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Equivalence principle
General relativity is based on Einstein’s equivalence principle. The principle postulates local
equivalence of inertial and gravitational forces. Because of that principle general relativity appears
as a geometric theory: massive bodies distort the geometry of space-time in their vicinity which
influences the motion of other bodies. This is different to the electromagnetic forces where charged
bodies do not alter the space-time geometry but rather create the electromagnetic field around
them which then affects the motion of other charged bodies.

Inertial forces
Inertial forces are apparent forces that act on all bodies in non-inertial frames of reference such
as a rotating frame (centrifugal and Coriolis forces) or a uniformly accelerating frame (elevator
force). Inertial forces do not arise from any physical interaction but rather from the non-linear
motion of the frame itself.
In an inertial frame a free body moves without acceleration, and its (non-relativistic) equation
of motion in Cartesian coordinates is
~r¨ = 0, (1)
.
where ~r = {x, y, z} are the three spatial coordinates of the body and the dot above a letter denotes
time derivative. This is an equation for a linear motion: in inertial frames free bodies move without
acceleration along straight lines.
In a non-inertial uniformly accelerating frame that moves with acceleration ~a relative to an
inertial frame the corresponding equation of motion for the free body is

~r¨ = −~a. (2)

This is an equation for a curve (a parabola, I believe): in non-inertial frames free bodies generally
move with acceleration along curves.
Equation (2) can be written in the form of the second Newton’s law,

m~r¨ = F~I , (3)

where m is the mass of the body, and
F~I = −m~a (4)
is the inertial force (in this case often called elevator force).
Inertial forces have the following properties:
1. Under inertial forces all massive bodies move with the same acceleration independent of their
properties.
2. Inertial forces arise from the (geometrical) properties of the non-inertial frame rather than
due to physical fields affecting the bodies.
3. Inertial forces completely disappear after a coordinate transformation to an inertial frame.

Equivalence of inertial and gravitational masses

Newton’s law of gravitation states that the gravitational force F~G exerted on a particle by gravi-
tating bodies is proportional to the mass m of the particle,
F~G = m~g , (5)
where the gravitational acceleration ~g depends on the positions and masses of the gravitating
bodies. Therefore under gravitational forces all particles move with the same acceleration (just
like under inertial forces) as the mass disappears from the second Newton’s law of motion,

m~r¨ = m~g . (6)

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The masses in the left- and right-hand sides of this equation are often referred to separately
as inertial and gravitational masses.
Many experiments attempted to observe the difference between gravitational and inertial
masses, including Galileo’s measurements of acceleration of balls of different composition rolling
down inclined planes, and Newton’s measurements of the period of pendulums with different
mass but identical length. All experiments reported no observed difference, with the most precise
experiment to day (arXiv:0712.0607) having the accuracy of one part in 1013 .
There are theories of gravitation where the equality of gravitational and inertial masses is just
a coinsidence but in general relativity this is a fundamental postulate.

Einstein’s equivalence principle

Einstein has postulated that gravitational forces are locally1 equivalent to inertial forces, that is,
gravitational forces are unlike other physical forces but much like geometrical inertial forces. This
postulate is called the Einstein’s equivalence principle. It can be formulated in several ways:

1. Gravitational forces are locally equivalent to inertial forces.

2. An accelerated frame is locally equivalent to a frame in a uniform gravitational field.
3. Gravitational field is locally equivalent to a non-inertial frame.
4. In free fall all effects of gravity disappear in all possible local experiments and general
relativity reduces locally to special relativity.

The principle is customarily illustrated by two spacecrafts, one on Earth, the other accelerating
with the Earth’s gravitational acceleration g in the outer space. The observers in these spacecrafts
can not determine by doing local experiments inside spacecrafts whether their craft is accelerating
or at rest in a gravitational field.
However, unlike inertial forces gravitational forces vanish at large distances from the sources
of gravitation and therefore non-local experiments can well distinguish between inertial and grav-
itational forces.

The theory becomes geometric

The equivalence principle leads to the following phenomenon: the gravitational filed becomes the
metric of the space and makes the space curved.
We shall observe this in the Newtonian limit. Consider a body with mass m moving in a
Newtonian gravitational potential φ(r). The non-relativistic action is given as

mv 2
Z  
2
S= − mc − mφ dt . (7)
2

This can be viewed—just as we did for a free body—as the non-relativistic limit of
Z s  Z
2φ 2 2 2
S = −mc 1 + 2 c dt − dr = −mc ds . (8)
c

Therefore one can conclude that in a (weak) gravitational potential φ the metric of the space
becomes (approximately)  
2φ
ds2 = 1 + 2 c2 dt2 − dr2 . (9)
c
This is clearly a metric of a non-Euclidean space as, apparently, time runs differently at different
depths in a gravitational potential.
1 Locally means within a limited space, where variations of the fields can be neglected.

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Flat and curved spaces

A space with Euclidean or pseudo-Euclidean metric is called flat. For example, the Minkowski
space of special relativity is flat.
The coordinates in which the metric is (pseudo)-Euclidean are also often called flat. If the
metric is not everywhere (pseudo)-Euclidean, the coordinates are called curvilinear. For example,
in a flat two-dimensional space with polar coordinates {r, θ} the metric is non-Euclidean,

dl2 = dr2 + r2 dθ2 . (10)

However, if there exist a coordinate transformation that globally turns the metric into (pseudo)-
Euclidean, the space is still called flat. In our example such transformation is

x = r cos θ ,
(11)
y = r sin θ .

If such transformation does not exist, the space is called curved or Riemann space. The
geometry of a curved space is called non-Euclidean geometry or Riemann geometry.

Space-time in a gravitational field is curved

Einstein’s equivalence principle states that gravitational forces disappear locally in the frame of a
free falling observer. A free falling observer finds themselves in a local Minkowski space-time.
In other words the space-time in a gravitational field can be transformed locally to Minkowski
space-time by a non-linear coordinate transformation.
Yet in other words the space-time in a gravitational field locally can be obtained by a non-linear
coordinate transformation from a Minkowski space-time.
This transformation cannot be global though since gravitational forces, unlike inertial forces,
vanish at large distances from massive bodies.
Therefore the consequence of Einstein’s equivalence principle is that the space-time in a grav-
itational field is genuinely curved.

General principle of relativity

In the presence of gravitational fields the space-time is curved, and it is not possible to build a set
of globally flat coordinates. Therefore any frame of reference with arbitrary curvilinear coordinates
and arbitrarily tuned clocks must be equally accepted in general relativity2 .
The general principle of relativity can then formulated as
The laws of physics should have the same form in arbitrary frames of reference.
In order to build suitable differential equations, invariant under general coordinate transfor-
mations, we need to develop differential geometry in curvilinear coordinates.

Exercises
1. A pendulum is suspended from the roof of a car moving in a line (straight curve) with
constant acceleration a. Find the angle the pendulum makes with the vertical. Explain
what is happening from the viewpoint of an inertial observer outside of the car and a non-
inertial observer in the car.
2. A bucket of water slides freely under gravity down a slope of a fixed angle α to the horizontal.
What is the angle of inclination of the surface of water relative to the base of the bucket?
3. Newtonian gravitation
2 The accepted coordinates must be differentiable (to allow development of differential geometry) and the

coordinate transformations must be invertible.

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(a) Argue that the equation of motion of a test body with coordinate ~r in Newton’s theory
of gravitation,
X GN Mk ~r − ~rk
~r¨ = − , (12)
|~r − ~rk |2 |~r − ~rk |
k
where Mk and ~rk are the masses and coordinates of gravitating bodies, can be written
as
~r¨ = −∇φ
~ , (13)
where φ is the gravitational potential,
X G N Mk
φ(~r) = − . (14)
|~r − ~rk |
k

(b) Argue that the gravitational potential satisfies the equation3 .

∇2 φ(~r) = 4πGN µ(~r) , (15)
where µ(~r) is the mass density of gravitating bodies,
X
µ(~r) = Mk δ(~r − ~rk ) . (16)
k

(c) Argue that the equation of motion (12) and the equation for the gravitational poten-
tial (15) are invariant under Galilean transformation.
4. Gravitation as geometry of space
(a) Argue that the non-relativistic motion of a test body with mass m in a Newtonian
gravitational potential φ can be described by the Lagrangian
1
L = mv 2 − mφ − mc2 , (17)
2
where v is the velocity of the body.
(b) Argue that this Lagrangian can be obtained Ras the weak-field non-relativistic limit
(v  c and φ  c2 ) from the action S = −mc ds where the infinitesimal interval ds
is given as
 
2φ 2 2
2
ds = 1 + 2 c dt − d~r2 . (18)
c
(c) Argue that this metric describes a curved (non-Euclidean) space and that the proper
time runs differently at different levels in the gravitational potential.
5. Explain the “twins paradox” of special relativity from the viewpoints of i) the inertial twin
and ii) the non-inertial (travelling) twin.
6. What is the path of a free particle in a uniform gravitational field?
7. Argue that equivalence principle implies bending of light in gravitational fields.
8. Argue that equivalence principle implies gravitational redshift.
9. Construct an experiment to find out whether one is in an inertial frame.
10. Are the following coordinate transformations (x, y) → (x0 , y 0 ) allowed in general relativity?
(a) x0 = x, y 0 = 1
p
(b) x0 = x2 + y 2 , y 0 = arctan(y/x)
p
(c) x0 = 1/ x2 + y 2 , y 0 = arctan(y/x)
(d) x0 = ln(x), y 0 = y
3 Hint: ∇2 r1 = −4πδ(~
r).