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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 ...
An important distinction in physics is the difference between local and global structures. Measurements in physics are performed in a relatively small region of spacetime and this is one reason for studying the local structure of spacetime in general relativity, whereas determining the global spacetime structure is important, especially in ...
The metric captures all the geometric and causal structure of spacetime, being used to define notions such as time, distance, volume, curvature, angle, and separation of the future and the past. In general relativity, the metric tensor plays the role of the gravitational potential in the classical theory of gravitation, although the physical ...
t is the time between these same two events, but as measured in the stationary reference frame; v is the speed of the moving reference frame relative to the stationary one; c is the speed of light. Moving objects therefore are said to show a slower passage of time. This is known as time dilation.
The free-fall time is the characteristic time that would take a body to collapse under its own gravitational attraction, if no other forces existed to oppose the collapse.. As such, it plays a fundamental role in setting the timescale for a wide variety of astrophysical processes—from star formation to helioseismology to supernovae—in which gravity plays a dominant ro
High-precision test of general relativity by the Cassini space probe (artist's impression): radio signals sent between the Earth and the probe (green wave) are delayed by the warping of space and time (blue lines) due to the Sun's mass. That is, the Sun's mass causes the regular grid coordinate system (in blue) to distort and have curvature.
Fig 4–2. Relativistic time dilation, as depicted in a single Loedel spacetime diagram. Both observers consider the clock of the other as running slower. Relativistic time dilation refers to the fact that a clock (indicating its proper time in its rest frame) that moves relative to an observer is observed to run slower. The situation is ...
General relativity can be understood by examining its similarities with and departures from classical physics. The first step is the realization that classical mechanics and Newton's law of gravity admit a geometric description.