The Mathematical Theory of RelativityEddington, Arthur Stanley, Sir
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The Mathematical Theory of Relativity
Eddington, Arthur Stanley, Sir
Relativity (Physics)
Two possible ways of generalising our geometrical outlook are open. It
may be that the Riemannian geometry assigned to actual space is not exact;
and that the true geometry is of a broader kind leaving room for the vector~$\kappa_{\mu}$
to play a fundamental part and so receive geometrical recognition as one
of the determining characters of actual space. For reasons which will appear
in the course of this chapter, I do not think that this is the correct solution.
The alternative is to give all our variables, including~$\kappa_{\mu}$, a suitable graphical
representation in some new conceptual space---not actual space. With sufficient
ingenuity it ought to be possible to accomplish this, for no hypothesis is implied
as to the nature of the quantities so represented. This generalised graphical
scheme may or may not be helpful to the progress of our knowledge; we
attempt it in the hope that it will render the interconnection of electromagnetic
and gravitational phenomena more intelligible. I think it will be found
that this hope is not disappointed.
In \Title{Space, Time and Gravitation}, Chapter~\Vol{XI}, Weyl's non-Riemannian
geometry has been regarded throughout as expressing an amended and
exact Natural Geometry. That was the original intention of his theory\footnotemark.\footnotetext
{The original paper (\Title{Berlin.\ Sitzungsberichte}, 30~May 1918) is rather obscure on this point.
It states the mathematical development of the corrected Riemannian geometry---``the physical
application is obvious.'' But it is explicitly stated that the absence of an electromagnetic field is
the necessary condition for Einstein's theory to be valid---an opinion which, I think, is no longer
held.}
For the present we shall continue to develop it on this understanding. But
we shall ultimately come to the second alternative, as Weyl himself has done,
and realise that his non-Riemannian geometry is not to be applied to \emph{actual}
\index{Non-Riemannian geometry}%
space-time; it refers to a graphical representation of that relation-structure
which is the basis of all physics, and both electromagnetic and metrical
variables appear in it as interrelated. Having arrived at this standpoint we
pass naturally to the more general geometry of relation-structure developed
in Part~II of this chapter.%
\PageSep{198}%
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