2011/06/12 by James Owen Weatherall, Weatherall, James Owen
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Differential Geometry Research #Classical Physics (physics.class-ph) #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph) #Relativity and Gravitational Theory
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1106.2332
openalex publication_date 2011/06/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A theorem due to Bob Geroch and Pong Soo Jang ["Motion of a Body in General\nRelativity." Journal of Mathematical Physics 16(1), (1975)] provides a sense in\nwhich the geodesic principle has the status of a theorem in General Relativity\n(GR). I have recently shown that a similar theorem holds in the context of\ngeometrized Newtonian gravitation (Newton-Cartan theory) [Weatherall, J. O.\n"The Motion of a Body in Newtonian Theories." Journal of Mathematical Physics\n52(3), (2011)]. Here I compare the interpretations of these two theorems. I\nargue that despite some apparent differences between the theorems, the status\nof the geodesic principle in geometrized Newtonian gravitation is, mutatis\nmutandis, strikingly similar to the relativistic case.\n