Does Light Gravitate? (Proposal on New Test of Equivalence Principle)

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new test for the equivalence principle by examining how a test particle's proper mass varies in a gravitational field, suggesting potential violations detectable via a modified Pound-Rebka-Snider experiment.

Contribution

It introduces a novel theoretical framework where proper mass depends on gravitational potential, leading to a testable deviation from the equivalence principle.

Findings

Proper mass varies with gravitational potential energy.

Freely falling frames are not equivalent inertial frames.

A modified Pound-Rebka-Snider experiment can detect violations.

Abstract

On the basis of the relativistic mass-energy concept we found that a proper mass of a test particle in a gravitational field depends on a potential energy, hence, a freely falling particle has a varying proper mass. Consequently, a multitude of freely falling reference frames cannot be regarded as the multitude of equivalent inertial reference frames. There is a class of experiments, which allow distinguishing between them. If so, a demonstration of a violation of the Equivalence Principle is possible. It is shown that a variant of the classical Pound-Rebka-Snider experiment on a photon frequency shift in a gravitational field if conducted in a freely falling laboratory would be such a test.