Constraints on the nature of inertial motion arising from the universality of free fall and the conformal causal structure of space-time
- 1 December 1984
- journal article
- research article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Journal of Mathematical Physics
- Vol. 25 (12) , 3513-3526
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.526122
Abstract
According to the principle of the universality of free fall, the motions of all neutral monopole particles are governed by one common path structure. This principle does not, however, require the path structure to be geodesic; that is, the path structure need not be a projective structure. It is shown that any equation of motion structure (either a curve or a path structure) that has sufficient microisotropy to be compatible with the conformal causal structure of space‐time must be geodesic and must be unique. Hence, the empirically well‐supported principles of conformal causality and of the universality of free fall together require the existence of a unique Weyl structure on space‐time.Keywords
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