2014•Journal of Modern PhysicsOpen access

A Classical Field Theory of Gravity and Electromagnetism

Raymond John Beach

Open full text 36 citations

Abstract

A classical field theory of gravity and electromagnetism is developed. The starting point of the theory is the Maxwell equations which are directly tied to the Riemann-Christoffel curvature tensor. This is done through the derivatives of the Maxwell tensor which are equated to a vector field contracted with the curvature tensor, i.e., . The electromagnetic portion of the theory is shown to be equivalent to the classical Maxwell equations with the addition of a hidden variable. Because the proposed equations describing electromagnetism and gravity differ from the classical Maxwell-Einstein equations, their ability to describe classical physics is shown for several situations by direct calculation. The inclusion of antimatter and its behavior in a gravitational field, and the possibility of particle-like solutions exhibiting quantized charge, mass and angular momentum are discussed.

Open-access reader

About this research paper

What this paper is about

A classical field theory of gravity and electromagnetism is developed. The starting point of the theory is the Maxwell equations which are directly tied to the Riemann-Christoffel curvature tensor. This is done through the derivatives of the Maxwell tensor which are equated to a vector field contracted with the curvature tensor, i.e., . The electromagnetic portion of the theory is shown to be equivalent to the classical Maxwell equations with the addition of a hidden variable. Because the proposed equations describing electromagnetism and gravity differ from the classical Maxwell-Einstein equations, their ability to describe classical physics is shown for several situations by direct calculation. The inclusion of antimatter and its behavior in a gravitational field, and the possibility of particle-like solutions exhibiting quantized charge, mass and angular momentum are discussed.

Why it matters

OpenAlex reports 36 citations for this work. Citation counts describe recorded attention and do not establish research quality.

Key contribution

A contribution statement is not available in the OpenAlex record.

Method / approach

Method details are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Main findings

Findings are not separately available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Limitations

Limitations are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Applications

Application details are not available in the OpenAlex metadata.

Available abstract

A classical field theory of gravity and electromagnetism is developed. The starting point of the theory is the Maxwell equations which are directly tied to the Riemann-Christoffel curvature tensor. This is done through the derivatives of the Maxwell tensor which are equated to a vector field contracted with the curvature tensor, i.e., . The electromagnetic portion of the theory is shown to be equivalent to the classical Maxwell equations with the addition of a hidden variable. Because the proposed equations describing electromagnetism and gravity differ from the classical Maxwell-Einstein equations, their ability to describe classical physics is shown for several situations by direct calculation. The inclusion of antimatter and its behavior in a gravitational field, and the possibility of particle-like solutions exhibiting quantized charge, mass and angular momentum are discussed.

Key concepts: Classical field theory, Electromagnetic tensor, Physics, Electromagnetism, Classical unified field theories, Maxwell's equations in curved spacetime, Classical mechanics, Einstein tensor

Related papers

Back to paper searchBrowse research topicsOriginal source
A Classical Field Theory of Gravity and Electromagnetism — Research Paper | ScholarLens