Mach's
Principle:and the origin of inertia
(paperback, 138 pages; ISBN 0-9732911-0-9)
Mach's
Principle:
and the origin of inertia
(paperback,
138 pages; ISBN 0-9732911-0-9)
edited by M. Sachs and A.R. Roy
Proceedings
of the international workshop on Mach's Principle and the Origin of Inertia,
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, Feb. 6-8, 2002.
Editors' Preface
This volume consists of a selection of refereed invited lectures presented at the International Workshop on Mach’s Principle and the Origin of Inertia which was held at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, as a part of the golden Jubilee celebrations of the Institute, from February 6 to 8, 2002. The Workshop was organized by the Centre for Theoretical Physics of the Institute with Prof. A.R. Roy as the Organising Secretary. It also includes a few contributions from experts who could not attend the Workshop.
Inertia is one of the main physical properties of all bodies. Its origin poses problems of a fundamental nature. Ernst Mach proposed that the inertia of any body is caused by its interaction with the rest of the Universe. The idea reflects a deep connection between the cosmos at large and its individual constituent bodies, thereby implying a holistic conception of nature. On the whole, Ernst Mach had a seminal influence on the evolution of Physics in the 20th Century, and will influence the future development of Physics in the 21st Century. It is interesting that many of his ideas play a role (directly and indirectly) in opposite positions within contemporary physics. His epistemological viewpoint of positivism clearly influenced the basis of quantum mechanics. On the other hand his non-atomistic model of matter and the accompanying interpretation of inertial mass (the “Mach Principle”) influenced the holistic approach of the continuous field concept of the theory of general relativity, as a general theory of matter.
The contributions to these proceedings demonstrate Mach’s influence on contemporary thinking. For we see here the views of an international group of scholars on the implications of Mach’s principle in physics and astrophysics. We believe the ideas presented here could indeed affect future paths of study in physics for many generations to come.
The Editors take this opportunity to put on record their gratitude to Prof. J. V. Narlikar, IUCAA, Pune, for kindly agreeing to write the Dedication note, and to Roy Keys of Apeiron, Montreal whose painstaking efforts have made the publication of this volume possible.
M. Sachs and A.R. Roy
Preface
Acknowledgements
Jayant
Narlikar: A Tribute to Fred Hoyle
Mendel
Sachs: The Mach Principle and the Origin of Inertia
from General Relativity
Amitabha Ghosh: Extension of Mach’s Principle and Cosmological Consequences
James
F. Woodward: The Technical End of Mach’s Principle
A.K.T.
Assis: The Relationship between Mach’s Principle and the Principle of Physical
Proportions
W.
Farrell Edwards: Inertial Mass of the Electron
A.R.
Prasanna: Mach’s Principle and Inertial Forces
in General Relativity
Jorge
Guala Valverde and Raúl A. Rapacioli: Inertial Mass in a Machian Framework
Horst-Heino
v.
Borzeszkowski and Renate Wahsner: Mach’s Principle and the Dualism of
Space-Time and Matter
C.S.
Unnikrishnan: Experiments Motivated by Mach’s Principle: A Review with
Comments
D.F.
Roscoe: A
Perspective on Mach’s Principle and the Consequent Discovery of Major New
Phenomenology in Spiral Discs
T.P.
Singh: Mach’s
Principle and Quantum Mechanics Without Spacetime
H.
Broberg: Mass and Gravitation in a Machian Universe
George
Galeczki: Mach’s Principle and the True Continuum
Mendel
Sachs is presently Professor of Physics Emeritus at the State University of New
York at Buffalo, where he was a professor of physics from 1966 to 1997. Earlier
positions were at Boston University,McGill University and the University of
California Radiation Laboratory. Prof. Sachs earned his Ph.D. in theoretical
physics at University of California, Los Angeles, in 1954. His main interests
and publications during his professional career have been on foundational
problems in theoretical physics (mainly general relativity and particle physics)
and the philosophy of physics. A strong early influence came from the writings
of Ernst Mach. The main theme of Mendel Sachs’s research has been a
generalization of the works of Albert Einstein as a future course of physics,
from the domain of micromatter to cosmology. Professor Sachs has authored ten
books. Two monographs that highlight details of his research are General
Relativity and Matter (Reidel, 1982) and Quantum Mechanics from General
Relativity (Reidel, 1986).
A.R.
Roy is presently a professor of Mathematics at the Indian Institute of
Technology, Kharagpur, India. He joined the Institute as a Faculty member in
1976, after obtaining a Ph.D. degree from the Institute in 1973, spending a
couple of years as a post-doctoral fellow. He became a professor in 1996. His
initial research interest and publications have been on exact solutions in
Einstein theory and other alternate theories of Gravitation. He has also worked
in the area of theoretical relativistic cosmology. His main interest has been in
developing singularity-free cosmological models by considering the presence of
various matter fields viz., scalar (meson) fields, viscous fluids, etc. in the
cosmic matter along with other viable assumptions on the background metric.
Professor Roy has guided several research scholars in their Ph.D. programs, and
has more than 40 research publications in major international journals in the
area of GRT and Cosmology. He is associated with several research journals. His
current interests and publications have been on applications of Soft Set Theory
in Decision-Making Problems.