Alternatives to general relativity are physical theories that attempt to describe the phenomena of gravitation in competition to Einstein's theory of general relativity.
There have been many different attempts at constructing an ideal theory of gravity. These attempts can be split into four broad categories:
- Straightforward alternatives to general relativity (GR), such as the Cartan, Brans–Dicke and Rosen bimetric theories.
- Those that attempt to construct a quantized gravity theory such as loop quantum gravity.
- Those that attempt to unify gravity and other forces such as Kaluza–Klein.
- Those that attempt to do several at once, such as M-theory.
This article deals only with straightforward alternatives to GR. For quantized gravity theories, see the article quantum gravity. For the unification of gravity and other forces, see the article classical unified field theories. For those theories that attempt to do several at once, see the article theory of everything.
Read more about Alternatives To General Relativity: Motivations, Notation in This Article, Classification of Theories, Early Theories, 1686 To 1916, Theories From 1917 To The 1980s, Testing of Alternatives To General Relativity, Modern Theories 1980s To Present
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