The Royal Society
The Royal Society
The Royal Society
III
Author(s): E. A. Milne
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical
Sciences, Vol. 160, No. 900 (May 1, 1937), pp. 24-36
Published by: The Royal Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/96852 .
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7-to A
l/c= toe to sinh -. (3)
* The relevant references are: " World-structure " Milne (I935); " On the founda-
tions of dynamics" (Milne 1936 a); "The inverse square law of gravitation" (Milne
1936b); "Kinematics, dynamics and the scale of time" (Milne 1936c, 1937 a, b);
"The inverse square law of gravitation-II", see p. 1.
[ 24 ]
_ mln2C2 X12
%=- _Mo (X2-4)
where X1 = t_-P2/c2, X2 t_-P2/C2, X12 t1t2-P1*P2/C2, (5)
and Mois the mass of the fictitious universe. In the experience of 0, at O's
world-wide instant t, (4) is to be interpreted by putting t1 = ta = t. The
value of the constant of gravitation is
y =
c3t/MO2. (6)
To transform (4) (which, being an energy, is a time-invariant) we put
v_-
_ 2
MO
A1 A2 A1 .A
cosh -l cosh `2- sinh - sinh-t2 (i1. i2)
X A1 A2 2(8'
L( cosh -sinh i2 _cosh A2 sinh AAl
-i) -sinh2A sinh2 2
(il A i2 )2j
Ct
to ct co cto cto
Formula (8) or (8') gives the potential energy of two particles of masses inl,
M2,at positions (A1,i1), (A2,i2) respectively.
4-It will be noticed that in (8) and (8') mention of the epochs r1and r2
has completely disappeared;X is now a function of the spatial co-ordinates
of P1 and P2 only. This is a particular case of a general theorem given
previously (Milne 1937 b, ? 15), according to which any potential function
X(P, t) when transformed to r-measures becomes explicitly independent
of t. It follows that in T-measureit is not necessary to specify the epoch
to which Xrefers.
5-To see the significanceof (8) and (8') choose the origin 0 to be on the
line joining P1P2,in the sense 0P1P2. Then A2>A1, and i1 = , so that
il. 2=1. Formula (8) now becomes
m1m2C21
% O ctanhAl (9)
cto
This may be written
%= ,
y0m1m2
ctotanhA2Al (9')
cto
where yo is the present value of y, given by
Yo = C3to/1IVO. (6')
The numerical value of yo, deduced from the recession of the galaxies and
the mean density of matter in space near ourselves, has been shown to be
about equal to the empiricalvalue of the Newtonian constant of gravitation
(Milne 1936a, Appendix 1).
Formula (9') gives the mutual potential energy of m1at P1and m2at P2
in the public static hyperbolic space
de2 = dA2+ (ctO)2sinh2 A (dO2+ sin26 dqs2).
cto
aX _0Y1MlM2 (3
aA1 (A2-A1)2 (13)
This is the inverse square law of attraction, of which (12) appears to be the
exact form in r-measure. The attraction tends to zero as (A2-A1) -oo.
Further, when 0 is collinear with P1 and P2,
8-In the previous paper it was shown that Xin t-measure satisfies the
differential equations
1V a2x= ___a2
= 0.
V2%-- 0, V2XX1t2 (15)
9-In accordance with the general theory given previously, the force on
P1 exceeds the attraction on P1 by a term involving the rate of change of
mass of P1. We have (Milne i937b, ? 15, equation (45))
10-Again, by the general theory (Milne I937b, ? 15, equation (46)), the
equations of motion of P1under the "action" of P2 and the substratum are
Equations (23), etc., are the general equations of motion for the two-body
problem, in r-measures,for its description by any observer at "local rest",
i.e. by any observer sharing the mean motion of the nearby nebular nuclei.
11-In our ordinary experience the two particles P1 and P2 will be at
distances from a fundamental particle not comparable with cto (which is
2 x 109 light-years). If we take A1,A2<<Cto, the space becomes locally
Eucidean and the equations of type (23) may be put in the vector forms
We can eliminate the interaction terms in (25) and (25') by multiplying them
vectorially by JiI and 112,respectively, and adding, as in the usual procedure
for obtaining the angular momentum integral, but the resulting equation
does not appear to be integrable. We find in fact
m1fl1 Advl/d-r m2fl2Adv2/dr = 0 (27)
(l1v2/C2)4 (12/C2)i -
When the velocities are small comparedwith c, (27) integrates in the form
I1 A M v1+I2 Am2 V= const.,
which is the usual angular momentum integral. The motion is then in a
plane, and is the ordinaryKeplerian motion.
12-We cannot however use (25) and (25') to calculate the relativeorbit
of either particle as observedfrom the other,in general, for we do not know
the transformations from a fundamental particle-observerto an observer
in motion relative to him, in the r-dynamics. To a first approximationsuch
transformations will be the transformations of Newtonian relativity, but
the exact transformations may be expected to differ from these by terms
in I/c2, for the finding of which no method has yet been given. Thus (25)
and (25'), though they should yield the motion of a planet round the sun
as observedfrom thecentreof thegalaxy (or in the mean velocity frame of the
galaxies in our own neighbourhood), are not competent to yield the,
relativistic refinementsof the relative motion of sun and planet as observed
from either sun or planet, for the sun is not at local cosmical rest-it is,
roughly speaking, rotating round the galactic centre besides having a
peculiar motion of its own. The sun's velocity relative to the standard of
local rest may be expected to be an essential datum in the calculation of
these refinements,for example in the calculation of the motion of perihelion
of a planet. Equations (25) and (25'), in r-measures, are invariant in form
for transformationsfrom any frame at local nebular rest to any other such
frame, but they must not be expected to be invariant for transformations
to other frames, even to frames in uniform relative motion with respect to
"local rest". The reason is that whilst all fundamental particles are "equi-
valent" in the technical sense, a fundamental particle is not equivalent
to a non-fundamental particle such as the sun. In the frame associated
with a non-fundamental particle, i.e., in terms of observations carried out
by an observer not at local nebular rest, the relation to the distribution of
matter-in-motion in the universe will be different, and accordingly the
derived laws of dynamics, which (in agreement with Mach's conjectures)
we have shown to be intimately connected with the distribution of matter-
in-motion in the universe, will be slightly different. Thus, although (25) and
(25') embody a rigorous formulation of the general two-body problem in
which is (30). We see once again how the secular increase of angular
momentum in t-measure given by (31) reduces to a constant angular
momentum in T-measure.
The integrals (29) and (30) may now be expressed in plane polar co-
ordinates and yield a Keplerian orbit in -measure modified by terms in
1/c2. The description of this orbit in t-measure has been considered in detail
in Part II (?? 17-27) of the papers under the present title, and shown to ex-
plain the general spiral character of motion round a nebular nucleus.
15-Again, let one of the two particles be a non-fundamental particle
(e.g. the sun) of mass M large compared with the other particle m. Then,
by (25'), v2, the velocity of M, is approximately constant. Hence we can
write (25) in the form
-V1 0 [I1-II2] =Yom X
dT2 1o l- I2 (33)
This admits the integral of angular momentum
dT
(fl1-II2)ATr(fIl-fl2) = const. = ho(34)
say, and the relative vector (fl- HO2),as viewed by a neighbouring funda-
mental particle 0, lies in a fixed plane perpendicular to ho. The energy
integral reduces to
C2 Yom
(1 - Vl/C2)i- nY?- n | = const. (35)
Equation (33) or the integral (35) shows that even the relative orbit, as
viewed by 0, depends to terms in 1/C2on the absolute velocity v1 of the small
RECAPITULATION
Vol. CLX-A. D
This was of course a particular case of the general result that kinematic
arguments lead to a dynamics and gravitation (expressed in t-measures)
which reduce to classical mechanics and gravitation in r-measures.
Descriptions in t-measures seem the more fundamental, as they explicitly
involve the dependence of the phenomena on epoch t; in descriptions in
-r-measures,the present epoch to appears as a constant in exact formulae,
though disappearing in our ordinary approximations, but r-descriptions
are essentially ephemeral. Every phenomenon may equally be described
with the same logical correctnessin either mode of time-reckoning,but it is
important to know which mode is being employed in any given case.
SUMMARY
17-The law of gravitation for any two particles of masses m1 and M2,
as derived in a preceding paper, is expressed in T-measure,i.e. in a form
appropriate to the public hyperbolic space de2 in which the system of
nebular nuclei appears as at relative rest. For two particles separated by
co-ordinate distance A, the potential energy Xis given by
m1m2c2 1 yOm1m2
X -- -
MOttlinh A
ct0tanhA
~~~ct0 cto
whereyois a constant c3to/Moequal to the Newtonian constant of gravitation.
This reduces to the Newtonian expression for AKcto. Xsatisfies Laplace's
equation in hyperbolicspace, and yields the inverse squarelaw of attraction
with the appropriate modification for hyperbolic space. The relativistic
form of the equations of motion for the two-body problem is obtained, and
certaincases are discussed.The presentaccount of dynamicsand gravitation,
constructed by purely kinematic methods, is recapitulated.
REFERENCES
Milne, E. A. 1935 "Relativity, Gravitation and World-Structure." Oxford.
- 1936 a Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 154, 22.
- 1936b Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 156, 62.
- 1936c Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 158, 324.
- I937a Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 159, 171.
- 1937b Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 159, 526.
- 1937 c Quart. J. Math. 8, 22.
Whitrow I935 Quart. J. Math. 6, 257.
- 1936 Quart. J. Math. 7, 271.