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Gravitational time dilation is a form of time dilation, an actual difference of elapsed time between two events, as measured by observers situated at varying distances from a gravitating mass. The lower the gravitational potential (the closer the clock is to the source of gravitation), the slower time passes, speeding up as the gravitational ...
Time dilation is the difference in elapsed time as measured by two clocks, either because of a relative velocity between them (special relativity), or a difference in gravitational potential between their locations (general relativity). When unspecified, "time dilation" usually refers to the effect due to velocity.
Even if we pick units where =, the magnitude of the proper acceleration will depend on our choice of units: for example, if we use units of light-years for distance, (or ) and years for time, (or ), this would mean = light year/year 2, equal to about 9.5 meters/second 2, while if we use units of light-seconds for distance, (or ), and seconds ...
However, from the standpoint of Earth-based observers, general time dilation including gravitational time dilation causes Barycentric Coordinate Time, which is based on the SI second, to appear when observed from the Earth to have time units that pass more quickly than SI seconds measured by an Earth-based clock, with a rate of divergence of ...
It is important that the last two equations are consistent with each other, when the latter is differentiated with respect to proper time, and the following formula for the Christoffel symbols ensures that consistency: = (+) This last equation does not involve the electromagnetic fields, and it is applicable even in the limit as the ...
Important vector fields in relativity include the four-velocity, = ˙, which is the coordinate distance travelled per unit of proper time, the four-acceleration = ¨ and the four-current describing the charge and current densities. Other physically important tensor fields in relativity include the following:
In the context of GPS the most prominent correction introduced by general relativity is gravitational time dilation: the clocks located deeper in the gravitational potential well (i.e. closer to the attracting body) tick slower. Satellite clocks are slowed by their orbital speed but sped up by their distance out of the Earth's gravitational well.
Gravitational time dilation near a large, slowly rotating, nearly spherical body, such as the Earth or Sun can be reasonably approximated as follows: [21] = where: t r is the elapsed time for an observer at radial coordinate r within the gravitational field;