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Gravity absolutely is affected by gravity. The Einstein field equations are non-linear, so gravitational energy is itself a source of gravity. All forms of en
by wnoise 16y ago
Gravity absolutely is affected by gravity. The Einstein field equations are non-linear, so gravitational energy is itself a source of gravity. All forms of energy, and momentum, and even stress and pressure are combined into the "stress energy tensor" which determines the local curvature of space-time.
- eru 16y ago> The Einstein field equations are non-linear, so gravitational energy is itself a source of gravity. Non sequitur? I mean, non-linearity is not the same as feedback. Linear system can exhibit feedback (and still stay linear), and non-linear systems do not have to exhibit feedback.
- zbyszek 16y agoThe equations describing a field theory contain terms which are the product the field, the thing it couples to (could be another field) and the strength of the interaction. When a field couples to itself, there are terms non-linear in the field. So the non-linearity of GR indicates that the gravitational field couples to itself, i.e. that gravity gravitates.
- Dylan16807 16y agoI knew it was a source of its own much smaller gravity, I guess I was wrong about how strongly coupled that is with the original field. Still, that's not itself being 'normally' affected by gravity, and I've never seen anything discuss it.