In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in unethical work behavior. Several types of survey instruments to collect information about unethical work behavior are available. Nevertheless, to date little attention has been paid to design issues of those surveys. There are, however, several important problems that may influence reliability and validity of questionnaire data on the topic, such as social desirability bias. This paper addresses two important issues in the design of online surveys on unethical work behavior: the (...) response scale for questions regarding the frequency of certain types of unethical work behavior and the location of the background questions in an online survey. We present the results of an analysis of a double split-ballot experiment in a large sample (n = 3,386) on governmental integrity. We found that, when comparing response scales that have labels for all categories with response scales that only have anchors at the end, the latter provided answers with higher validity. The study did not provide support for the conventional practice of asking background questions at the end. (shrink)

Does the gravitational field described in general relativity possess genuine stress-energy? We answer this question in the affirmative, in a weak sense applicable in a certain class of frames of a certain class of models of the theory, and arguably also in a strong sense, applicable in all frames of all models of the theory. In addition, we argue that one can be a realist about gravitational stress-energy in general relativity even if one is a relationist about spacetime ontology. In (...) each case, our reasoning rests upon a functionalist approach to the definition of physical quantities. (shrink)

Weinberg's 1972 work, in his description, had two purposes. The first was practical to bring together and assess the wealth of data provided over the previous decade while realizing that newer data would come in even as the book was being printed. He hoped the comprehensive picture would prepare the reader and himself to that new data as it emerged. The second was to produce a textbook about general relativity in which geometric ideas were not given a starring role for (...) (in his words) too great an emphasis on geometry can only obscure the deep connections between gravitation and the rest of physics. (shrink)

Workplace spirituality research has sidestepped religion by focusing on the function of belief rather than its substance. Although establishing a unified foundation for research, the functional approach cannot shed light on issues of workplace pluralism, individual or institutional faith-work integration, or the institutional roles of religion in economic activity. To remedy this, we revisit definitions of spirituality and argue for the place of a belief-based approach to workplace religion. Additionally, we describe the construction of a 15-item measure of workplace religion (...) informed by Judaism and Christianity – the Faith at Work Scale (FWS). A stratified random sample (n = 234) of managers and professionals assisted in refining the FWS which exhibits a single factor structure (Eigenvalue = 8.88; variance accounted for = 59.22%) that is internally consistent (Cronbach’s α = 0.77) and demonstrates convergent validity with the Faith Maturity Scale (r = 0.81, p > 0.0001). The scale shows lower skew and kurtosis with Mainline and Catholic adherents than with Mormons and Evangelicals. Validation of the scale among Jewish and diverse Christian adherants would extend research in workplace religion. (shrink)

Experiments witnessing the entanglement between two particles interacting only via the gravitational field have been proposed as a test whether gravity must be quantized. In the language of quantum information, a non-quantum gravitational force would be modeled by local operations with classical communication, which cannot generate entanglement in an initially unentangled state. This idea is criticized as too constraining on possible alternatives to quantum gravity. We present a parametrized model for the gravitational interaction of quantum matter on a classical spacetime, (...) inspired by the de Broglie–Bohm formulation of quantum mechanics, which results in entanglement and thereby provides an explicit counterexample to the claim that only a quantized gravitational field possesses this capability. (shrink)

The recent detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO team has rightly been hailed as “the crowning achievemen of classical physics”. This detection, which came at the end of a decade-long quest, involved 950 investigators, and cost around one billion US dollars, was the scientific star of the year 2015. What, if any, is the philosophical impact of this scientific breakthrough, which Albert Einstein had anticipated one century earlier? To answer this question we start by examining the central equations of (...) Einstein’s theory of gravitation, also known as general relativity. Subsequently we analyze the special case of a hollow sphere, in an attempt to answer the question of the reality and even materiality of space or, rather, spacetime. As well, the view that gravitation is a manifestation of the curvature of spacetime is discussed, and the reality of gravitational waves is regarded as the coup de grâce to that view. (shrink)

The law of gravitation is taken in the formR 44=0, whereR 44 is the time curvature component of the Ricci tensor. Space-time separable equations are developed in spherical coordinates for the nonlinear wave equation determined byR 44=0. One exact solution is examined in detail.

We present a formal derivation of the Mino–Sasaki–Tanaka–Quinn–Wald (MSTQW) equation describing the self-force on a (semi-) classical relativistic point mass moving under the influence of quantized linear metric perturbations on a curved background space–time. The curvature of the space–time implies that the dynamics of the particle and the field is history-dependent and as such requires a non-equilibrium formalism to ensure the consistent evolution of both particle and field, viz., the worldline influence functional and the closed- time-path (CTP) coarse-grained effective action. (...) In the spirit of effective field theory, we regularize the formally divergent self-force by smearing the local part of the retarded Green’s function and employing a quasi-local expansion. We derive the MSTQW–Langevin equations describing the perturbations of the particle’s worldline about its semi-classical trajectory resulting from interactions with the quantum fluctuations of the linear metric perturbations. Finally, we demonstrate that the quantum fluctuations of the field could, in principle, leave imprints on gravitational waveforms expected to be observed by gravitational interferometers, thereby encoding information about tree-level perturbative quantum gravity. (shrink)

We present a gravitational quantum dynamics theory that combines quantum field theory for particle dynamics in space-time with classical Einstein’s general relativity in a non-Riemannian Finsler space. This approach is based on the geometrization of quantum mechanics proposed in Tavernelli and combines quantum and gravitational effects into a global curvature of the Finsler space induced by the quantum potential associated to the matter quantum fields. In order to make this theory compatible with general relativity, the quantum effects are described in (...) the framework of quantum field theory, where a covariant definition of ‘simultaneity’ for many-body systems is introduced through the definition of a suited foliation of space-time. As in Einstein’s gravitation theory, the particle dynamics is finally described by means of a geodesic equation in a curved space-time manifold. (shrink)

The impact of the KK-modes in d-brane models of gravity with large compactification radii and TeV-scale quantum gravity on the hadronic potential at small impact parameters is examined. The effects of the gravitational hadron form factors obtained from the hadron generalized parton distributions (GPDs) on the behavior of the gravitational potential and the possible spin correlation effects are also analysed.

Proceeding from our absolute space-time conceptions, we obtain the formula for the gravitational frequency shift in an extremely simple way. Using our “burst” model for photons, we show that the different rates of clocks placed in spatial regions with different gravitational potentials appear as a direct result of the gravitational frequency shift and the axiomatic assumption that at any space point the time unit is to be defined by light clocks with equal “arms,” i.e., that at any space point the (...) light velocity (in moving frames the “there-and-back” velocity) has the same numerical valuec. Considering the principle of equivalence, we come to the logical conclusion that the kinematic (Einstein-Lorentz) time dilation is an absolute phenomenon. (shrink)

The gravitational influence of Jupiter on Saturn produces, among other things, non-negligible changes in the eccentricity of Saturn that affect the magnitude of error of Ptolemaic astronomy. The value that Ptolemy obtained for the eccentricity of Saturn is a good approximation of the real eccentricity—including the perturbation of Jupiter—that Saturn had during the time of Ptolemy's planetary observations or a bit earlier. Therefore, it seems more probable that the observations used for obtaining the eccentricity of Saturn were done near Ptolemy’s (...) time, and rather unlikely earlier than the first century AD. Even if this is not quite a demonstration that Ptolemy used observations of his own, my argument increases its probability and practically discards the idea that Ptolemy borrowed values or observations from astronomers further back than the first century AD, such as Hipparchus or the Babylonians. (shrink)

The Schrödinger equation for a particle of rest mass $m$ and electrical charge $ne$ interacting with a four-vector potential $A_i$ can be derived as the non-relativistic limit of the Klein–Gordon equation $\left( \Box '+m^2\right) \varPsi =0$ for the wave function $\varPsi $ , where $\Box '=\eta ^{jk}\partial '_j\partial '_k$ and $\partial '_j=\partial _j -\mathrm {i}n e A_j$ , or equivalently from the one-dimensional action $S_1=-\int m ds +\int neA_i dx^i$ for the corresponding point particle in the semi-classical approximation $\varPsi \sim (...) \exp {(\mathrm {i}S_1)}$ , both methods yielding the equation $\mathrm {i}\partial _0\varPsi \approx \left( \frac{1}{2m}\eta ^{\alpha \beta }\partial '_{\alpha }\partial '_{\beta } + m + n e\phi \right) \varPsi $ in Minkowski space–time , where $\alpha ,\beta =1,2,3$ and $\phi =-A_0$ . We show that these two methods generally yield equations that differ in a curved background space–time $g_{ij}$ , although they coincide when $g_{0\alpha }=0$ if $m$ is replaced by the effective mass $\mathcal{M}\equiv \sqrt{m^2-\xi R}$ in both the Klein–Gordon action $S$ and $S_1$ , allowing for non-minimal coupling to the gravitational field, where $R$ is the Ricci scalar and $\xi $ is a constant. In this case $\mathrm {i}\partial _0\varPsi \approx \left( \frac{1}{2\mathcal{M}'} g^{\alpha \beta }\partial '_{\alpha }\partial '_{\beta } + \mathcal{M}\phi ^{(\mathrm g)} + n e\phi \right) \varPsi $ , where $\phi ^{(\mathrm g)} =\sqrt{g_{00}}$ and $\mathcal{M}'=\mathcal{M}/\phi ^{(\mathrm g)} $ , the correctness of the gravitational contribution to the potential having been verified to linear order $m\phi ^{(\mathrm g)} $ in the thermal-neutron beam interferometry experiment due to Colella et al. Setting $n=2$ and regarding $\varPsi $ as the quasi-particle wave function, or order parameter, we obtain the generalization of the fundamental macroscopic Ginzburg-Landau equation of superconductivity to curved space–time. Conservation of probability and electrical current requires both electromagnetic gauge and space–time coordinate conditions to be imposed, which exemplifies the gravito-electromagnetic analogy, particularly in the stationary case, when div ${{\varvec{A}}}=\hbox {div}{{\varvec{A}}}^{(\mathrm g)}=0$ , where ${{\varvec{A}}}^{\alpha }=-A^{\alpha }$ and ${{\varvec{A}}}^{(\mathrm g)\alpha }=-\phi ^{(\mathrm g)}g^{0\alpha }$ . The quantum-cosmological Schrödinger (Wheeler–DeWitt) equation is also discussed in the $\mathcal{D}$ -dimensional mini-superspace idealization, with particular regard to the vacuum potential $\mathcal V$ and the characteristics of the ground state, assuming a gravitational Lagrangian $L_\mathcal{D}$ which contains higher-derivative terms up to order $\mathcal{R}^4$ . For the heterotic superstring theory , $L_\mathcal{D}$ consists of an infinite series in $\alpha '\mathcal{R}$ , where $\alpha '$ is the Regge slope parameter, and in the perturbative approximation $\alpha '|\mathcal{R}| \ll 1$ , $\mathcal V$ is positive semi-definite for $\mathcal{D} \ge 4$ . The maximally symmetric ground state satisfying the field equations is Minkowski space for $3\le {\mathcal {D}}\le 7$ and anti-de Sitter space for $8 \le \mathcal {D} \le 10$. (shrink)

I describe how gravitational entropy is intimately connected with the concept of gravitational heat, expressed as the difference between the total and free energies of a given gravitational system. From this perspective one can compute these thermodyanmic quantities in settings that go considerably beyond Bekenstein's original insight that the area of a black hole event horizon can be identified with thermodynamic entropy. The settings include the outsides of cosmological horizons and spacetimes with NUT charge. However the interpretation of gravitational entropy (...) in these broader contexts remains to be understood. (shrink)

Several variant "Newtonian" theories of inertia and gravitation are described, and their scientific usefulness discussed. An examination of these theories is used to throw light on traditional epistemological and metaphysical questions about space and time. Finally these results are examined in the light of the changes induced by the transition from "Newtonian" to general relativistic spacetime.

This paper analyzes the metaphysical system developed in Cheyne’s Philosophical Principles of Religion. Cheyne was an early proponent of Newtonianism and tackled several philosophical questions raised by Newton’s work. The most pressing of these concerned the causal origin of gravitational attraction. Cheyne rejected the occasionalist explanations offered by several of his contemporaries in favor of a model on which God delegated special causal powers to bodies. Additionally, he developed an innovative approach to divine conservation. This allowed him to argue that (...) Newton’s findings provided evidence for God’s existence and providence without the need for continuous divine intervention in the universe. (shrink)

Théologiens et philosophes chrétiens ont souvent minimisé, voire occulté, la dimension d'amour du judaïsme en l'assimilant à un pur légalisme. Cette thèse imprègne encore les mentalités modernes, fussent-elles déchristianisées. Ce livre n'est toutefois pas apologétique ; il se propose d'aborder la gravité de l'amour dans la philosophie et la spiritualité juives sans s'adapter au cadre théorique chrétien. Les penseurs juifs ont en effet profondément médité eux-mêmes la complexité théologique, spirituelle, morale et émotionnelle de l'amour. Le choix des questions abordées relève (...) de leur caractère impérieux face aux simplifications outrancières qui s'imposent de nos jours en matière de religion. La référence à des philosophes de périodes historiques différentes et à de grands commentateurs spirituels permet de poursuivre le dialogue avec eux et non de le clore. Il ne s'agit pas d'élaborer une thèse définitive sur l'amour de Dieu et du prochain dans le judaïsme, mais de se demander ce que sa gravité – son poids, son centre – signifie pour ceux qui désirent en témoigner. (shrink)

It is pointed out that the Higgs field may be supplanted by an ordinary Klein-Gordon field conformally coupled to the space-time curvature, and with very small, real, rest mass. Provided there is a bare cosmological constant of order of its square mass, this field can induce spontaneous symmetry breaking with a mass scale that can be as large as the Planck-Wheeler mass, but may be smaller. It can thus play a natural role in grand unified theories. In the theory presented (...) here the physical cosmological constant is small, being of order of the squared mass, and can meet observational constraints without having to be cancelled accurately. The physical gravitational constant differs somewhat from the coupling constant in Einstein's equation, and is temperature dependent in the broken symmetry regime. Symmetry restoration occurs at high temperature. (shrink)

The field equations of the quadratic action principle of relativity are solved, assuming a weak perturbation of the basic structure, which is a highly agitated Riemannian lattice field of a very small lattice constant. A field emerges which can be interpreted as the weak gravitational field of an apparently Minkowskian space. This field does not coincide with Einstein's theory of weak gravitational fields. Whereas the redshift remains unchanged, the light deflection becomes reduced by11.1% of the value predicted by Einstein.

This article centers on Hume’s position on the intelligibility of natural philosophy. To that end, the controversy surrounding universal gravitation shall be scrutinized. It is very well-known that Hume sides with the Newtonian experimentalist approach rather than with the Leibnizian demand for intelligibility. However, what is not clear is Hume’s overall position on the intelligibility of natural philosophy. It shall be argued that Hume declines Leibniz’s principle of intelligibility. However, Hume does not eschew intelligibility altogether; his concept of causation itself (...) stipulates mechanical intelligibility. (shrink)

Two problems have long been confused with each other: the gravitational redshift as discussed by the equivalence principle; and the Doppler shift observed by a detector which moves with constant proper acceleration away from a stationary source. We here distinguish these two problems and give for the first time a solution of the former which is ‘exact’ within the context of the equivalence principle in a sense discussed in the paper. The equivalence principle leads to transformations between flat spacetimes. These (...) are analyzed, and a generalized Lorentz transformation is proposed which covers transformations from inertial to uniformly accelerated frames of reference. (shrink)

Gravitational decoherence (GD) refers to the effects of gravity in actuating the classical appearance of a quantum system. Because the underlying processes involve issues in general relativity (GR), quantum field theory (QFT), and quantum information, GD has fundamental theoretical significance. There is a great variety of GD models, many of them involving physics that diverge from GR and/or QFT. This overview has two specific goals along with one central theme:(i) present theories of GD based on GR and QFT and explore (...) their experimental predictions;(ii) place other theories of GD under the scrutiny of GR and QFT, and point out their theoretical differences. We also describe how GD experiments in space in the coming decades can provide evidence at two levels:(a) discriminate alternative quantum theories and non-GR theories;(b) discern whether gravity is a fundamental or an effective theory. (shrink)

In his book Philosophie der Raum-Zeit-Lehre (1928) Reichenbach introduced the concept of universal force. Reichenbach's use of this concept was later severely criticized by Grünbaum. In this article it is argued that although Grünbaum's criticism is correct in an important respect, it misses part of Reichenbach's intentions. An attempt is made to clarify and defend Reichenbach's position, and to show that universal force is a useful notion in the physically important case of gravitation.

By mass-energy equivalence, the gravitational field has a relativistic mass density proportional to its energy density. I seek to better understand this mass of the gravitational field by asking whether it plays three traditional roles of mass: the role in conservation of mass, the inertial role, and the role as source for gravitation. The difficult case of general relativity is compared to the more straightforward cases of Newtonian gravity and electromagnetism by way of gravitoelectromagnetism, an intermediate theory of gravity that (...) resembles electromagnetism. (shrink)

We obtain a general relativistic unification of gravitation and electromagnetism by simply(1) restricting the metric so that it admits an orthonormal tetrad representation in which the spacelike vectors are curl-free, and(2) identifying the timelike vector as the potential for an electromagnetic field whose only sources are singularities. It follows that: (A) The energy density is everywhere nonnegative, (B) the space is flat if and only if the electromagnetic field vanishes, (C) the vector potential (through which all curvature enters) admits no (...) invariant algebraic decomposition, and satisfies the covariant Lorentz condition identically, (D) the theory is free of “prior geometry,” (E) the electromagnetic self-energy of a spherically symmetric point charge equalsMC 2 , (F) particles deviate from geodesic motion according to the Lorentz force law with radiative reaction, and (G) particles with all electromagnetic multipole structures are included. (shrink)

This article gives an explicit presentation of Newtonian gravitation on the backdrop of Maxwell space-time, giving a sense in which acceleration is relative in gravitational theory. However, caution is needed: assessing whether this is a robust or interesting sense of the relativity of acceleration depends on some subtle technical issues and on substantive philosophical questions over how to identify the space-time structure of a theory.

Consequences in physical theory of assuming the general relativistic time transformation for the de Broglie frequencies of matter, v = E/h = mc2/h, are investigated in this paper. Experimentally it is known that electromagnetic waves from a source in a gravitational field are decreased in frequency, in accordance with the Einstein general relativity time transformation. An extension to de Broglie frequencies implies mass decrease in a gravitational field. Such a decrease gives an otherwise missing energy conservation for some processes; also, (...) a physical alteration is then associated with change in gravitational potential. Further, the general relativity time transformation that is the source of gravitational action in the weak field (Newtonian) approximation then has a physical correlate in the proposed gravitational mass loss. Rotational motion and the associated equivalent gravitational-field mass loss are considered; an essential formal difference between metric (gravitational) mass loss and special relativity mass increase is discussed. For a spherical, nonrotating mass collapsed to its Schwarzschild radius the postulated mass loss is found to give a 25% decrease in the mass acting as origin of an external gravitational field. (shrink)

We analyze the Michelson type experiment performed by Brillet and Hall. The order of magnitude of the gravitational effect (a beating frequency between two lasers) is calculated. We prove that Newtonian tidal forces could be observed when they originate from the oblateness of the Earth, from its rotation, from local masses, from the Moon or the Sun but not from the Galaxy (contrary to what has been recently claimed). We conclude that it is important to build a new parametrized theoretical (...) framework for the analysis of high-precision experiments. (shrink)

The generally covariant Lagrangian densityG = ℛ + 2K ℒmatter of the Hamiltonian principle in general relativity, formulated by Einstein and Hilbert, can be interpreted as a functional of the potentialsg ikand φ of the gravitational and matter fields. In this general relativistic interpretation, the Riemann-Christoffel form Γ kl i = kl i for the coefficients г kl i of the affine connections is postulated a priori. Alternatively, we can interpret the LagrangianG as a functional of φ, gik, and the (...) coefficients г kl i . Then the г kl i are determined by the Palatini equations. From these equations and from the symmetry г kl i = г lk i for all matter fields with δℒ/δΓ=0 the Christoffel symbols again result. However, for Dirac's bispinor fields, δℒ/δΓ becomes dependent on the Dirac current, essentially with a coupling factor ∼Khc. In this case, the Palatini equations define a new transport rule for the spinor fields, according to which a second universal interaction results for the Dirac spinors, besides Einstein's gravitation. The generally covariant Dirac wave equations become the general relativistic nonlinear Heisenberg wave equations, and the second universal interaction is given by a Fermi-like interaction term of the V-A type. The geometrically induced Fermi constant is, however, very small and of the order 10−81erg cm3. (shrink)