Principle of Equivalence: Einstein 1907

g
Box

=
stationary
in gravity Box
field accelerates
in empty space

Box
falling
freely
=
g Box moves through
space at constant velocity
 Equivalence Principle
• Special relativity: all uniformly moving frames are
equivalent, i.e., no acceleration

• Equivalence principle:
Gravitational field = acceleration

freely falling frames in GR

=
uniformly moving frames in SR.
Aberration of Light

Moral: direction of light beam is

relative
 Gravitational deflection of Light

Now assume boxes are accelerating

Light path is curved

 Light ray curved in accelerating frame

+
Principle of Equivalence (acceleration = gravity)

Gravity attracts light!

Paradox: How can gravity attract light
if light has no mass?
MASS-ENERGY EQUIVALENCE

E = mc 2

Gravity extracts energy from escaping matter

Gravity extracts energy from escaping light

Gravitational redshift, time dilation

Other points of view same result:

– accelerating frames of reference - apply special relativity
– spacetime is curved
 Curved Spacetime
• Remember: Gravity warps time

BUT: in spacetime, time and

space are not separable
fast

=> Both space and time are

curved (warped)

This is a bit hard to vizualize

slow (spacetime already 4D…)
 Tides
• Problem:

r 2

r 1
moon

• Gravity decreases with distance => stretch…

 Tides

• Tides = gravity changes from place to place

not freely falling

?
?

freely falling ? ?
not freely falling
CURVATURE OF SPACETIME

• How to tell difference between accelerating

frame and gravity?
– tidal forces curvature
• Eliminates Newton’s “action at a distance”
• Freely moving bodies follow “shortest
path”
– not necessarily a straight line
GENERAL RELATIVITY:
EINSTEIN 1915

• Matter + energy determine

curvature of spacetime

• Curvature of spacetime determines

motion of matter + energy
 Light Rays and Gravity II
• In SR: light rays travel on straight lines

=> in freely falling frame, light travels on straight

lines

• BUT: to stationary observer light travels on curved paths

=> Maybe gravity has something to do with…

curvature of space ?
 GR: Einstein, 1915
• Einstein: mass/energy squeeze/stretch spacetime away
from being “flat”

• Moving objects follow curvature (e.g., satellites, photons)

• The equivalence principle guarantees:

spacetime is “locally” flat

• The more mass/energy there is in a given volume, the

more spacetime is distorted in and around that volume.
 GR: Einstein, 1915
• Einstein’s “field equations” correct “action at a
distance” problem:

Gravity information propagates at the speed of light

=> gravitational waves

r?
 Curvature in 2D…
• Imagine being an ant… living in 2D

• You would understand:

left, right, forward, backward,
but NOT up/down…

• How do you know your world is curved?

 Curvature in 2D…
• In a curved space, Euclidean geometry does not apply:

- circumference ≠ 2π R
- triangles ≠ 180°
- parallel lines don’t stay parallel

2πR
R
R
<2πR
Σϕ=180°
Curvature in 2D…
Curvature in 2D…
 Geodesics
• To do geometry, we need a way to measure distances
=> use ant (let’s call the ant “metric”), count steps it has
to take on its way from P1 to P2 (in spacetime, the
ant-walk is a bit funny looking, but never mind that)
• Geodesic: shortest line between P1 and P2
(the fewest possible ant steps)

ant
P1 P2
 Geodesics
• To the ant, the geodesic is a straight line,
i.e., the ant never has to turn

• In SR and in freely falling frames, objects

move in straight lines (uniform motion)

• In GR, freely falling objects

(freely falling: under the influence of gravity only,
no rocket engines and such; objects: apples, photons,
etc.)
move on geodesics in spacetime.
 Experimental Evidence for GR
• If mass is small / at large distances, curvature is weak
=> Newton’s laws are good approximation

• But: Detailed observations confirm GR

1) Orbital deviations for Mercury (perihelion precession)

Newton: Einstein:
 Experimental Evidence for GR
2) Deflection of light
Experimental Evidence for GR
 Black Holes

• What happens as the star shrinks / its mass increases?

How much can spacetime be distorted by a very massive
object?

• Remember: in a Newtonian black hole, the escape speed

simply exceeds the speed of light

=> Can gravity warp spacetime to the point where even

light cannot escape its grip?

That, then, would be a black hole.

Black Holes
 Black Holes
• Time flows more slowly near a massive object,
space is “stretched” out (circumference < 2πR)

• Critical: the ratio of circumference/mass of the object.

If this ratio is small, GR effects are large (i.e., more mass
within same region or same mass within smaller region)

1) massive 2) small

???

???
 The Schwarzschild Radius
• GR predicts: If mass is contained in a circumference
smaller than a certain size
gravitational
critical constant
circumference 2π G
Circumference < 2 M ⋅ 2 speed of
mass c light

space time within and around that mass concentration

qualitatively changes. A far away observer would
locate this critical surface at a radius
Schwarzschild
2GM
RS = 2 = 3( M / M Sun ) kilometers
radius

c
• Gravitational time dilation becomes infinite as one
approaches the critical surface.
 Black Holes
• To a stationary oberserver far away, time flow at the
critical surface (at RS) is slowed down infinitely.

• Light emitted close to the critical surface is severely

red-shifted (the frequency is lower) and at the critical
surface, the redshift is infinite.

From inside
this region
no information
can escape red-shifted
red-shifted into
oblivion
 Black Holes
• Inside the critical surface, spacetime is so warped that
objects cannot move outward at all, not even light.

=> Events inside the critical surface can never affect

the region outside the critical surface, since no
information about them can escape gravity.

=> We call this surface the event horizon

because it shields the outside completely from any

events on the inside.
 Black Holes
• Critical distinction to the Newtonian black hole:

Newton Einstein

Nothing ever leaves the horizon of a GR black hole.

• Lots of questions…
What happens to matter falling in?
What happens at the center?
Can we observe black holes anyway?
And much, much more…