GravitationalFrameDragging-UniversityofConnecticut.pptVIP

Gravitational Faraday Effect Produced by a Ring Laser James G. O’Brien IARD Bi-Annual Conference University Of Connecticut June 13th, 2006 History Gravitational Frame Dragging was first introduced as a consequence of the General Theory of Relativity. It states that masses not only curve space and time, but rotating masses cause the very fabric of space and time to twist as well. The Balazs Effect The idea of using a non-mechanical method of measuring the gravitational frame dragging was well documented in 1957 by N.L. Balazs. His idea was to use a gravitational field to change the plane of polarization of an incident light beam, due to a slowly rotating massive body. See below: Mallett’s Ring Laser In 2000, Dr. Mallett documented the gravitational effects of a circulating laser. Linear Combinations But there is another way to observe the gravitational frame dragging effect, Light on Light. After meeting with Francis Everett, Mallett suggested an attempt to combine Balazs into his own work. Of course, along the way, we see that the rabbit hole is deeper than we expect: Classical Faraday Effect Recall the Classical Faraday Effect: Classical Faraday Effect Foundations Original Goal: To determine if and how the plane of polarization of an incident beam is affected by a ring laser. Thus, we turn to the foundations given by Mallett, and work in the linear approximation for the gravitational field produced by the metric of the ring laser: Required Calculations Where: Maxwell’s Equations in G-Field We see that the Modified Electromagnetic Fields are: Maxwell Continued… Thus, we see the Maxwell Equations are: Approximations and Reductions As we are working in the linear approximation, we can assume that the gravitational field produced by the ring laser is weak. Also, there are no other electromagnetic sources (point charges, currents, etc), thus Final form of Maxwell We see that after writing the Maxwell equations in terms of only B and D yields equations of t