Abstract
To remedy a certain confusion in the literature, we stress the distinction between local and global light bending. Local bending is a purely kinematic effect between mutually accelerating reference frames tracking the same signal, and applies via Einstein's equivalence principle exactly and equally in Newton's, Einstein's, Nordström's and other gravitational theories, independently of all field equations. Global bending, on the other hand, arises as an integral of local bending and depends critically on the conformal spacetime structure and thus on the specific field equations of a given theory.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Nordström, G. (1913). Ann. der Physik 42, 533.
Norton, J. D. (1992). Archive for the History of Exact Sciences 45, 17.
Straumann, N. (1984). General Relativity and Relativistic Astrophysics (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg).
Pauli, W. (1963). Relativitätstheorie (reprint with additional footnotes, Paolo Boringhieri Publishers, Torino).
Will, C. M. (1987). In 300 Years of Gravitation, S. Hawking and W. Israel, eds. (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).
Rindler, W. (1977). Essential Relativity (2nd. ed., Springer-Verlag, New York, Heidelberg, Berlin).
Einstein, A. (1907). Jahrbuch für Radioaktivität und Elektronik 4, 411.
Pais, A. (1982). Subtle is the Lord (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
Penrose, R., and Rindler, W. (1986). Spinors and Spacetime, vol.2 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).
Synge, J. L. (1960). Relativity: The General Theory (North-Holland, Amsterdam).
Einstein, A. (1911). Ann. der Physik 35, 898.
Einstein, A. (1915). Ber. Preuss. Akad. d. Wiss. 831.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ehlers, J., Rindler, W. Local and Global Light Bending in Einstein's and Other Gravitational Theories. General Relativity and Gravitation 29, 519–529 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018843001842
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018843001842