1997/05/26 by Carl H. Brans, Brans, Carl H.
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.gr-qc/9705069
Contribution to Festscrift volume for Englebert Schucking
arxiv created 1997/05/26 · openalex publication_date 1997/05/26 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Scalar fields have had a long and controversial life in gravity theories, having progressed through many deaths and resurrections. The first scientific gravity theory, Newton's, was that of a scalar potential field, so it was natural for Einstein and others to consider the possibility of incorporating gravity into special relativity as a scalar theory. This effort, though fruitless in its original intent, nevertheless was useful in leading the way to Einstein's general relativity, a purely two-tensor field theory. However, a universally coupled scalar field again appeared, both in the context of Dirac's large number hypothesis and in five dimensional unified field theories as studied by Fierz, Jordan, and others. While later experimentation seems to indicate that if such a scalar exists its influence on solar system size interactions is negligible, other reincarnations have been proposed under the guise of dilatons in string theory and inflatons in cosmology. This paper presents a brief overview of this history.