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On the gravitational field acting as an optical medium

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Abstract

Given a curved space-time with a metric tensorg ij, Maxwell's equations may be written as if they were valid in a flat space-time in which there is an optical medium with a constitutive equation.

When optical phenomena are considered, this medium turns out to be equivalent to the gravitational field. Optical phenomena in various gravitational fields are analysed and we find that the language of classical optics for the ‘equivalent medium’ is as suitable as that of Riemannian geometry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto di Fisìca ‘G. Galilei’ Università de Padova-Padova, Italy

    Fernando de Felice

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  1. Fernando de Felice
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Additional information

This work was started at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Cambridge, England.

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de Felice, F. On the gravitational field acting as an optical medium. Gen Relat Gravit 2, 347–357 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00758153

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00758153

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