphere. Current efforts in observational cosmology focus on measuring the most accurate possible values of Hubble’s constant and of critical density.
Relativity, quantum theory, and unified theories
Cosmic behaviour on the biggest scale is described by general relativity. Behaviour on the subatomic scale is described by quantum mechanics, which began with the work of the German physicist Max Planck in 1900 and treats energy and other physical quantities in discrete units called quanta. A central goal of physics has been to combine relativity theory and quantum theory into an overarching “theory of everything” describing all physical phenomena. Quantum theory explains electromagnetism and the strong and weak forces, but a quantum description of the remaining fundamental force of gravity has not been achieved.
After Einstein developed relativity, he unsuccessfully sought a so-called unified field theory with a space-time geometry that would encompass all the fundamental forces. Other theorists have attempted to merge general relativity with quantum theory, but the two approaches treat forces in fundamentally different ways. In quantum theory, forces arise from the interchange of certain elementary particles, not from the shape of space-time. Furthermore, quantum effects are thought to cause a serious distortion of space-time at an extremely small scale called the Planck length, which is much smaller than the size of elementary particles. This suggests that quantum gravity cannot be understood without treating space-time at unheard-of scales.
Although the connection between general relativity and quantum mechanics remains elusive, some progress has been made toward a fully unified theory. In the 1960s, the electroweak theory provided partial unification, showing a common basis for electromagnetism and the weak force within quantum theory. Recent research suggests that superstring theory, in which elementary particles are represented not as mathematical points but as extremely small strings vibrating in 10 or more dimensions, shows promise for supporting complete unification, including gravitation. However, until confirmed by experimental results, superstring theory will remain an untested hypothesis.