The Fundamental Nature of Gravity

Careful analysis proves that the gravitational potential energy of a massive object resides not in the gravitational field, but in the object itself, manifesting as a change in the rest mass of the object. This effect, gravitational rest mass reduction, is not only the cause of the gravitational red shift, but also responsible for an effect heretofore unrecognized: gravitational size dilation. This latter effect implies that the true geometry of three-space surrounding a star or a black hole differs dramatically from the currently accepted form. In particular, light rays do follow the spatial geodesics of the true geometry, indicating that gravity does not couple to the free electromagnetic field, contrary to current opinion, which is based on the incorrect proper geometry. This fact is of inestimable importance in regard to quantum gravity: the spin zero graviton has been rejected on the ground that it cannot couple to light, since it can only couple to the trace of the target field, and the electromagnetic field has a zero trace. But in the correct geometry, there is no coupling, so the spin zero graviton must be accepted. This gives a promise to a simple linear theory of quantum gravity. The variable rest mass concept also has transformative cosmological implications. The cosmic red shift is currently understood to result from the expansion of space itself—the wavelength of radiation is thought to be continually stretched in flight, resulting in a continual reduction of the momentum of the radiation. But in a spatially homogeneous universe, momentum, including that of the cosmic photons, must be conserved. It is easily proved that conservation of momentum in a Robinson-Walker universe demands that rest mass must be increasing in proportion to the function, A(t), which is currently identified (incorrectly) as that describing the temporal expansion of space. Surprisingly, a simple argument shows that momentum conservation implies that A(t), now understood as describing the manner in which rest mass evolves, has to be a simple exponential function of world time, or a linear function of proper time.