Whitehead's Theory of Gravitation - Principal Features of The Theory

Principal Features of The Theory

Clifford M. Will argued that Whitehead's theory features a prior geometry, but this is disputed by Dean R. Fowler, since it contradicts Whitehead's philosophy of nature. For Whitehead, the geometric structure of nature grows out of the relations among actual occasions. Fowler's interpretation of Whitehead's theory makes it an alternate, mathematically equivalent, presentation of GR.

Under Will's presentation (which was inspired by John Lighton Synge's interpretation of the theory ), Whitehead's theory has the curious feature that electromagnetic waves propagate along null geodesics of the physical spacetime (as defined by the metric determined from geometrical measurements and timing experiments), while gravitational waves propagate along null geodesics of a flat background represented by the metric tensor of Minkowski spacetime. The gravitational potential can be expressed entirely in terms of waves retarded along the background metric, like the Liénard–Wiechert potential in electromagnetic theory.

A cosmological constant can be introduced by changing the background metric to a de Sitter or anti de Sitter metric. This was first suggested by G. Temple in 1923. Temple's suggestions on how to do this were criticized by C. B. Rayner in 1955.