PhilSci Archive

Underdetermination in Classic and Modern Tests of General Relativity

Wolf, William J. and Sanchioni, Marco and Read, James (2023) Underdetermination in Classic and Modern Tests of General Relativity. [Preprint]

This is the latest version of this item.

[img] Text
Underdetermination_GR_accepted_EJPS.pdf
Download (502kB)

Abstract

Canonically, `classic' tests of general relativity (GR) include perihelion precession, the bending of light around stars, and gravitational redshift; `modern' tests have to do with, inter alia, relativistic time delay, equivalence principle tests, gravitational lensing, strong field gravity, and gravitational waves. The orthodoxy is that both classic and modern tests of GR afford experimental confirmation of that theory in particular. In this article, we question this orthodoxy, by showing there are classes of both relativistic theories (with spatiotemporal geometrical properties different from those of GR) and non-relativistic theories (in which the lightcones of a relativistic spacetime are `widened') which would also pass such tests. Thus, (a) issues of underdetermination in the context of GR loom much larger than one might have thought, and (b) given this, one has to think more carefully about what exactly such tests in fact are testing.

Export/Citation: EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL
Social Networking:
Share |
Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Wolf, William J.williamjwolf2@gmail.com0000-0002-8754-3360
Sanchioni, Marcomarco.sanchioni2@gmail.com0000-0002-7846-3633
Read, Jamesjames.read@philosophy.ox.ac.uk
Additional Information: Updated to match published verions in EJPS
Keywords: General Relativity, Underdetermination, Experimental Tests of Gravity, Geometrical Trinity, Newton-Cartan Theory, Teleparallel Gravity
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Astrophysics
Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics
General Issues > Evidence
Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
General Issues > Theory/Observation
Depositing User: Mr. William Wolf
Date Deposited: 21 Oct 2024 15:19
Last Modified: 21 Oct 2024 15:19
Item ID: 24089
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Astrophysics
Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics
General Issues > Evidence
Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
General Issues > Theory/Observation
Date: 19 July 2023
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/24089

Available Versions of this Item

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item