Reference Frames and the Physical Gravito-Electromagnetic Analogy

TL;DR

This paper examines the analogy between linearized gravity and electromagnetism, revealing it is limited and highly dependent on the reference frame, thus challenging common assumptions in the literature.

Contribution

It provides an exact tidal tensor-based analysis showing the gravito-electromagnetic analogy is valid only under specific conditions and reference frames.

Findings

Analogy holds only in special conditions

Validity depends crucially on the reference frame

Restrictions on the use of gravito-electromagnetic equations

Abstract

The similarities between linearized gravity and electromagnetism are known since the early days of General Relativity. Using an exact approach based on tidal tensors, we show that such analogy holds only on very special conditions and depends crucially on the reference frame. This places restrictions on the validity of the "gravito-electromagnetic" equations commonly found in the literature.