TITLE: Exploring the Equivalence Principle: Extending Einstein's Legacy

SPEAKER: Professor Bernard Whiting,

TIME: Thursday Apr. 6, 2006 at 4:00 PM

PLACE: George P. Williams, Jr. Lecture Hall, (Olin 101)

The Principle of Equivalence was introduced by Einstein to guide our understanding of how non-gravitational systems behave in the context of extending beyond a Newtonian theory of gravity. While he may indeed have been guided by it himself in initially formulating the General Theory of Relativity, many have been uncomfortable with the level of rigour which the principle itself seems to incorporate. For decades, I would have counted myself among their number. Recently I became involved with a type of radiation reaction (in curved geometry) problem which, for a similar period of time, I had previously felt was equally problematic. Following a surprising turn of events, there has been developed a resolution of those radiation reaction issues, leading an entirely satisfactory outcome. With this resolution, we can identify a very specific way in which the principle of equivalence applies to the emission of gravitational waves in the theory of GR itself.

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